12 prince
by zaya96
Summary: traduccion
1. Chapter 1

½Prince Volume 2: Reality and Fantasy

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½Prince Volume 2: Reality and Fantasy

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**S****YNOPSIS****:**

The Adventurers' Tournament has finally begun, and I excitedly drew our lot. The first battle is against… _Perfect Princess Team? Don't tell me it's a team completely made up_ _of girls! This is bad! Won't it be like putting a sheep (me) among wolves?_

_What is this? I'm a gay and my dearest beloved is Gui? Since when did that happen? Why am I the only one out of the loop?_

As the fun -filled summer holidays finally came to an end, I raced for the public bus piteously. Suddenly I discovered that there's a new professor – _and h-h-he's_ _ACTUALLY…!_

After school, I once again raced after the public bus. _Waaah! Why are the two people on_ _the bus people who I know from the game! How am I supposed to keep my real gender a secret with things like this?!_

_OH MY GOD! Now it's the doctor from the health room?! Don't come over; I don't know you, I swear (with fingers crossed)! I am absolutely not related to Prince… Waaah, waaah! How long will it take before this karma cycle will be OVER…_

**A****BOUT THE**** A****UTHOR**:

Yu Wo:

Who am I? Sometimes I am like a warrior, wielding a sword on the battlefield with limitless passion and energy. At other times, I resemble a mage, with a mind devoted to research, completely absorbed in the things I like. Or I might be like a thief, leading a free and easy life, letting fate lead me to distant and unfamiliar lands. Occasionally, however I am similar to a priest, with a gentle heart, filled with compassion towards the living things of this world. Ultimately, I am a kindly Fantastical world.

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Reality and Fantasy

**½ P****RINCE**** V****OL****. 2**

**Original novel in Chinese by: **御我**(Yu Wo)**

**Table of Contents **

**Disclaimer! ...**

**4**

**Chapter 1: Tournament, Begin ...**

**5**

**Chapter 2: Food is Invincible! ...**

**18**

**Chapter 3: Odd Squad Strikes Back ...**

**32**

**Chapter 4: Fate ...**

**49**

**Chapter 5: Zhuo Lin Bin and Ou Yang Mei ...**

**70**

**Chapter 6: The Truth, Revealed? ...**

**79**

**Chapter 7: A Battle Without Regrets ...**

**101**

**Extra Chapter: Diary ...**

**120**

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**Disclaimer! **

Please take note of the following:

The followi½PrincegtranslationisbyPrinceof Revolution! and is a "by fans, for fans" translation.

This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this, you have been ripped off!

Prince Revolution! does NOT ask for donations, payment, or anything else of the sort. We do not benefit monetarily from our translations AT ALL.

We only ask that you do NOT steal credit or attempt to profit monetarily from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across any individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translation.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthels are held by Yu W o, the author of the novels.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthel artworks are held by Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu,

the cover artists for the first and second editions of the novels respectively.

- Copyrights½Princetomanhuathe artwork are held by Cai Hong Z hong, the

artist½Princeforthemanhua.

Prince Revolution! has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novels into English. However, this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

As such, please cease distribution of this PDF once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

**Links**

Prince Revolution!

Yuʼs WoBlg

.cc/blog/kim1984429

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**C****REDITS****:**

**Translators:**

Eilinel (chapter 6 and extra) Kat (chapter 1)

K00st3r (chapter 7)

Shonen19 (chapter 2)

Smerian (chapter 5)

Spence (chapter 4) xosugarhighox (chapter 3)

**Proofreaders:**

HopeHime4

Serao

Shadow Rebirth

Sooty/MOo5e

**C/E Editors:**

Erialis

**PDF and eBook Formatter:**

Katerina

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**Chapter 1: Tournament, Begin **

Wearing the Blood Tiara that the team had given me, my heart was overwhelmed with emotion and I hardened my resolve. _We will create a legend together, a legend that_ _belongs to us. _I closed my eyes and gathered my focus, calming down before I graduallyreopened them. With self-confidence and determination etched in my expression, I gave the rest of Odd Squad a smile and took the first step in the journey to creating our legend, the first step onto the stage where we would perform, the first step into…the tournament arena.

Within the arena, the announcer loudly introduced himself. "Hello everyone, I'm your commentator for today, Xiao Li. Let us begin by introducing the two teams who will be fighting in this match! First, coming out from the west entrance is the Perfect Princess Team! The Perfect Princess Team is led by Perfect Princess, a mage of the elf race. Their five other members are a beastman warrior, a human warrior, an elf archer, a human archer and an angel priest."

I walked over to stand at the very front of our squad. Judging by the thunderous cheers filling the stadium, it seemed that our opponents had already stepped out into the arena.

_Don't tell me that the Perfect Princess Team is _that_ famous? Looks like I'm really out of the loop, seeing as I've never even heard of them. It doesn't matter anyway, since Odd Squad will definitely defeat them and become renowned throughout the whole of 'Second Life'!_

Mic in hand, the tournament's commentator loudly introduced the next team to enter the arena. "Now, coming in from the east entrance is Odd Squad! Odd Squad has an extremely peculiar team composition consisting of an elf warrior, an elf thief, a beastman priest, an angel necromancer, a demon bard and a human mage!"

Murmurs began to run through the crowd immediately. "What a weird team!", "Extreme Squad?1 What a weird name!", and other similar comments could clearly be heard.

"If this team isn't the lousiest team around, then they'll have to be one of the best…" Perfect Princess Team's strategist, the angel priest, muttered quietly to himself.

"It doesn't matter what kind of team they are. You guys will obtain victory for me, right?" the eye-catching beauty, Perfect Princess, asked sweetly as she addressed her team members – though to me, it seemed more like she was cajoling her suitors! The five guys immediately nodded fervently.

Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, I slowly stepped into the tournament arena. As usual, wherever I went I was met with a stunned silence. My looks usually possessed a lot of

1** Extreme Squad: **In case you've forgotten about our earlier footnote about Odd Squad's name, OddSquad's name (in Chinese) can also be read as "Extreme Squad".

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devastating power, but now, coupled with a tiara that could only greatly increase my attractiveness, that destructive power immediately jumped from 100% to 200%! I ignored the crowd's stares (_Sigh, after being stared at for so long, I've already become_ _accustomed to it…_) and instead looked directly at our opponents for today: the PerfectPrincess Team.

Initially, I'd thought that this team would be made up of six girls. To my surprise, it was made up of only one girl and five guys! In my heart I kept thinking, _That girl is acting as_ _though she's bringing her own Inner Court__2__ to participate in this tournament and yet her looks aren't even nearly a match for Lolidragon's. I'm so envious…! Ah, no…I'm a guy right now; there's nothing to be envious about!_

Setting my envy aside, the other five team members and I each took our places and struck the pose that Lolidragon had spent three days teaching us. I obediently followed her instructions – I was to drop the attitude of an elegant Prince and instead maintain a suave, arrogant, undefeatable image during battle. That way, we could undermine our opponents' confidence… Although, personally, I felt that guys would only be infuriated by my handsome looks, causing their battle spirits to blaze even more fiercely.

"How can someone be this handsome…?" Perfect Princess stared at my face, mesmerized, while her five team members glared at me, their expressions clearly showing their desire to skin me, rip the flesh off my bones for meat, and then boil my bones to make a stock for soup.

"Prince, Lolidragon, the other team has two archers and two warriors, so prolonging the battle would be nothing but a disadvantage to us. I have a plan though, so listen up…" Wolf-dàgēthen proceeded to meticulously explain his plan to us.

After Wolf-dàgēfinished giving us our instructions, our squad strode forward, brimming with confidence. There was even a faintly sadistic smile on my face. Lolidragon was the one who taught it to me. (_Lolidragon, the nickname "Blood Elf" must have been all_ _because of you…) _I looked at the Perfect Princess Team and said coolly, "Shall webegin?"

The huge beastman warrior immediately gave his enormous axe a couple of swings. Unfortunately for him, he was shorter than Wolf-dàgēby a couple of hand spans, plus he lacked the intimidatingēpossessed. andThepowerfulhumanwarau**r**aiorthat Dàg

walked up toward us and replied coldly, "No problem. Let's begin then!"

2** Inner Court: **This is an area within the Forbidden City itself. The Inner Court was the private quarters ofthe Emperor and his family, and it was also where his concubines resided. As such, Prince is implying that Perfect Princess is bringing along her personal harem.

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The referee standing on one side saw that we were prepared and, with a wave of his flag, the battle commenced.

Normally, battles would begin with both teams' priests casting buffs and bolstering their teammates' defense. Only after this was done would the competition truly begin. However, Lolidragon and I went against this norm and, making use of our high agility, we charged forward the moment the judge announced the start of the battle. Before the enemy team's warriors could even react, I had already darted past them, my targets being the two archers… Next, with a swift movement, I grabbed Meatbun and used my sword to bat it with all of my strength.

"Meatbun, _Double Kill_." Meatbun immediately flew towards those two archers, who had yet to figure out what was going on, and began smacking back and forth between them like a ball in a pinball machine.

Given that archers tended to have low HP, this attack was more than enough to keep them both occupied. With my Black Dao in hand, I rushed towards the human archer, whose health was probably higher than the elf archer's. Reaching him, I called out, "One of the Five Ultimate Techniques, _Dragon Whirlwind Strike_!"3

I lifted my sword over my head as my legs pushed, propelling my body off the ground. Twisting my body in mid air so that I was flying parallel to the earth, my Black Dao cleanly stabbed into the human archer's abdomen. The speed of my attack left even the agility-oriented archer unable to dodge in time. Although it wasn't a fatal attack, the move _Dragon Whirlwind Strike_ could severely injure enemies with just the surrounding air pressure alone, even if it didn't land a direct hit. The unlucky human archer's left arm was immediately broken by my twisting attack. The moment my feet touched the ground, I executed a reverse sweep of my blade, sending him flying back to the rebirth point to contemplate his mistakes in his "past" life.

While everyone's eyes were glued on me, Lolidragon, whose agility was so high that her every action seemed to come out of nowhere, had long since crept up behind the elf archer with a dagger in each hand. Now she pressed one of them against the elf's neck and gave a savage slash across his throat. It would have been a fatal blow if not for the fact that Lolidragon's strength was too low and thus was unable to directly kill the elf archer.

Just when it seemed that the opposing priest – who had started to chant a healing spell – would be able to heal the archer, Lolidragon's lips curled into a cruel smile. Unseen by everyone else, the dagger in her other hand was already placed against the elf's back,

3** Dragon Whirlwind Strike: **This is yet another move from Rurouni Kenshin – this is written as "龍巻閃"in kanji and pronounced as "_ry__ū__kansen_ ". The original move is pretty different from Prince's version, and is essentially an extremely fast counterattack aimed at the back of the opponent's neck. The move is also called "Dragon Windup Slash" by some fans.

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pointing directly at his heart. Now she gave a vicious stab and the priest could only watch helplessly as the archer died.

At this point in time, Perfect Princess Team's warriors were being kept busy by Doll's super scary Hell's Inferno Armored Skeletons. In addition, their agility had been lowered by Gui's _Sheng-ge Entrancement Technique_. The skeletons alone were nearly enough to KO them; there was no possibility of them helping the rest of their team!

Perfect Princess, who'd been busy admiring my face initially, finally realized that something was wrong and immediately cast a spell to destroy one of Doll's skeletons. However, Lolidragon and I had already finished off the two archers by this time, so I charged straight at the warriors, providing support for Doll's skeletons. Lolidragon, on the other hand, employed an ability that she had created after studying Japan's ninjutsu: Burrowing. (This technique had not come easy to anyone, because whenever she failed, the entire squad had to organize an excavation, in order to dig Lolidragon out from the earth that she was trapped in.) Using it, she stealthily snuck up behind the mage, Perfect Princess…

"Princess, be careful!" The priest hurriedly shoved Perfect Princess – who was about to have her throat slit by Lolidragon – to one side.

As for Lolidragon, she simply took in the change in situation and immediately changed her target. Two fatally dangerous daggers flashed through the air as she slashed at the priest. His face quickly paled as he tried his best to replenish his health even as he yelled for the warriors to come over and help.

_Warriors? _I scoffed; the supposedly nimble human could barely land a hit on me, letalone the muscle-for-brains beastman whose goal seemed to be imitating a tortoise's speed. They mouthed off angrily at the priest, yelling at him for not healing their health. It'd be a shock if they could find the time to go and save their teammates!

In fact, the moment the two archers – who had posed the greatest threat to our plan – died, the opposing team's fate had been sealed. At this thought, the corners of my mouth rose to form an evil grin, scaring the opposing warriors into thinking that I was about to use that move _Dragon Whirlwind Strike_ again. I smiled coldly and used… ten continuous strikes to finish off the human warrior instead. _What a joke; you think_ Dragon Whirlwind Strike _can be used so many times in a row? Using it that often will leave me dizzy, okay?_

In this fashion, Lolidragon and Gui kept the priest and the mage at bay while the skeletons and I gave the remaining beastman warrior a free ride back to the rebirth point. Moments later, the priest was dead as well.

The six of us converged upon the mage, Perfect Princess, who had backed away into a corner. Walking at the head of the group, I smiled coldly at her and asked, "Surrender?"

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Perfect Princess lifted her head slowly. As she looked at my face, the fear written all over her face melted away and was replaced by a coquettish expression, and she even dared to sweet-talk me. "Surrender, I surrender! Since I lost to you, I'll be your girlfriend, okay?"

I gazed icily at this girl, whose beauty lost to Lolidragon, who was not as cute as Doll, who was not as elegant as Yu Lian-dàsăo, and felt extremely put off. _And she has the_ _audacity to plaster herself all over me like some sort of invertebrate now?! _Catching awhiff of her disgustingly over-powering perfume, I thought, _I am still a woman—just_ _because I look like a guy doesn't mean I need to be like one and appreciate feminine beauty, do I?!_

I slowly raised my Black Dao and, still smiling faintly, drove it through the body of the woman in front of me. _It's your fault for being prettier than the female "me"! Not to_ _mention stringing along five somewhat handsome guys… Clearly you are trying to trigger my envy! To enrage me into killing you!_

I watched with satisfaction as Perfect Princess flew away with a look of resentment and disbelief on her face. I swung my Black Dao lightly a few times, trying to shake off the nauseating blood on it, but suddenly I realized that the entire arena was silent and everyone was staring at me with an odd look in their eyes.

"Lolidragon, is something wrong?" My countenance remained serene, but secretly I was PMing Lolidragon with some trepidation.

"…It's probably because you were covered in blood and smiling as you stabbed a beautiful woman to death, before nonchalantly flinging away the blood. It's just too handsome, too cool, and too bloody! That's why everyone is stunned!" Lolidragon said with a helpless shrug.

_I just got slightly carried away with my jealousy, _I thought, feeling misunderstood.

"Odd Squad, victory," the judge, who had finally snapped out of his shocked stupor, announced belatedly.

Emitting a frosty aura, I stood on the bloody arena, a glacial look in my eyes as my sword rose and fell. As I cut down the last enemy, I could hear the crowd beginning to cheer. However, I turned and scrutinized the entire audience with emotionless, icy eyes, until the last person fell silent. It was only when I was satisfied that I smiled an evil, bloodthirsty smile, and then led Odd Squad out of the arena as the judge declared our victory.

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Why had I become like this? It wasn't like I was a willing party to this. I had no idea when it began, but recently, the area outside the stadium would always be packed with my fans after each match. Initially, this was a problem that plagued only me. However, on one occasion, I was walking behind my team members when we were leaving the arena. My fans, who were standing outside the stadium, trampled over my teammates in order to get to me. After that incident, the matter became a squad-wide issue.

After that, Lolidragon came up with the "Blood Elf" strategy. With five votes to one, I was forced into the terrifying role of a remorseless, cold-blooded killer, just to discourage those fans from getting too close. Unfortunately, the strategy was an unexpected success, for while my fans continued to admire me, they no longer dared to even come within ten meters of me… After all, I was the one who had mercilessly cut down the beautiful Perfect Princess, so anyone who had eyes could see that I did not know what the words "feminine" and "charm" meant.

Taking the point guard, I walked at the very front of the squad (_no one dares to walk_ _ahead of me anymore…) _with an impassive look on my face. My left hand rested on thehilt of my Black Dao out of habit, as though I was ready to kill someone at a moment's notice. However, what I was actually thinking was, _Sigh, I'm so hungry! Why haven't we_ _reached the restaurant yet?_

"Prince!" a delighted voice cried out from not too far away.

_Who was it_? I furrowed my brows._ To think that there is still a girl who dares to call me by my name in this crowd, _I thought irritably as I glanced around. The surrounding girlswere all silently gloating, thinking, _Who is the suicidal person who actually dares to call_ _Prince by his name?_

"Prince? What's wrong?" Upon meeting my frigid gaze, Rose revealed a startled expression, tears nearly leaking from the corners of her eyes.

_Rose? _Seeing that familiar face, my facial muscles relaxed; it had been a long time since Ilast saw her.

"It's been a while, Rose, and everyone in the Rose Team," I greeted and gave them a brief smile as I looked at Li'l Strong, Legolas, For Healing Only, and Broken Sword, whom I'd only met briefly previously.

"Prince, it's not good to stay standing here for too long. You can catch up with them over a meal instead!" Lolidragon PMed me, cautioning me about the surrounding fans. Seeing how some of the fans were beginning to move in, Lolidragon thought, _if we stay here any_ _longer, the lives of Odd Squad and Rose Team's members might all be at stake…_

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"Why don't we have a meal together? Rose, let's meet up at the usual restaurant—and make sure you come!" I too was beginning to feel the threat from our surroundings, and so I hurriedly PMed Rose… and fled!

The moment we reached the restaurant and secured a booth on the second floor I dropped my act. As I massaged my face, I apologized to Rose, saying, "I'm really sorry about just now, Rose. About what happened outside – treating you so coldly just now, I didn't mean it. Actually…"

I proceeded to explain the entire situation to the Rose Team, so as to prevent a misunderstanding from occurring again, the next time we met. After all, I had no intention of losing such good friends.

"Hahaha! To think that being too handsome could cause this much trouble." Li'l Strong broke into laughter – at my expense – upon hearing the entire story.

"It's not like I asked for this…" I mumbled under my breath as I scratched my face. Li'l Strong gave me a hearty slap on my back and the lot of them began to laugh.

Apart from Fairsky, whose head had been hanging low all this while, the rest of the party were all chatting happily. Broken Sword and I were particularly lively, since we'd been getting along very well. He told me that he had attended every single one of Odd Squad's matches and was really interested in the unusual and even bizarre techniques I had executed. Apparently, he too often tried out the moves that he'd come across in _wuxia_ novels. _It seems like I'm not the only weird person around here after all!_ Thus, the two of us found ourselves chatting enthusiastically about my _Nine-Headed Dragon Slash_ and

_Dragon Whirlwind Strike _and his_ Taichi Strike _and_ Nine Swords of Du Gu_.4

"Prince, Lolidragon, about what happened the previous time we met… Well, Fairsky has been feeling really guilty about it…" Rose trailed off and glanced worriedly at Fairsky, who had held her head low and kept silent the entire time.

"Oh, that. I've forgotten about that—it was such a long time ago. Don't fret over it, Fairsky," I said and turned to look at Lolidragon, "You don't blame her either, right? Lolidragon?"

"Huh? What happened the previous time?" Lolidragon's face was covered in confusion.

_(Your memory really sucks… *sweat*)_

4** Taichi Strike and Nine Swords of Du Gu: **Tai Chi Quan (太极拳,_lit._the ultimate fist) is a type ofmartial art frequently practised for health reasons; its execution is usually quite slow and it has some grounding in Chinese philosophy, such as in the concept of ying and yang. Here, it seems that Broken Sword has incorporated elements of Taichi into his swordplay to create the Taichi Strike. As for the Nine Swords of Du Gu (独孤剑九 , _prn._ dúūĭuj gjiàn), this is from Jin Yong's _The Laughing, Proud Wanderer_ – Du Gu is the name of the person who came up with the skill.

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"In any case, Lolidragon and I have already put that incident behind us!" I said, but saw Fairsky's shoulders had suddenly begun trembling. _Crap! She's crying! Waaah, what did_ _I do wrong this time?!_

"I'm sorry…" Fairsky darted towards me and started sobbing in my embrace. I patted her on the back comfortingly, thinking, _Sigh! Having a sister feels pretty good. A sister_ _would definitely be way cuter than that idiotic brother of mine; nowadays, all he does is brag about Dark Emperor having cleared round X of the tournament. If not for fear of angering my ancestors by killing the only successor of the Feng family, I would have long since used my chopping knife and turned him into a charsiew bun!__5_

"It's okay, you're a good girl, don't cry…" I said in a gentle voice, trying to console Fairsky.

Fairsky hiccupped, lifted her face, and looked at me with an incomparably pitiable gaze. "May I ask you a question?"

"… Sure!" _Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?_ Noticing that remaining members of Rose Team were standing on the sidelines as though they were waiting for the show to begin, my sense of foreboding intensified.

"Can I be your secondě!" wife? I'm willing to acknowledge Lolidragon as my Dàji

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Fairsky looked at me with an expression of utmost yearning as she uttered that shocking, headline-worthy sentence.

As one, the members of Odd Squad spurted out the mouthful of drink that they had just taken before stealing a glance at me, laughing silently…

And still more shocking was…

"Me too." My good sister, Rose, actually tugged at my shirt, her gaze determined.

_When two beauties have offered to become your second and third wives, yet you are a girl… Can anyone tell me what a person is supposed to do in such a situation? _I couldn'tthink of an answer myself, so I could only look pleadingly at Lolidragon, who was snickering silently. The two girls then turned to stare at Lolidragon and the latter gulped down her drink before hurrying to clarify our relationship.

**Charsiew bun: **A type of bun with charsiew filling. Charsiew (叉烧,_prn._chāshào) is basically roastedpork; it's a bit sweet and is usually bright red.

**Dàji****ě****: **This literally means "big sister", but it can also refer to a woman who is your senior in terms ofage, rank, et cetera. Hence, Fairsky and Rose (as second and third wives) mentioned calling Lolidragon (the

firstě",wife)since"dàjishe would be their senior in terms of r ank

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"The relationship between Prince and I is only that of siblings. I only pretended to be his wife in order to scare off those other girls. This entire thing is none of my business, so don't look at me," she said.

_That damnable Lolidragon! _I thought, cursing that treacherous "sister" of mine from thebottom of my heart. _Now what reason am I to use to discourage them?_

I was stunned and at wit's end when Gui suddenly pulled me into his embrace. Holding me tightly, he stared at the others, his frosty gaze even more terrifying than my Blood Elf act. In a tone that sent shivers up the spines of all the listeners, he said slowly, "Prince is mine."

Everyone was shocked by his actions, and I was no exception. It wasn't his hug that shocked me (that sort of thing happened often), but rather the coldness of his tone; it was very difficult to reconcile this Gui with the one who rarely raised his voice and constantly fooled around. As a result, my heart pounded wildly for a while…

_ROAR_!_ I'm going to kill that freaking homo_, I thought, but just as I was about to go in forthe kill…

"Sigh! Actually, the relationship between the two of them is like that!" Lolidragon suddenly dropped the bomb on Rose Team, leaving them staring in shock at Gui and me.

"Rose-mèimei,7 Fairsky-mèimei, actually, I too have feelings for Prince _(Prince: The_ _feeling between sisters…)_, but it just can't be helped! Prince h-he… the ones he likesaren't women, but. MEN! _(Prince: She isn't_ actually _lying there…)_ So I would advise you wake up from this infatuation and look for love elsewhere!" Lolidragon said, glancing at me with sorrow and disappointment from time to time.

"Prince, don't deny it; otherwise you'll really have to accept the two of them as your wives!" Lolidragon warned me over party chat. I sighed and cast a helpless look at the ceiling. _Ahhh, two choices! One is to accept the feelings of a homosexual fellow and the_ _other is to become a homosexual and accept the feelings of two women? Who was the person who said there is no path in life without hope? I'm on one right now!_

Having received such an intense shock from the revelation, the members of Rose Team were now looking as though they had each swallowed three broiled eggs. _Is it just my_ _imagination or has Broken Sword – who was just sitting next to me a moment ago – moved away by a few seats?_

The corners of my mouth twitched and veins started popping on my forehead, but still I fought the urge to deny it… Unwilling to open my mouth and admit that Lolidragon's words were true, I could only bow my head as though it was a silent admission.

7** Mèimei: **A suffix which literally means "younger sister", but can also be used on younger women.

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At first, Rose and Fairsky were shocked. Then they bit their lips, looking as though they were on the verge of tears. Finally, seeing my head bowed in silent admission, they couldn't take the shock anymore. The two of them got up from their seats and fled, running out of the door in a storm of tears.

"Oh! I think w-we should be going after our teammates now. Let's chat again some o-other time!" With that, the remaining members of the Rose Team almost flew out the door and, within the blink of an eye, had disappeared.

In the booth, my squad members and I silently bade Rose Team farewell as they made their escape.

After a few quiet minutes Wolf-dàgěsaid calmly, "Let's take a look at who our opponents are for the next round. According to the data, this team's combat strength

probably greatly outstrips our seven previous opponents. Also, Prince you cannot allow Gui to lose a level. If he's about to die, call me over so that I can heal him before you continue to fight!"

"Don't worry. His death alone is no longer able to satisfy my anger," I said, and grabbed Gui by the collar, my lips curling into a slight grin.

_Two hours later…_

"We have already won seven matches; another three more and we'll clear the preliminaries and officially enter the finals. But our opponents are getting stronger and stronger, as everyone here may have already realized. Hence, we need to think through each move and come up with an accurate analysis of our opponents. Only then will we emerge victorious from each of the upcoming battles," Wolf-dàgěadvised as he flipped open the booklet in his hand. "This is the "Adventurers' Tournament Analysis of Competing Teams" that I've just bought. Let's take a look at the next team's data."

[Team name: Team Phoenix | Team members: Six]

_Obviously_, I thought.

Odd Squad looked below the heading, but… There was nothing else.

Wolf-dàgěcoughed a couple of times and said, "Ver y well, our opponent is Team Phoenix. Everyone got it?"

In the end, Yu Lian-dàsăograbbed her husband by his fur, warning him to not buy things on impulse again.

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"Team Phoenix! Might it be a team completely made up of girls?" I asked, worried. _I'm_ _really close to developing gynophobia…__8_

Lolidragon shrugged. "I'll help you ask!" She then burrowed underground, left for the main street, and grabbed hold of a random passerby.

I led the squad through the tunnel as per usual, preparing to step into the arena. Odd Squad's fame now was no longer what it used to be. Our unusual team composition, odd team name, and unorthodox combat strategies and moves had already achieved some level of fame within 'Second Life'. Add to that the notoriety of the Beautiful Blood Elf, our team's fame had increase exponentially. _Listen! These cheers sure are loud and_ _they're all shouting, _"Go Team Phoenix!", "Defeat Odd Squad…", "Odd Squad'snothing! Long live Team Phoenix!"

I stopped in my tracks, my ire rising as I thought, _What is this?_ During the previous seven battles, even if the spectators didn't yell out Odd Squad's name when our team was announced, they would at least call out my name or nickname… _But how is it that I don't_ _hear that at all now? Even if you look down on us, there should be a limit!_

"There's nothing we can do. After all, this is Sun City – it's Team Phoenix's territory," Lolidragon said lazily. "And from what I hear, Team Phoenix is made up of six beautiful men."

"Six beautiful men?" I asked with some enthusiasm, thinking, _There's going to be eye_ _candy!_

Hearing my words, Gui looked at me with a hurt expression. "I'm a beautiful man too!"

"Does Prince-gēge like beautiful men? Just like Doll; Doll likes beautiful men too!" Doll said, looking delighted, but the others' faces were filled with suspicion. _Crap_…

"No way, I don't like beautiful men, I was only thinking about how much I will enjoy beating them into the ground. Let's hurry up and go, hahaha," I said and gave a false laugh before quickly continuing forward. _Whew… That was close; I almost let it slip._

But I walked away too quickly and missed hearing my teammates' discussion at the back, saying…

"To think that what Lolidragon said was true."

"Prince has that kind of inclination and so does Gui. It's such a loss for women all over the Earth…"

8** Gynophobia: **A fear of women. There is also a fictional phobia called_venustraphobia_which supposedlymeans a fear of beautiful women.

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"Then why does he like beating Gui up?"

"Didn't you hear how excited he was about beating up the six beautiful men? Maybe Prince is a closet sadist!"

"'To hit is to care, to scold is to love'?"9

"Then I should allow Prince to hit me more often…?" Gui questioned.

In unison, the rest of the team said, "Yes! So long as you don't lose any levels."

Listening to their conversation, Lolidragon broke out in cold sweat and muttered under her breath, "This has nothing to do with me, this has nothing to do with me."

We were about to step out of the passageway. I adjusted my facial muscles, adopted a cold expression, and then prepared to look at the beautiful men… Ah, no! What I meant was, prepared to step onto the arena floor.

I was about to step out of the tunnel when my eyes landed on the six so-called beautiful men. In one glance, the image of six guys whose bodies were contorted into strange poses entered my view…

_GROSS! My stomach…!_

Honestly, they didn't look too bad — their eyes looked like eyes, their noses looked like noses (_Otherwise what?_)… However, according to my standards, apart from myself, my brother, and Gui, I've not yet met anyone else who was handsome enough to sigh over.

_They merely look passable, yet the six of them dared to wear pure white outfits, complete with matching weapons, cloaks, and stand there in that sort of pose? And what's with the roses in their mouths? _I should also mention that their members belonged only to tworaces – they were all either elves or holymen.

I immediately made up my mind to teach these six guys, who thought far too highly of themselves, a lesson. _They will face the consequences of not living up to my expectations_ _and then learn what a truly beautiful man is! Wahahaha!_

"Gui, come here!" I said, and Gui nearly went crazy with joy upon hearing that sentence. "Let us acquaint these brainless flirts with what makes up a _real_ beautiful man."

9** To hit is to care, to scold is to love: **This is a common saying. In Chinese, it's "打是情、骂是爱" (_prn._dăshì qíng, mà shì ài).

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**Chapter 2: Food is Invincible! **

Icy expression_? Check!_

Blood Tiara? _Check!_

Hairstyle? _Check!_

Clothes? _Check!_

_All checked! Wahaha, everything's perfect and in place! _After a short three seconddeliberation, I'd decided to use the "icy bad boy" strategy, as per usual. After all, isn't it widely known that girls dig bad boys?

I looked at Gui and thought, _Not bad, not bad at all_! Under my coercion, (_Weird; when I_ _threatened to beat him up, he refused to cooperate, but when I threatened not to beat him up, he agreed… Is he a masochist?_) he too adopted the attitude of an aloof bad boy —and he seemed to be even better at it than I was!

_So handsome…Whoops! _I shook my head, flinging off the two hearts that had replacedmy eyes, and resumed my cold and impassive appearance.

"Let's go, Gui." I walked out into the arena at a stately pace, looking like the epitome of style.

"Hello everyone, I am Xiao Li, your commentator for this match! Emerging from the left entrance of the arena right now is Team Phoenix, consisting of four elf warriors, a holyman priest, and a holyman mage. They're a very strong team specializing in offense; up to this point, no team has managed to stand against their attacks," reported Xiao Li excitedly. "These six beautiful men have made all the ladies go wild — just listen to them cheer! It sure looks like this team has got quite a few supporters here in their home city!

"And coming in from the right is…" Xiao Li's voice trailed off as he flipped through his log book, his heart skipping a beat at the unusual name. _Odd Squad? If I remember_ _correctly, their team members are…_

As Gui and I stepped out of the tunnel and into the arena, the crowd's cheers gradually subsided into a dead silence as their gazes slowly came to center entirely on the two of us. Gui gave the other team an indifferent glance, as though he didn't see them as threat at all, thus intentionally provoking our opponents. I, on the other hand, tilted my head to one side and gave Team Phoenix a faintly sadistic smile, silently picking a fight with them.

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"And here we have Odd Squad! Their team consists of an elf warrior, an elf thief, a beastman priest, an angel necromancer, a demon bard, and a human mage. With their unique team makeup and unpredictable and diverse combat strategies and tactics, they have been the victors in every match until now," Xiao Li announced. However, as a commentator, he was clearly aware that what the spectators really wanted to know was…

"The only warrior in Odd Squad, Prince, has been dubbed by many as the 'Blood Elf' due to his cold-blooded and merciless fighting style. Of course, even more people have taken to calling him 'The Ultra–Gorgeous Prince'! In addition, there is also another, equally rare, beautiful man on their team: Guiliastes, whose devilish and unearthly beauty has also earned its share of attention. In Odd Squad's home city, Star City, the two of them have been gained reputations as "extremely hot guys"… In any case, ladies, you're in for some serious eye candy!"

"What is he, a commentator for a beauty pageant?" Lolidragon murmured to herself.

"_Aiyah_! It'd be great if this really were a beauty pageant; then we wouldn't have to put so much effort into fighting. We'd probably emerge as the champions right away," Yu Lian-dàsăosaid confidently.

Lolidragon and I looked suspiciously at Yu Lian-dàsăo. _Has her extraordinary sense of_

_beauty been cured?_

Yu Lian looked lovingly at her husband, Ugly Wolf. "With Wolf here, we would definitely win."

…_Nope, not cured yet._

"Dàgē,they have four warriors. How are we going to fight them? What's our strategy for this round?"

On the surface, my expression remained as aloof as ever, but in secret, I was hurriedly PMing Wolf-dàgē.The four warriors across from me were so furious that their faces looked awfully twisted. I suspected that there was a high possibility that the instant the referee shouted "Begin!", they would come charging directly at me to skin me alive and swallow me whole… _I have no interest in becoming pieces of human sashimi!_

"Hmm… This'll be a bit tricky. This team is mostly made up of warriors and although their team composition might not be effective against monsters, it works pretty well in this tournament. The best method now is for you and Doll to stall them and then have Yu Lian cast a powerful spell to finish them off in one go." Wolf-dàgēpaused and

considered the situation for a moment longer before continuing, "Lolidragon, your job is to assassinate their mage. Gui will support both the defenders and Lolidragon."

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"Stall four warriors?" I laughed weakly and put on my most innocent and pitiful look. "Dàgē,d on't you think that you're overestimating my ability? Even Superman faces only one adversary per episode!"

Wolf-dàgēreplied calmly, "Unfortunately, you're not Superman, so you'll have to handle four enemies. Remember! Even if it means dying, you must stall them. Of course, if you can avoid losing a level, then all the better."

_Waaah! How heartless! _I thought, mentally crying._ This is warrior abuse… _Crying aside,I resigned myself to my fate, unsheathed Black Dao, took out Meatbun, and began contemplating which technique to use in this situation. _Ah!_ I suddenly recollected that Meatbun had a move that seemed quite appropriate for this sort of situation.

"Haha, why are you taking out a bun here in the arena? Don't tell me that you have to eat buns to get your strength to fight? That's right, eat up! You don't look like you weigh much. When the wind blows, you'll probably just get blown away!" the elf warrior standing at the very front jeered while looking contemptuously at Meatbun.

"That meat bun has eyes. Don't tell me it's a pet? A pet _bun_? Ahahahaha!" The elf warriors opposite me all broke out into laughter.

"Let me show you what a real pet is like!" said the holyman priest, and a ball of flames seemed to emerge above his head, unfurling into…

"A fire phoenix?" Wolf-dàgēexclaimed in shock upon seeing it.

"It's so beautiful!" Doll cried out in admiration.

"This is bad; the odds are heavily stacked against us in this situation," Wolf-dàgēsaid worriedly. _As should be expected of Wolf-dàg__ē__,to be able to im mediately recover from_ _his initial shock and begin analyzing the situation_, I thought. "Yu Lian specializes in firemagic, so it'll be futile for her to attack the fire phoenix. Doll's skeletons will be occupied with stalling the warriors. This means that the best solution left to us is a pet VS pet fight…"

As soon as he said those words, we turned and looked at Meatbun, who was bouncing excitedly on my palm, squealing "Whee! Whee!".We then lifted our heads and looked at the fire phoenix soaring majestically in the sky.

"The odds are definitely against us," I remarked.

"Battle, begin!" shouted the referee.

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_What? It's already begun? I haven't thought of a way for a meat bun to defeat a fire phoenix yet! …Never mind, I doubt I'll be able to come up with a way in this lifetime anyway._

"Meatbun, _Machine Gun Meat Attack_," I ordered. Holding Meatbun in my left hand, I fired continuously at the four warriors, sweeping from side to side. While the damage from the meat bullets wasn't very high, the hits were still painful, plus…

"My god, what is this? It's so sticky and gross!"

As expected, the opposing team began to wail and complain. _Heh heh, this is Meatbun's_ _still-raw-and-dripping-blood _Machine Gun Meat Attack_, with a grossness level that's beyond the tolerance of a person who has not cooked before._

"Fire Phoenix, stop that meat bun's attack." The priest of the opposing team hurriedly ordered the phoenix forward in order to aid the warriors on the frontline.

A surge of flames shot from Fire Phoenix's open beak, countering Meatbun's meat bullets. Instantaneously a delicious smell wafted towards me and I thought, _The raw meat_ _from Meatbun has been roasted…?_

I caught a piece, and with some skepticism, I ate it… and was duly astonished. _It's_ _sooooo delicious! God, why did you let me eat such delicious roasted meat? What will I do if I never have the opportunity to taste it again?_

"Unbelievable! If we add a fire phoenix to my Meatbun, then we would never have to worry about not having any meat to eat in the future," I said. Then I smiled coldly as I made up my mind. Lifting my Black Dao, I leveled it challengingly at the priest of the opposing team and said, "Hey, you, owner of the fire phoenix! Let's make a bet, a bet on which team will win this match!"

Team Phoenix was stunned at first, then all of its members began guffawing.

With some difficulty, the priest managed to stop laughing and said in a tone of utmost contempt, "You think your team will win? How? Using a meat bun to beat a fire phoenix?"

I didn't answer and merely continued to smile tauntingly at him.

As I expected, there wasn't any guy alive would could stay calm when taunted by a beautiful fellow like me. Enraged, the priest snapped, "Fine. What are the stakes?"

"Your fire phoenix – if Team Phoenix loses, you'll give us your fire phoenix. If Odd Squad loses, I'll commit suicide over and over again until I hit level one."

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The priest smiled darkly. "No problem! Just you wait; you'll be retraining from level one all over again."

"Prince, aren't you acting too rashly?" Lolidragon asked concernedly over the team channel.

I didn't answer right away. Instead, I tossed some roasted meat to each of my teammates. They looked dazedly at the roasted meat in their hands, and gave me uncomprehending looks. Finally, with some hesitation, Lolidragon took a bite of the roasted meat…

"Ahhh, it's just _too_ delicious! My god, I've never eaten such heavenly roasted meat before! The fresh and juicy meat, together with the searing heat of the fire phoenix's flame, creating a tender roast that's been cooked to perfection, with every bite filled with such goodness… It's definitely a delicacy that can't be created using ordinary meat and an ordinary oven. It's so divine that I'm moved to tears! Prince, even if you die till you reach the negative hundredth level, you have to find a way to get that fire phoenix, you hear me?!" Lolidragon roared.

"_ROAR_! Even if I have to kick them to death, Fire Phoenix is ours!" Wolf-dàgēbellowed.

"We can save lots on food money!" Yu Lian-dàsăo's smile was serene, but the shadow behind her smiling face was way more hair-raising than Wolf-dàgē'sbellowing.

"_Undead creature bone dragon from the remotest depths of hell, abandon your slumber_ _and answer the call of the necromancer, Doll. Come and help Doll snatch roasted meat to eat!_" After swallowing the roasted meat, Doll actually summoned the terrifyingundead creature – an undead bone dragon – which she had originally refused to ever summon again.

"If Prince wants something then I will help him get it, using whatever means possible!" Gui said, emitting a frosty aura once again.

All six members of Odd Squad broke into bloodcurdling grins, all the while mumbling, "I want to eat roasted meat" and "Fire Phoenix is ours".

"W-why do t-they suddenly seem so fired up?" the priest stammered. His face was pale as a sheet as he looked at the six hungry wolves in front of him.

"N-no worries; even if they have a bone dragon, it's no problem. Fire Phoenix is the nemesis of all undead creatures," one of the warriors said shakily, attempting to reassure his teammates.

"Gui- Berserk! Doll- the bone dragon, over here," I shouted.

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"Got it. _Berserk Melody_." Gui began to play, casting _Berserk Melody_ on Lolidragon and I, increasing our strength and agility to 150%. The buff would last for ten minutes.

"Bone dragon, go!" Not a trace of fear could be seen in Doll's demeanor as she calmly directed the undead creature.

I leapt onto the bone dragon and we charged at the elf warriors directly in front of us. At the same time, Fire Phoenix came rushing towards us under its owner's orders, and it looked as though we were about to crash. _Hmph!_, I sneered coldly. _Don't assume that my_ _Meatbun can only spit meat. Maybe it can't win directly against a fire phoenix, but… Heh heh! "Ensnaring" it is a simple matter._

"Meatbun, use _QQ Dough Wrap_ and bind Fire Phoenix," I said, throwing the meat bun in my hand at the fire phoenix. It immediately began to stretch like soft dough and pinned itself to the fire phoenix's wings. The fire phoenix gave a loud wail and plummeted to the ground, struggling furiously.

Without any more obstacles in front of us, the bone dragon and I were about to crash into the four pale-faced elf warriors. Just then, the enemy mage managed to finish casting the spell for a barrier, catching the bone dragon and I off guard. We slammed into it, receiving quite a bit of damage.

I pressed on, ignoring the pain, and asked Doll to make the bone dragon fly higher, over the barrier. However, just when I planned to attack, the enemy mage began to fire a continuous stream of small-scale magical projectiles at us to impede my advance. The bone dragon and I flew around dodging the projectiles while keeping an eye on the four warriors, making sure that they did not dare to step outside the mage's barrier.

After a few minutes of this impasse…

"Urgh!" The holyman mage couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the dagger sticking out of his chest. He quickly turned into a pillar of white light and flew off while Lolidragon gave an evil chuckle from behind, right where the mage had been standing. Then, before the warriors in front even sensed her presence, she used her _Burrowing_ skill again to get back to where the rest of Odd Squad was.

The end was in sight.

"Hahahahaha!" Perched atop the bone dragon, I laughed manically. My wild and arrogant demeanor sent several girls into a dead faint, unable to take the sight anymore.

"…_Meteor Shower_," Yu Lian-dàsăorecited the last line of the spell with a smile and instantaneously nearly a dozen meteors rained down from the skies, crashing onto the arena floor with earth-shaking booms. Finally, four columns of white light flew off, leaving only a warrior – the one who had laughed at Meatbun – collapsed on the ground.

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As per usual, I maintained the air of a conqueror as I hopped off the bone dragon. For a moment I stared at my opponent, a merciless look in my eyes, and then I drove Black Dao through his weak and unresisting body, sending him to the rebirth point to relive his life as an elf.

"Odd Squad, victory!" The judge shouted a line that I had heard seven times before.

After that, I picked my invincible Meatbun up from the floor.

System notice: Meatbun has reached level 40, Meatbun has learned a new ability: Roasted Meatbun

We successfully received the fire phoenix, which had reverted to the form of an egg. (When the ownership of a pet changes hands, the pet will revert to the form of an egg, go through the ownership ceremony again, be demoted a level as though it has died once, and its loyalty will decrease to 50/100.) We then began discussing who the fire phoenix should be given to.

"First, take Doll and me off the list. I already have Meatbun, and Doll can summon many undead minions, so neither of us needs this pet egg," I said after some thought.

"Mm, I don't need it either. I don't believe that I need a pet to protect me," Wolf-dàgē said, flexing his impressive muscles.

"Neither do I; Wolf will protect me." Yulian-dàsăoand Wolf -dàgēstared at each other ardently.

"I don't want it. I can't rear pets…"

I recollected Lolidragon's bloody, tear–filled history with pets. _That might be for the best._ _Otherwise, Lolidragon will be setting a new record by killing an immortal fire phoenix, and adding yet another chapter to that bloody history._

"So we're left with…Gui?"

"Me? Yay, then I can roast meat together with His Highness!" Anticipation was written all over Gui's face.

"It's roasting meat with Meat-bunbun!"

The whole of Odd Squad laughed long and loud.

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"Oh, come on, Prince, sometimes you've got to reward Gui as well! Roasting meat with him isn't that big a deal, right?" Wolf-dàgēsaid, patting me on the back heartily.

"Huh? I wasn't the one who said that!" I replied.

However, I found myself wondering, _Did I really not say that…?_

"That voice was so adorable, so it was probably Doll who said it, right?" Lolidragon guessed.

"Eh?" Doll raised her small face. Her mouth was stuffed with food, making it impossible for her to speak.

_Then who on earth was it?_

"Here! Mama."

_Mama? _I could feel Meatbun struggling in my hand.

_No way! A meat bun with eyes is already unbelievable enough, but a _talking_ meat bun?! _Islowly lowered my head to look at Meatbun, but only saw its watery eyes looking at me as usual.

"Mama." Meatbun's little mouth suddenly opened, saying that word, and I froze in shock.

_Mama? Is it referring to me?_

The other members of Odd Squad realized that an event as incomprehensible as aliens invading Earth, Stephen Chow10 acting in a tearjerker, or A-mei 11 doing a strip dance had taken place. All of them were now staring with wide eyes at the talking meat bun.

"Everyone, don't stare at Meat-bunbun like that. Meat-bunbun is shy…" At this, two red spots slowly appeared on Meatbun's 'cheeks'.

…_It's a girl? I mean, a female meat bun?_

"Why did you call me 'Mama'?" _Don't tell me that my real gender has been discovered_ _by a meat bun? It's possible, since my Meatbun had a wisdom level of ten when it was only level one!_

"Mama is Mama…" Meatbun said as it lowered its 'head', an endearingly innocent look on its face. It was even rubbing against my palm, seeking affection.

**Stephen Chow: **Famous Hong Kong actor, comedian, and film director. He has acted in tons ofcomedies over the decades, such as Kung Fu Hustle.

**A-mei: **Famous Taiwanese pop singer and often called a diva of the Mandarin pop scene.

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_It's so adorable! But, waaah! I'm not even married yet and already I'm a mom! Plus, my child is a meat bun… I wonder if it's a boy or a girl?_

"Lolidragon, do pets have genders in 'Second Life'?" I asked calmly.

"Yes… And if you have two pets, they can even have babies! The chances are slim, though," Lolidragon replied. She stared at Meatbun, the cogs in her brain turning quickly.

"But Meatbun…" Lolidragon observed Meatbun with suspicion in her eyes, while I flipped Meatbun over, studying it from every angle, trying to find a clue as to its gender.

"Wouldn't it be faster if you just asked?" suggested Yu Lian-dàsăo.

"Meatbun…" After such a long examination, all we saw was a bun's white and fluffy covering, so I had to ask calmly, "…Are you a male or a female?"

Meatbun's eyes were wide and filled with confusion. It asked, "Mama, what's 'male' and 'female'? Meat-bunbun doesn't understand."

… _Definitely a female_, we thought.

"I think the fact that she's talking is more important than her gender," Wolf-dàgēsaid gravely.

"It's because she's reached level forty," Lolidragon said as she suddenly remembered why. "When the pets in 'Second Life' reach a certain level, they gain artificial intelligence. At level forty, they begin to speak, and their artificial intelligence improves continuously according to their level."

"I see. So it's normal for pets to know how to talk?" I asked, seeing the light at last.

"Mmhmm." Lolidragon smiled weakly, embarrassed. "I forgot all about it until now."

_My daughter, ah, no! My PET can talk! _I happily pinched Meatbun here, there, and allover. As I pinched…

"It hurts, it hurts, Meat-bunbun is hurt, it hurts!" Meatbun squealed. Her watery-looking eyes became REALLY watery. One teardrop, two teardrops… HUGE teardrops began to fall from Meatbun's eyes, which finally became two faucets that were completely out of control.

"_Waaah, waaah, wuuuaaah… waaah…!_"

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"Ah! Meatbun's crying, what should I do?" I asked. I felt at a complete loss as to what to do as I watched the meat bun that was crying uncontrollably in my hand. _How does one_ _comfort a meat bun?_

"It's like a faucet." Lolidragon looked at the floor, which was beginning to show signs of a potential flood.

"That's great; we don't even need to bring water along in the future!" Yu Lian-dàsăo said, beaming.

_After ten minutes…_

"Prince, I should warn you in advance that I don't know how to swim!" Lolidragon was looking at the water, which had already risen to her waistline, clearly wanting to cry.

Holding the two faucets in my hand, I smiled stupidly, completely in a daze…

"Let's get out of here! This is such a high class restaurant. Now that we've flooded their booth, the compensation will definitely cost quite a bit."

Wolf-dàgēdidn't look very concerned about t he flood. It wasn't surprising, since he was so tall; he would definitely have been the last person to drown, anyway.

"Our reputation level has gone down again."

We had successfully used the ruckus caused by opening the booth door and letting the water flow out to escape, but we couldn't prevent our reputation level from going down again. Yu Lian-dàsăolooked at the team's reputation level and then turned to look at me, wearing that terrifying shadowy smile.

"Prince, take good care of your daughter Meatbun. Don't let her cause any more trouble, okay?"

"Okay." _Waaaaah!__ă__o'sterrifyingDàs shadowy_ _-yet-gentle smile is simply spine-_

_chilling! I'm scared…_

I looked angrily at my daughter Meatbun. Grabbing her in one swoop, I wanted to give her a good spanking. However, just as I was about to swing my hand down, Meatbun looked at me in confusion with those incredibly large, innocent, and guileless eyes. "Mama?"

_Waaah, now how am I supposed to spank her?_

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Lolidragon patted me on the back and said, "Forget it. What's the point of spanking a meat bun? It would be better to just ask her to spit out more meat for us to eat!"

"You're right. Gui, quick – get Fire Phoenix to hatch," I urged, drooling at the thought of roasted meat.

"Okay." Gui bit his finger, breaking the skin, and dripped some blood onto the fire phoenix egg. Wide-eyed, we waited for the fire phoenix to emerge.

We didn't have to wait for long before the familiar form of Fire Phoenix appeared before our eyes. The members of the Odd Squad hugged each other joyfully. _Now there'll be_ _roasted meat to eat!_

Pet name: Fire Phoenix | Level: 41 | Abilities: Heaven's Blazing Flame | Loyalty: 50/100

Heaven's Blazing Flame_, that's the ability! That's the incredible ability that roasted the_ _meat in an instant!_

I hurriedly held Meatbun out. Lolidragon immediately took out a foldable table. Yu Lian-dàsăorushed to set the table with plates and chopsticks. Wolf -dàgēnervously held a huge pot, worried that he would miss catching even a single piece of meat, and Doll… was already sitting at the table, a napkin around her neck, ready to eat.

"Gui." I signaled, my gaze determined. "Come on!"

"Yes." Gui looked at the fire phoenix flying in the sky.

Gui and I shouted in unison:

"Meatbun, _Machine Gun Meat Attack_."

"Fire Phoenix, _Heaven's Blazing Flame_."

There was only silence. The highly-anticipated aromatic roasted meat was nowhere in sight.

"Mama, that's Gui. Does Mama want to fight Gui?" Meatbun turned its head to look at me in concern. _I…_

"Hmph, who do you think you are to order the immortal Fire Phoenix around?" An unfamiliar and proud voice came from the sky.

However, this time, none of us were surprised. We merely lifted our heads to look at the sky.

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"Fire Phoenix is already level forty-one," Lolidragon said stiffly. "Moreover, its loyalty is too low, so it's not very obedient," she added.

"Crap, then what about our roasted meat?" I asked, looking stonily at the recalcitrant Fire Phoenix.

"Little children must be spanked in order for them to listen," Yu Lian-dàsăosmiled.

"You'll scald your hands if you spank Fire Phoenix…" I said. _I want to smack it, but I'm_ _scared of getting hurt!_

In the end, since the rebellious Fire Phoenix refused to obey, Odd Squad could only return dejectedly to the city to purchase some meat buns to eat. We were unable to beat up Fire Phoenix despite our hunger – so we could only vent our anger on Gui and order him to raise Fire Phoenix's loyalty as quickly as possible.

However, from Gui's grievous howls of pain after being scalded by the phoenix's flames, we realized that it would be a long time before we could have any roasted meat to eat…

_Waaah…I'm so hungry!_

Wolf-dàgēbellowed half -heartedly, "Listen up, guys! Although we're all really hungry, the next battle must still be fought. Just hang in there for another two rounds and we'll be able to enter the finals."

"Our opponent for the next battle is 'Hell's Murderers'," Wolf-dàgēsaid. His tone suddenly became serious. "According to the information Lolidragon obtained from interrogating Passerby A, this team's combat strength is considerable. Moreover, their fighting style is quite violent and cruel. The battlefield never failed to become a river of blood after every battle, and some of the spectators would definitely faint at the sight of all that blood. I'm afraid that they'll prove to be difficult opponents."

_Are they really that scary? _I furrowed my brows and asked, "What's their team's line-up?"

"They're all humans. A priest, a mage, a warrior, a necromancer, a thief, and a bard."

I was astonished. "Their classes are exactly the same as ours?"

"And they have two pet dragons." Wolf-dàgēheaved a sigh.

_While we have a meat bun and a disobedient fire phoenix, _I added mentally. "This isgoing to be really tricky. Will they disembowel me?" I asked, worried.

"Very likely, yes," Wolf- dàgēanswered heavily.

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_I'm scared! I want to cry…_

At that moment, Passerby A was talking to his friend B.

"Do you know what happened? I was kidnapped by Odd Squad just now." Passerby A looked close to tears.

"Are you serious? My god, you were actually captured by the terrifying Odd Squad?" asked Friend B.

"Yeah, they wanted me to give them information about Hell's Murderers. After I finished, they seemed very anxious!"

"Anxious? Hell's Murderers may be scary, but they can't compare to the scary-beyond-comprehension Odd Squad… The very sight of that beautiful fellow who smiles so evilly even as he hacks people to pieces can give people nightmares."

"And that spirit-like beauty who keeps appearing behind people's backs… After she kills someone, she never fails to laugh callously!"

"And that scary bone dragon, plus those skeletons burning with a black fire…"

"And also that fortress-like wolfman… plus that mage who seems so gentle and yet uses _Meteor Shower _to annihilate her opponents."

"Odd Squad is just _tooooo_ SCARY!" both Passerby A and Friend B exclaimed in unison.

_Meanwhile, with Hell's Murderers…_

"Has everyone heard about our opponents for this coming match?" their elected leader, Blood-soaked Demon King – a mage – asked with a grim expression.

"We've heard…"

"How can we, Hell's Murderers, allow someone else to be more terrifying than we are?" Blood-soaked Demon King demanded furiously. "We swore that we'd become the ones whose names would make children cry upon hearing them, the ones whom adults would have nightmares about… The demon kings of 'Second Life'! How can we let that Odd

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Squad become OUR nightmares? This is just too pathetic… We have to defeat them in as terrifying and violent a manner as possible and become THEIR nightmare!"

"BECOME NIGHTMARES!" After the team gave a mighty shout in unison, one of the members suddenly shivered.

"But Odd Squad is really scary!" he added.

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**Chapter 3: Odd Squad Strikes Back **

"Ahahaha…" I laughed callously. "Hahahaha, I'm not scared. I'm not scared! Hahaha!"

"Looks like Prince is really scared…" Ugly Wolf looked helplessly at me, who had been laughing maniacally in a corner for a while now.

"Well, he's always been the one who slaughters everyone in his path. Now that the time for retribution has arrived, obviously he'd be scared!" Lolidragon responded indifferently.

"What do we do, then? With things like this, how are we going to compete?" Yu Lian asked, her voice filled with anxiety. "Don't tell me we're going to have to forfeit!"

"Haha, it's okay; don't worry about him. Prince has always been like this! He's routinely scared half to death before the fight, but once the battle actually commences, he'll become their most enthusiastic opponent by far. Don't worry, don't worry!" Lolidragon replied, laughing heartily.

"Is that so…?"

"It's time," Wolf-dàgēsaid calmly.

Hearing that, I stood up and turned, holding Black Dao in my left hand. "It's time to kill people," I said emotionlessly.

_I'm not really sure why, but no matter how scared I am before a fight, somehow, I always manage to calm down the moment I step in the arena and feel the weight of the spectators' gaze on me. Although I still can't think of a way to defeat the two dragons using a meat bun and a disobedient fire phoenix…didn't we still win even though I couldn't think of a way to defeat a fire phoenix with a meat bun? Wahaha, this is called "Heaven watches over the good guys"… (Actually, it's more like "God looks out for fools, drunks, and little children"!)__12_

As usual, I was the first to enter the arena. Hell's Murderers had only just emerged from the tunnel, led by a person garbed in a blood-red mage's robe.

12** Heaven watches over the good guys… God looks out for fools, drunks, and little children: **WhatPrince actually says here are two separate proverbs. The first is "吉人自有天相" (_prn._ jī rénŏuāntizì y xiàng), which means that the heavens will ensure that no harm comes to good people (like heroes). The second is "傻人有傻福" (_prn._ shărénŏuăfú),shy which means that "even fools have a fool's luck",

implying that heaven grants an extra dose of luck to fools.

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"That's the Blood-soaked Demon King, a frost-type mage. He loves to skewer his opponents using giant icicles. He's the most terrifying figure in Hell's Murderers," Lolidragon explained.

"Skewer? So the worst that could happen is that I'd get a hole through my stomach? That's not too bad… You guys nearly scared me to death! I thought he would XXX out my intestines and stuff them into my mouth, Then XXX my heart from my chest as it dripped with blood. After that, he would crack my skull wide open, splattering the ground with the soft white brain XXX as it spews from the wound…" I heaved a sigh of

relief. _All that talk about them being the scariest team ever; I was terrified for nothing!_

"Your Highness! I beg of you, please don't say any more!" Gui's face had grown frightfully pale as he listened to my XXX-filled commentary. With a hand covering her mouth, Lolidragon growled from between gritted teeth, "If you say anymore, I'm going to puke up even my breakfast!"

"Heheh, sorry about that! It's just that I've been watching too many horror movies lately…" Thinking back to the horror movie I had watched last night, I realized that I'd gotten those ideas from the homicidal psychopath who had slaughtered his victims using similar methods. I laughed, embarrassed and feeling somewhat foolish.

Just then, Blood-soaked Demon King – who was standing across from me – suddenly spoke. In an ominous voice, he said slowly, "Today, I am going to turn Odd Squad into a barbequed meat kabob. I'm going to skewer each of you one by one and then let my pet dragon slowly burn you all alive. I am going to acquaint you with REAL TERROR!"

I merely smiled impassively. "Shall we begin?"

My indifferent attitude seemed to have driven my opponent into an inarticulate rage, and several veins popped on his forehead…

"What's there to be mad about right now?" I asked, chuckling. "Wait until after I XXX open your stomach, XXX out your intestines, and then use them as a rope to tie you up with. Then I'll XXX up your skull, extract your brain, and get Fire Phoenix to roast it into a crisp using _Heaven's Blazing Flame_. I'll XXX it in your mouth and, finally, drench you in a sauce made of your own fresh blood! It won't be too late for you to be mad then!"

_Wahaha, it would be just like the movie I watched the day before yesterday. _That day,after watching it with my brother, I even deliberately created some new recipes. Using high quality tofu that was as white as brain XXX and fresh red beans that were as vibrant as fresh blood, I made red bean tofu soup for him. That was the first time in his life my brother skipped dinner…

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_Was I too evil? Well, who asked him to keep repeating in my ear for three days straight that Dark Emperor had already made it past the preliminaries, and were now in the finals? Stupid brother, do you know how much pressure this puts on me?!_

The throbbing veins on Blood-soaked Demon King's face disappeared without a trace. Instead, his face had become white as a sheet and his hands were trembling slightly. He was probably imagining himself being tied up in his intestines, watching helplessly as his own brain was sliced up and roasted to a crisp then XXX down his throat, before finally being drenched in his own blood… _(I don't think you'd still be alive by that time…)_

_But won't I be plagiarizing the movie? _I pondered for a while._ Would I be charged for theft of intellectual property? Or why don't we…._

"Gouge out his eyeballs and stuff them up his ass?" _Nope, can't do that; that was from_ _the horror movie three days ago._

"Bury him alive and then flay his skin?" _If I recall correctly, this was one of the ten_ _major torture methods of the Qing Dynasty!_

"Cut off all four limbs and throw them into a cesspit?" _Where am I going to find a_ _cesspit?_

"Carve his flesh slowly off him, slice by slice?" _Don't they call this "rending flesh from_ _bone"?_

"Castration?" _…I don't think he can die from that. According to the game's design, that_ _area isn't a weak spot for attacks…right?_

"Stuff my blade up his ass? No, that'd be filthy." _How can I sully my darling Black Dao_ _like that!_

I let out a sigh. "I never realized that coming up with new methods of torture and execution would be so difficult. Forget it, I'll just pick one of those methods and use it. Let's start! Referee…eh? Where did everyone go?" I looked everywhere around me, but… _Strange, I'm the_ only _person left in the_ whole _arena?_

"Where's Blood-soaked Demon King?" I looked at the deserted arena in front of me. _Our_ _opponents have disappeared? _I turned to ask my teammates where our opponents hadgone, but… "Lolidragon? Wolf-dàgē?Gui?ăo?Doll?Dàs Where have they all

disappeared to?"

Just then, an announcement came over the broadcasting system, accompanied by the sound of vomiting. "Everyone…this is your commentator, Xiao Li. As the competitor Prince's descriptions were simply excessively violent and gruesome— *_BARF_* …It has caused all of the competitors to flee from the arena. I presume they are in the

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restrooms…vomiting. There are still five more minutes before the match must start. If not a single member from Hell's Murderers has returned before the five minutes are up, the victory will be awarded to the team that still has a member in the arena, Odd Squad… *_BARF_*"

_At this moment, in the restrooms…_

The members of Odd Squad were shouting loudly as one. "Prince, you're dead meat! *_BARF_*"

The members of Hell's Murderers next to them were sobbing from fear. "No matter what, there's no way we're going back there! *_BARF_*"

"*_BARF_* Odd Squad, victory!" the referee announced.

Standing alone in the middle of the arena, I twiddled my fingers, muttering in a small voice, "I didn't do it on purpose…"

I had only just left the arena when Lolidragon approached me with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Prince, you're DEAD MEAT!"

"You caused me to puke up even last night's dinner!" Yu Lian-dàsăosaid, and her terrifying shadowy smile appeared again.

"Prince-gēge, Doll is very scared!"

_Scared? If you're truly frightened, why is the expression on your face reminiscent of the time you summoned the bone dragon to try to get that delicious roasted meat, Doll?_

"_Sigh_. Prince, you know that I have always thought of you as a younger brother…" said Wolf-dàgē.

_Then please don't wave your two meter-long staff around… You're even doing warm up exercises? Wolf-dàg__ē__,don't you know how humiliating it'll be for a warrior to be slaughtered by a priest using sheer brute force?_

"Your Highness…" Gui looked worried.

Seeing that a dagger, two magic staves, and a skeletal hand were about to come crashing down on my head, I could only throw Gui a pitiful look and tragically cry out, "Gui, _save_ _meeeee!_"

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Unable to bear the sight of me getting hurt, Gui immediately flew forward to shield me. "Don't beat up his Highness!"

A small brawl ensued, in which fists and feet were not the only things used — even slippers, forks, and knives came flying my way. I hid beneath Gui, protected securely by his body, narrowly escaping the storm of attacks.

I gazed gratefully at Gui, whose body no longer bore any resemblance to a human's.

_Strange, why isn't he dead yet? Actually, come to think of it, Wolf-dàg__ē__'shealing spells have been leveling up largely because of Gui's "assistance". _In my heart, I silentlyvowed not to beat Gui up too badly next time.

"Prince! You really are despicable," Lolidragon panted, worn out from the fight.

"How is that true? You had an enjoyable time beating someone into a pulp, I didn't have to endure any pain, and Gui's masochism has been satisfied. We've killed multiple birds with a single stone, so why not? Hahaha." _I really am coolly calculating, heh heh!_

"I wonder why ē?theI'mtournamentst committee was looking for Dàg arving, I want to

eat."

A moment before, the system had broadcasted out of the blue that the tournament committee wanted our team leader to go see them. They said that they needed to discuss something with us…

_Don't tell me that they're not going to count our victory just now? Do we have to fight again? I don't want to… I've already been dealt with so harshly by my team members. If they nullify our victory, I will really use the ten major torture methods of the Qing dynasty on the tournament committee members._

"You really love to eat. It makes me wonder if you really are a girl…"

Lolidragon suddenly realized that she had made a blunder. My face paled as I looked at Dàsăoand Doll.

"…A girl's dream guy."

"…" _Great save, Lolidragon!_ I let out a relieved sigh.

"Wolf is back!" Yu Lian-dàsăohad spotted him from afar.

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"_Sigh_. Everyone, I have some not-very-bad-but-still-bad news." Wolf-dàgēfurrowed his brows together. "We still have to fight one more match."

"Now? Right now?" _But I'm hungry…_

"To be precise, we have twenty more minutes."

"Gui…" We all looked worriedly at Gui, who was lying on the ground like a misshapen lump of mud.

"I'll heal him up, don't worry." Wolf-dàgēsaid, before adding, "These injuries are nothing compared to the ones he receives when Prince beats him up."

…I pretended not to hear that_._

"Spirit Spirit Team is our next opponent. Also, the reason why we are fighting twice in a row is because we're one of the last remaining teams in the preliminaries. The tournament committee wishes to conclude the preliminaries today," Wolf-dàgēsaid, his voice troubled.

"The damn thing is, there's no time for us to wring information about our opponents out of random passersbys. However, our opponents know exactly what they're up against, since they probably saw everything that transpired in our previous match. The situation is clearly very unfavorable for us."

"Bat's beri unhayeraber hor arshe," I said indistinctly through a mouthful of _mantou_.

"That might not be true. Luckily for us, there was no fighting at all during the match just now, so at most, they would know our classes," Yu Lian-dàsăosaid with a comforting smile.

"I hope that's true…"

_In the arena…_

"Those are…our opponents?" I forced myself to ask. _*SWEAT*_

"Looks like it." Wolf-dàgē'sbrows were knitted even more tightly together than before.

"Are you serious? You're saying that flower, that blade of grass, that tree, that rock, that pool of water, plus something that we can't see – they're our opponents?" The corner of my mouth twitched as I thought, _Isn't this a bit over-the-top?_

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"No wonder they're called Spirit Spirit Team13 — they're actually made up of a flower spirit, a grass spirit, a tree spirit, a rock spirit, a water spirit, and a wind spirit. This is bad; spirits have many sub-categories and their abilities vary widely. Plus, very few players choose to play as spirits. We have never encountered a player of the spirit race before, so our knowledge of them is simply too superficial. This will be a tough battle," Lolidragon explained worriedly.

"_Sigh_! And here I was, thinking I could try repeating the horrifying descriptions I used during the last fight, but now…" I sighed. "Lolidragon, do you think it/he/she/they will have intestines for me to yank out?"

"…No idea."

"It doesn't matter, I guess. After all, we still have to fight anyway," I said. I didn't really care who my opponent was. Instead, I moved into a fighting position, readying myself for battle.

"Prince is right. Let's wipe the floor with them!" roared Wolf-dàgēmaniacally.

I began to laugh wildly and unsheathed my Black Dao. _The last match in the preliminary_ _rounds — begin!_

The moment the match started, I immediately rushed forward, thinking to get rid of one or two of the opponents first. However, I suddenly discovered that something seemed to have twined around my foot, sending me sprawling onto the ground. Hastily, I glanced at my foot…

_Grass? The arena actually has grass for me to trip over_? I quickly hacked at the grasswith my _dao_, but just as I was about to climb to my feet, numerous long strands of grass suddenly sprouted all around me…

"Urgh." The grass had twined about my entire body, leaving me immobilized.

"Prince!" Odd Squad's members were shocked. Wolf-dàgērushed forward to where I

was and began to yank at the hindering grass while Doll directed her skeletons to cover us. Lolidragon — who had been about to burrow towards the opponents — ran over as well, desperately hacking away at the grass with her dagger.

As I struggled, I saw that the rock spirit was charging at us from the corner of my eye. My princely countenance turned ashen and yelled, "Forget about me — quick, defend yourselves!"

13** Spirit Spirit Team: **The character for "spirit", "妖" (_prn._yāo), is actually quite ambiguous – dependingon its usage, its meaning ranges from "spirit" to "demon" to "monster". In essence, it suggests a supernatural being – and not necessarily an agent for evil either, such as the fox spirit/demon in Japanese myths.

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"Skeletons, hurry forward to shield them!" Doll hastily dispatched her skeletons to bar the rock spirit's path. However, with each sweep of its thick branches, the tree spirit next to it easily sent a skeleton flying. Although it wasn't enough to destroy the skeletons, the attack hindered their movements, wasting precious time as they struggled to crawl back on their feet.

Seeing the hefty tree spirit surge forward, Yu Lian immediately cast a fireball, which sent it scurrying back to the Spirit Spirit Team. The rock spirit was unaffected, however, and instead threw a punch at Doll. Intent on pushing Doll out of harm's way, Wolf-dàgēwas struck by the heavy blow. Even with his large frame and towering height of over two meters, Wolf-dàgēwas sent flying.

"Wolf…!" Yu Lian-dàsăocried out in alarm.

"Flaming Skeletons! Quick! Fall back to defend everyone!" Doll urgently commanded her skeletons to defend against the rock spirit's onslaught.

"Gui! _Berserk Melody_! Hurry up and cast _Berserk Melody_!" I bellowed.

"Right," Gui replied, immediately casting _Berserk Melody_ on me.

I felt my strength increase. With a heroic effort, I struggled and finally managed to free my right arm. "_Bat Catching Sword!_" I sliced, hewed, cleaved, stabbed, slashed – in mere moments I had executed all sorts of sword moves to chop up the grass ensaring my body. After freeing myself, I jumped to my feet and ran urgently towards the rock spirit…

Suddenly, a pillar of water came gushing up in front of me. Surprised, I took a hurried step back. Unfortunately, having no eyes in the back of my head, I did not see the second pillar of water behind me. To make matters worse, the strength of the current in the one behind me was even stronger than the one in front. I was trapped.

"_AHHH!_" I was immediate swept away by the currents. Just as I was about to be washed right out of the arena, I stabbed my Black Dao into the ground. Hanging on for dear life, I managed to avoid getting flushed out of the arena. However, as soon as the water receded, I found myself once again bound by the grass.

_This is damn irritating! _I thought. I would hack away at the grass, only to be washedaway to the edge of the arena; when the torrent of water finally stopped, I'd once more be tangled in the grass…

In the midst of all this, I threw a glance in Doll's direction, worried about how the others were faring. Luckily, Doll and Yu Lian-dàsăowere stalling the ro ck spirit together. Gui was playing his _guqin_ and casting _Supersonic Soul-chasing Arrow_ to interfere with the enemy's attacks, but… _Wolf-dàg__ē__seems to be fighting an imaginary opponent?!_

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Abruptly, I recalled the presence of an invisible opponent – _the wind spirit! The wind_ _spirit has forced Wolf-dàg__ē__into a one -on-one fight. This is bad! Where's Lolidragon?_

I turned around to look at the other members of Spirit Spirit Team. As expected, I saw Lolidragon crouching stealthily behind the water spirit. She was planning to take it down by surprise, but…

"Lolidragon, RUN!"

Having returned to its teammates' side, the tree spirit had already raised its guard against this thief who could burrow through the ground to assassinate her opponents. As soon as it noticed her presence, it immediately swung its large tree branches at her.

"Urgh…!" Unable to evade in time, Lolidragon was struck squarely by the attack, and her HP dropped drastically. She got to her feet immediately and burrowed her way back to Odd Squad. On her way back, however, she noticed that Wolf-dàgēwas in peril and instantly rushed to his aid.

_Although it's really hard to see an invisible person with the naked eye, even an invisible person would have trouble hiding from the trained eyes of a thief. _Gui's supporting fireadded to that, and soon the wind spirit was clearly on the brink of defeat…

At that moment, the flower spirit that had remained motionless all this time unexpectedly started to chant a healing spell. Flower petals drifted slowly down onto the wind spirit's head, and we watched as its injuries healed up substantially.

"So the flower spirit is a priest!" Wolf-dàgēuttered in surprise.

Just then, the tree spirit ran over to help the wind spirit. With the addition of the incredibly strong tree spirit, it became an even match between the enemy and Lolidragon, Dàgē,and Gui. Doll and Yu Lian could only stop the rock spirit's offensive as their

attacks had no effect against the granite-like skin and thick body of the rock spirit. As for me, I was still trapped by the grass spirit and the water spirit…

_We can't go on like this! _Once again, I struggled free of the grass, and then whippedMeatbun out.

"Mama? Are you playing with water? Meat-bunbun also wants to play!" Meatbun said as it looked at my water-battered appearance with an innocent wide-eyed gaze.

_After this match, I will never play with water again! _Having little strength to resist, I wasonce again bound up by the grass spirit. "Meatbun – later, use that XXX skill to lift me out of the water while I'm being washed away by the current, you understand?"

"Oookay!"

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I hacked my way free of the grass for the Nth time and then leapt to my feet. Immediately, the stream of water began to surge towards me again.

"Meatbun, use _Take-copter_!" I cried out.14

A Take-copter suddenly grew out of the top of Meatbun's head. It began to twirl, slowly lifting Meatbun into the air, and I hung onto Meatbun for dear life. "Stay away from that water current, Meatbun," I ordered, and Meatbun immediately dodged to the left, evading the pillar of water that was spinning towards us like a hurricane.

Helpless, I had no choice but to rely on a meat bun to weave left and right while I analyzed the situation. I decided to first get rid of the grass spirit and the water spirit, both of whom would hamper my movements. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to move on ground at all.

"Meatbun, carefully approach the enemy."

"What's an 'enemy'?"

I nearly fainted upon hearing that. Instead, I said, "Go towards the people gathered over there." I leveled my Black Dao in the direction of Spirit Spirit Team.

"Oookay, Mama!" Meatbun obediently began to advance on Spirit Spirit Team.

"_Dragon Whirlwind Strike!_" I darted past a pillar of water and, like a whirlwind, I charged at the water spirit. A large gaping hole immediate appeared in that hateful water spirit's stomach, but just as I was about to send it to heaven with another thrust of my sword, my body was bound up by grass again. Worse still…

"_Icicle Spears_." Although seriously hurt, the water spirit smiled sinisterly, nearly ten icicles held in its grasp…

"_Bat Catching Sword!_" I hurriedly cut myself free of the grass, but I was still unable to dodge in time. Five icicles pierced my body.

My face turned white… _Urgh!_ It was extremely painful, but the worst injury was on my left thigh – it had been pierced by an icicle, which remained lodged there. The rest of my wounds ranged from deep gashes to light cuts. Though I still had more than half of my health left, I was once again bound and immobilized by the grass spirit…

_Waaah! _In front of me, another N number of icicles suddenly appeared!_ Looks like Spirit Spirit Team is about to fulfill Blood-soaked Demon King's will of turning me into a kebab._

14_** Take-copter**_**:**__A reference to Doraemon. Go__ wiki/Doraemon__for more information.

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"Even if I have to die, I'm taking one of them with me… Meatbun, _Dog Beating_ _Technique_!" I lobbed Meatbun at the water spirit with all my strength.

"Urgh!" One after another, spears of ice struck me piercing my left hand, waist, and shoulder – one even scraped past my forehead. Across from me, the water spirit was unable to dodge Meatbun's attack in time, but alas the flower spirit quickly healed it. I lay on the ground and watching the remnants of my HP drain away bit by bit. _Looks like I_ _can't even bring one of them down with me, damn it!_

"Prince, let's go!" Lolidragon suddenly appeared behind me and began dragging me back towards the rest of the team with all her strength. Seeing that, the grass spirit was about to use its grass to prevent us from escaping when a translucent arrow stopped it. Gui – now infuriated – began to rain a spray of arrows down on the grass spirit, forcing it to hastily use grass to protect himself, the flower spirit, and the water spirit.

"We're almost there, Prince!" Lolidragon was pulling me along as hard as she could, trying to get me close enough to Wolf-dàgēso that he could heal me. Wolf -dàgēwould

have come forward himself, but without Lolidragon and Gui's help, it was all he could do not to be killed by the wind spirit and the tree spirit. There was no way he could get himself out of his fix and come heal me.

Grasping at once the severity of Wolf-dàgē'ssituation, I bellowed urgently at Lolidragon, "Go help Wolf-dàgē!He — he can't hold them off by himself!"

Lolidragon looked at Wolf-dàgē,and then looked at me. "God damn it – if I don't help

Wolf-dàgēget rid of those two, we won't be able to save Prince at all!"

Lolidragon gritted her teeth, then let go of me and rushed over to help Wolf-dàgēfight back against his two opponents. "You have to hang in there, Prince. You hear me?!" Lolidragon roared over her shoulder as she ran.

Helpless, I could only nod my head weakly even as I thought, _Hang in there? Damn this_ _99% realism level. How am I supposed to hang in there with my HP steadily draining away thanks to my open wounds? We're not allowed to bring health potions to a match either… Crap! My consciousness is starting to become fuzzy… _I hastily shook my head,trying to clear my mind.

By this time, the water spirit's wounds were completely healed. Enraged, it sent a tidal wave towards me, but I was still lost in my hazy consciousness…

"_PRIIIINCE!_" Gui, Lolidragon, Ugly Wolf, Yu Lian, and Doll cried out in despair.

"Prince!" Gui cried out again. With a heroic effort, he leaped over and held me – now nearly unconscious – in his arms, futilely trying to shield me with his body as the tidal

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wave hit us. What little blood that was left in my body was still sufficient to stain the water red…

Suddenly my head cleared. In my heart, I understood that I was just an inch away from death. "Fight hard, Gui!"

Gui looked at me with fear starkly visible in his eyes. "Prince… No, you can't die!"

I smiled gently as my corporeal form gradually turned translucent and indistinct, before dissolving into bits of sparkling stardust. Under Gui's devastated gaze, I turned into a pillar of light and shot into the sky.

"Prince…" Gui whispered in a choked voice, clenching his hands – hands that had held Prince just moments earlier – and pounded on the ground…

"Prince…" The blood had drained from Lolidragon's face.

"How could…" Yu Lian covered her mouth, her eyes glittering with tears.

"NOOO! PRINCE!" Wolf-dàgēhowled.

"Waaaah…waaaaah, Prince-gēge!" Doll wailed and began to cry…

"Mama? Where is Mama? Waaah, waaaah…" Meatbun's two super-ultra faucets had made a comeback.

The atmosphere throughout the entire stadium seemed to have frozen/solidified. The feeling of grief began to permeate throughout the spectators, and even the members of Spirit Spirit Team seemed to be at a loss for what to do. The minutes ticked away, one by one.

Just as Spirit Spirit Team finally decided to continue the fight, the flames of fury ignited

– blazing – with Gui at the heart of the inferno…

"Fire Phoenix, as your master I command you: Burn! Send all those ignorant fools who dared to hurt my true love into the fiery depths of hell." Gui's eyes smoldered with the thirst for revenge, and even the recalcitrant Fire Phoenix knew that it wasn't a good time to disobey. He gave a long cry before he flew high up into the sky and breathed a surge of flames at Spirit Spirit Team.

The grass spirit had thought to set up a barricade, but what could grass do to impede fire? The water spirit immediately took over, using a screen of water to block the fatal flames.

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Sensing that the situation had somehow turned ominous for them, the grass spirit immediately thought of using its _Grass Weaving Technique_ against Gui. Long strands of grass suddenly sprouted from beneath Gui's feet…

"_Earthquake!_" Yu Lian casted a spell as she crouched on the ground, her right hand touching it lightly. A huge crevice instantly appeared beneath the grass spirit as the ground split in two. The grass spirit lost its footing and nearly fell into the rift, but luckily for it, the tree spirit was nearby and managed to catch it in time. However, Yu Lian only smiled lightly as she finished reciting the incantation a second time. Yet another crack ran towards both the grass spirit and the tree spirit…

"You used this move to kill Prince – do you really think I'm going to let you kill Gui too? In your dreams!" Yu Lian lightly spat out these words.

"Inferno from the darkest depths of hell, blaze upon the mighty undead creature, bone dragon! Incarnate as Hell's Inferno Dragon, prideful and haughty creature, and descend upon the human realm to aid your master in destroying all that stands in her way!" Fury was evident on Doll's stubborn face, and even having to summon the incomparably terrifying Hell's Inferno Dragon couldn't make her give up her desire to avenge Prince.

Thus, aside from Fire Phoenix with its divine flames, Spirit Spirit Team now had to contend with an additional airborne enemy – a bone dragon belching flames of darkness. Undoubtedly, for Spirit Spirit Team, it was like having hail on top of a snowstorm…no, it was like adding fuel to the fire.

The wind spirit and the rock spirit saw what was happening and immediately charged towards Odd Squad, planning to get rid of these three dangerous individuals quickly. Lolidragon darted in front of the wind spirit, however, barring its way.

"Someone once said it is a foolish endeavor to compare speeds with the wind, but I will now show you that it is even more foolish to compete against me," Lolidragon said menacingly. As she uttered those words, she flipped the two daggers in her hands and began hacking, chopping, and stabbing swiftly, forcing the wind spirit into a hasty retreat.

Ugly Wolf swung his Light of Glory, having begun to fight the rock spirit one-on-one. Technically speaking, Ugly Wolf's strength and physique clearly couldn't compare to the rock spirit's. Ugly Wolf scoffed, however, remarking silently in his heart: _Even a three-year-old kid knows how to defeat a rock; don't you just let the heat and cold deal with it?_

"Gui! Get Fire Phoenix to breathe fire at this rock spirit!" Ugly Wolf told Gui over the team channel and Gui immediately did as he was asked.

"You think fire will have an effect on me?" The rock spirit was engulfed in flames, but was unconcerned.

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Ugly Wolf grinned icily. _Oh? And what if we add water? Fine, just watch as I shatter you_ _to pieces using water… Should I ask Yu Lian for water? No, Yu Lian only has fire and earth-type spells. Not Doll, and Gui doesn't have water either, while Lolidragon is a thief._

_Crap! No water, _Ugly Wolf thought, freezing where he stood._ What should I do now? There's no way I can go up to the water spirit and say, "Hey! Can you lend me some water so I can kill the rock spirit?"…right?_

"Waaah, waaah, Mama!" Meatbun cried unceasingly at one side even as signs of imminent flooding began to present themselves.

Ugly Wolf's ugly face broke out into a hideous smile. _How unexpected, Prince. You're_ _already dead, but you didn't forget to leave such a useful "orphan" behind, _Ugly Wolfthought. He quickly scooped Meatbun up and began to negotiate with it.

"Meatbun, that rock over there caused your Mama to die. Do you want revenge?"

"Waaah… What's 'revenge'?" Meatbun asked, its huge innocent eyes widening.

Ugly Wolf scratched the fur on his head. "Just… go over to the rock spirit and cry, and your Mama will be very happy!" Ugly Wolf said, doing his best to use a cajoling tone of voice, just as one would use on children.

"Then Mama will come back? Meat-bunbun misses Mama."

"Hmm…probably!"

"Okay!" Meatbun's little face filled with resolve, and it bounced and bopped its way towards the rock spirit.

Ugly Wolf wiped cold sweat away, thinking, _It's a good thing that buns don't have_ _brains…_

The rock spirit initially stared, dumbfounded at the meat bun which hopped towards him before jumping onto its shoulder. As two pillars of water gushed forth, the rock spirit seemed to hear the sound of himself cracking. It paled in alarm and frantically began to try to grab Meatbun. "What are you doing? Get off!"

However, Meatbun's body was small, and it was quite nimble. One moment, Meatbun was on its head, the next moment, it had hopped to its shoulder, and then its arms… The two faucets began to fulfil their purpose and began to destroy the rock spirit's body.

The situation had begun to turn around…

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I left the rebirth point, experienced the after-death nausea, and then found myself somewhat rooted to the spot.

"Now what shall I do?" I mumbled to myself. Then, suddenly, I remembered. "That right! I should go and watch the match."

Worried that I would not get to the stadium in time to watch the match, I hastily grabbed a bag of _guazi_, bought a plate of fried rice, and got a can of Coke before hurrying to the stadium. I got there just in time to see Gui going berserk. Then, I found a seat and began to watch my teammates go crazy as a result of my death.

"Wooow! If I'd known that Gui could control Fire Phoenix just like that, then I would have committed suicide. That way, wouldn't we have roasted meat to eat?"

"What a scary Inferno Bone Dragon…"

"Yu Lian-dàsăois seriously imp ressive…"

I emitted sigh after sigh of admiration as I watched my teammates do their best to go berserk. By the time I finished eating my fried rice, the whole arena was in a state of "deep waters and hot fires", "fallen skies and cracked earth"…15

_Deep waters._

"Wuuuuuaaaaah! Wuaaah! Mama didn't come back! Mamaaaaa!" Meatbun's two faucets had evolved into two very impressive waterfalls. As a follow-up to the restaurant-booth-flooding incident, Meatbun once again set a new record for flooding a stadium…

_Hot fires._

"Fire Phoenix, quickly! Burn all of the damnable spirits to ashes! AHAHAHA!" Gui was already half-insane, and Fire Phoenix was starting to turn into a pyromaniac. Aside from the small area where the members of Odd Squad stood, Fire Phoenix breathed streams of flame all over the place whenever and however it pleased.

_Fallen skies._

15** "Deep waters and hot fires", "fallen skies and cracked earth": **The two are both sayings in Chinese.The first means "in deep trouble" and the second basically means a very extreme scene of destruction along the lines of Armageddon.

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With a huge, earth-shattering "WHAM!", Doll's terrifying Hell's Inferno Dragon once again "accidentally" rammed into the pillars on the edge of the arena. Blocks of debris the size of human heads went flying all over the arena. Even the spectators in the stands were not spared the misfortune of this assault. _Dodge! Whew, that almost hit me._ As for the one responsible for the catastrophe… Doll just stood to one side of the arena with her head tilted, wearing an innocent expression on her face…

_Cracked earth._

By the time Yu Lian-dàsăo's terrifying _Earthquake_ spell was cast for the eleventh time, the floor of the arena had already fragmented into six slabs of rock of different sizes, and showed signs that they would be fractured into even more pieces…

_In short, the immediate surroundings is one of airborne rocks and pillars of white light shooting into the sky together, while the seas of flames and floodwater surge as one. Wonderful! What a wonderful hell on earth! _The spectators around me had long sincefled for their lives. The referee was clinging on for dear life to the only pillar that the bone dragon hadn't KOed. Listening to the broadcast by the commentator Xiao Li would have given anyone the impression that Armageddon had arrived, and as for Spirit Spirit Team… I really couldn't tell if any of Spirit Spirit Team's spirits had survived. _Someone_ _should have, right? Otherwise, the match should have ended already._

In the end, Wolf-dàgē – who still had a little bit of reason left in him – finally stopped. He surveyed the surroundings and then howled, "Enough, that's enough! Everyone stop right now! We have already avenged Prince. I think Prince's soul in heaven will rest easy now."

Hearing her husband's roar, Yu Lian-dàsăoalso stopped. She looked at the ruined arena and said in a choked voice, "Prince, you can rest in peace now…"

"Prince-gēge… Waaah!" Tears welled up in Doll's eyes again.

"Prince! I have avenged your death!" Gui howled at the sky, tears glimmering on his lashes. "Do you hear me, Prince? _We've AVENGED YOU!_"

I swallowed a mouthful of _guazi_, took a swig of my Coke, and dodged another surge of flames. "Okay, okay, I heard you." _Although you're yelling in the wrong direction, Gui._ _I'm not in the sky, I'm here, by your left hand side!_

In the arena, Wolf-dàgēlifted his head to look at the referee, who was perched on top the pillar. He asked, "Referee, aren't you going to hurry and declare us as the victors? Unless you want us to continue wreaking havoc? You should know that my team members aren't very patient people."

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Hearing that, the referee almost began to cry as he hurried to explain. "But there's still a survivor in the Spirit Spirit Team. According to the tournament rules, all members of the opposing team must either be dead or have surrendered. Only then can I declare the victors…"

"Surrender! We surrender!" Wolf-dàgēdidn't even have the chance to open his mouth before a shrill voice cried out from under the rubble of rocks. Wolf-dàgēwalked over and shifted the rocks away, only to see a flower with a single petal left lying in a pathetic state under it.

The referee looked as relieved as a man who had just been saved from certain death. "Victory goes to Odd Squad! Victory goes to Odd Squad! They have successfully cleared the preliminaries and entered the finals!"

I ran down to the arena floor happily and hugged my teammates. _That's great! We've_ _cleared the preliminaries!_

Sometime later, I heard a strange rumor about me. Someone said that I was even more terrifying dead than alive. _What's that supposed to mean?_ Like Meatbun, I could only listen uncomprehendingly with wide, innocent eyes.

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**Chapter 4: Fate **

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"Listen up, guys!" Wolf-dàgē'stone

was serious as he addressed us before the start of

our first round in the finals. "We will need to work harder than ever now that we're in the finals. The opponents that we are going to face will definitely be worthy foes. We must not take them lightly."

All of us nodded earnestly.

"Lolidragon, do you know who we're fighting next?" I asked. Lolidragon nodded, and I took another bite of bread before pressing her for details about the enemy.

Lolidragon wrinkled her brow and said, "They're called 'Ascendant Dragons'. I haven't heard any special rumors about them, but their team's combat strength seems to be pretty average. They only managed to get into the finals because they haven't met any strong opponents thus far, so they _should_ be pretty easy to handle."

I let out a sigh of relief. "That's great, then. It seems like our first match will be a cinch."

I stepped into the arena, looking the epitome of cool as usual, but… Although it was normal to be nervous during the first match of the finals, my legs felt like jelly. My eyes were listless, my mind was completely blank, and my lips drew into a tight line as I stared dumbly at the opposing team.

At the center of that team, a very conspicuous couple was engaged in an extremely cloying and disgusting public display of affection…but that wasn't the reason for my sudden loss of composure. The reason I was so shocked was because…

They were my _parents_ – the same parents who had left my brother and me to fend for ourselves for months at a time as they went on their Nth honeymoon!

_My god, Dad and Mom! You guys went on a honeymoon _–_ how did you guys end up in _Second Life_?! How am I supposed to fight? If I beat up my parents, will I be considered_ _an unfilial daughter? Worse yet, if I'm found out, MY ALLOWANCE WILL BE HISTORY._

"Prince, what's the matter? Is something wrong?" Lolidragon asked, looking slightly concerned.

"Uh…everything's fine!" I answered, willing myself to calm down. _It won't happen!_ _Even my own twin brother – who sticks to me from dawn to dusk – doesn't realize that I'm his sister, the lovely Feng Lan. If that's the case, there's no way that my parents –_

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_who go on honeymoons two hundred days a year – would recognize me! My allowance won't be reduced for beating up my parents…_

"Hubby, don't you think that hottie over there looks a bit familiar?" remarked Ascendant Dragons' mage, the lovey-dovey wife. The more she looked at him, the more she felt like she had seen Prince before…

The lovey-dovey husband looked fondly at his wife and, upon hearing her words, reluctantly raised his head to look. He replied, "Eh! He does look a tad familiar. Could he be one of our neighbors?"

"No idea!"

I rolled my eyes. _Dad, Mom, can't you talk more softly? Even my teammates can hear_ _you! _Helplessly, I met the probing eyes of my teammates and shrugged innocently.

"Battle, begin!" the referee mercilessly shouted.

_Ah, it started, it started! What do I do? _My thoughts were in disarray as I looked at myteammates and then at my parents, my mind a battlefield of conflicting emotions.

"Honey, the fight's started. Let's finish this quickly so we can get on the plane and head home."

"Oh…but if we go home, it won't be just the two of us anymore! Plus, you'll have to cook and do the chores, and you won't be able to spend time with me. It'll be so bothersome!" the lovey-dovey wife said, her face clearly revealing her desire not to return home.

"Haha, don't worry! I've trained Feng Lan well! We'll tell her to do the chores and cook. That way, I'll be able to spend all my time with you, okay?" replied the lovely-dovey

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husband. _Hahaha,_ he thought. _As the saying goes, 'Care for a daughter a thousand days,_ _and she will take care of you for the rest of your life'!__16_

_Mom! Dad! I've changed my mind! _A vein popped on my forehead as I clenched my fiststill my knuckles cracked. _Even if it means that I will lose_ every cent _of my allowance for_ _the rest of my life, I will beat both of you to a pulp! _"Prince…?" The members of OddSquad looked at me in astonishment, as my entire body seemed to blaze with an unseen fury.

"I. Will. Obliterate. Them!" The words were ground out from between clenched teeth.

_In the real world…_

_Briiiiing! Briiiiing!_

I stretched my hand out to turn off the noisily ringing alarm, and removed my game helmet.

Pinched by guilt, I wondered, _Was I too brutal to my parents? Hmph! Forget it, they were_ _the ones who betrayed me first, so they can't blame me for getting back at them. Besides, all I did was punch my dad about a few hundred times. And I was really merciful to my mother; I killed her in one hit!_

I stretched, crawled out of bed, and went to prepare breakfast. _Today's the first day of_ _school; it'll be bad if I'm late. _I decided to quickly wash up, and then do battle with themess of eggs, toast, and coffee.

Striding out of the kitchen with the aromatic plate of breakfast, I saw my brother lazily sprawled out on the dining table.

"What's for breakfast, sis?"

16** Care for a daughter a thousand days, and she will take care of you for the rest of your life: **InChinese, this is "养女千日用在一生" (_prn_.ăngyǚāqinnrì yòngēng), whichzàiyì shliterally means "take

care (as in feed and clothe) a daughter for a thousand days and she will be useful for the rest of your life." This is a pun on "养兵千时日用在一 " (_prn._ yăngīngābqirì yòng zài yì shí), which means "take care of a

soldier for a thousand days and he will be useful for a short moment."

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"One specially cultivated energy-boosting egg, high class French toast, and a cup of thick and creamy Turkish coffee."

"Oh… So it's an egg sandwich with a cup of coffee!" my stupid brother said, before boorishly grabbing the plate and beginning to wolf it down. _Waaah! That's the breakfast_ _that I poured my heart and soul into making! Can't you eat it in a more gentlemanly manner?_

I suddenly remembered something. "By the way, we'll need to buy groceries after breakfast. Mom and Dad are coming back."

"Eh? How do you know?" my brother asked, giving me a suspicious look.

My heart nearly stopped. "Uhhh…they called."

"Really…? Since when did they learn to call and check up on their children?" Disbelief was clearly written all over my brother's face.

"Just eat your toast, all right? If you keep pestering me, I'll see to it that you don't get dinner tonight," I bellowed, pushing my guilty conscience aside.

"Okay, okay! …You're always threatening me with food," whined Yang Ming.

"What can I say? Food's the only thing that works on you," I said with a shrug. _In this_ _respect, we are clearly siblings._

_Food is not our only common ground. Let me make it clear here that this unfortunate bond between my stupid brother and I goes a LONG way back. In both elementary and middle school, we were in the same class. We went to the same high school (although we were in different classes, as the school separated boys and girls), and now, we have the same classes in university. There's only one way to explain this situation: fate._

_I seriously suspect, however, that the REAL reason we have the same classes in university is because my lazy brother secretly copied my career planning form as he was too lazy to even fill out his own! (Not that he's admitting to it!) In any case, we now attend the same university and even have the same classes. (Just as a side note, the university is very close to home, so we live at home and go to school via public transport.)_

"Hurry up, sis! The bus is about to leave!" Yang Ming roared furiously.

"Okay, okay!" I yelled as I began sprinting madly, swearing silently, _Stupid Yang Ming!_ _You think my agility and the length of my legs in real life are the same as they are in 'Second Life'?_

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Out of breath and panting hard, my brother and I entered the classroom a minute after the bell rang, where I discovered that the teacher was already at the podium! I hurriedly bowed and apologized to the teacher. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry, just quickly find a seat and sit down."

The teacher's deep, gentle voice soothed me, but somehow it felt weird…

_Why is this voice so incredibly familiar_? An alarm sounded in my brain, and with somereluctance, I slowly raised my head to look at the teacher.

_Wow…what a handsome face… GUI! _I stared at him, slack-jawed and bug-eyed, andthought, _Am I still playing?_

"Sis? If you want to stare at hot guys, at least do it _after_ you get to your seat." My brother's infuriating voice rang out in the classroom, and my classmates erupted in laughter.

I could only stagger to my usual seat in a stupor. My two best friends sat next to me: Gu Yun Fei (he's male, but he's a gossip queen so Jing and I treat him as a female) on my left and Lü Jing (she's a cute girl) on my right.

"Who's he?" I asked Yun and Jing, pointing at the familiar face at the podium.

"Seems like he's a new professor," Jing replied as she stared at the "new professor", clearly mesmerized.

"He's too young to be one!" I looked at "Gui" in disbelief. _He can't possibly even be_ _thirty years old. He's definitely not a day over twenty-five, at most twenty-six! He's only a few years older than the students, but he's already a professor?_

"I heard that he's a genius with an IQ of 200, that he entered university at the age offifteen, graduated at eighteen, received a doctorate at twenty-two before furthering his studies overseas, and returned with another doctorate at twenty-five. And, at twenty-six years old, top universities in the country were all vying to employ him as a professor," Yun said, envious.

…_Then he might not be Gui after all! Whether or not Gui actually has anything inside_ _that head of his is something I've been deeply suspicious about to this day. Still…he looks too much like Gui. He looks exactly as Gui does in _Second Life_, without any beautification whatsoever._

Professor "Looks-Like-Gui" smiled and said, "Good morning, students. I am your new Professor for History of Chinese Literature, Min Gui Wen; you can just call me Gui. I'm actually not that much older than you, so I hope we can get along like friends."

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I collapsed onto my desk. _If I said he isn't Gui, who would actually believe me? Gui is my_ _professor? My god, I DON'T BELIEVE IT!_

"Jing, can you help me ask him – Professor Min – if he plays _Second Life_?" I asked, having gathered up my courage. I decided to ascertain once and for all whether my luck really was that rotten.

Jing regarded me with suspicion. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"Uhhh, I… I'm shy!" I replied with a weak laugh.

"…" Jing and Yun looked at me incredulously and my face burned with embarrassment.

"I have no idea what you're trying to pull… Fine, whatever, I'll help you ask! I'm interested, since I play _Second Life_ as well," Yun muttered. He then raised his hand and asked, "Professor Min, may I ask you something unrelated to class?"

Professor Min replied with an easygoing smile, "You may."

"Do you play _Second Life_?"

Professor Min paused for a moment, surprised, and then replied enthusiastically, "Of course! I'm taking part in the Adventurers' Tournament. My team has already cleared the first round of the finals!"

Four out of every five students present gave a surprised exclamation, such as "Really?", "That's incredible!", or "What team are you in?"

As the atmosphere in class livened up, Professor Min also dropped his professor-like demeanor and answered all the questions happily. "I'm a bard of the demon race. I'm a member of Odd Squad."

"Odd Squad? That's a very famous and weird team. I heard that their main fighter, the warrior Prince, is extremely strong and incredibly handsome!" Yun exclaimed.

Professor Min… Gui enthused, "Yeah! Prince is really very strong, and he's also extremely handsome."

"Are you serious? Even more handsome than you, Professor?" Jing asked, astonished.

"He's much better looking than me," Gui replied, his expression serious.

"Oh my god, Lan, did you hear that? Aren't you playing _Second Life_? Have you ever seen Prince?" Jing suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders and began shaking me, causing me to snap out of my zombie-like trance.

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"I guess… you could say so!" I replied weakly, all my strength drained away now that the truth had been confirmed.

"Ohhh…so you must have seen Professor Min in _Second Life_! That's why you wanted us to ask him, right, Lan?" Yun said, his bright voice attracting Gui's attention.

_Oh my god, Gui is looking at me! _I avoided his glance and casually raised a hand to covermy face even as I mumbled, "Nah. I went to watch the Adventurers' Tournament, so I saw him from afar, that's all."

Out of the blue, a disgruntled voice rang out in the classroom.

"Prince? Hmph!" Feng Yang Ming's scorn was clearly written all over his face.

"Do you have something against Prince?" Gui asked. His expression had become frosty, and the atmosphere in the class cooled rapidly as well.

Yang Ming's head was tilted to one side, his posture a clear display of arrogance as he replied, "I just had a run-in with him before, that's all."

I regarded the tense atmosphere between my brother and Gui nervously, but for some reason, Gui seemed to have frozen. The look in his eyes was too complicated for me to figure out. The chilly atmosphere lasted for a while before…

"Stand up," Gui said in a stern voice.

Everyone in the class emitted an apprehensive gasp. I, too, glanced anxiously at my brother, deeply worried that he would offend the professor on the first day of classes. Yang Ming's expression stiffened, and then he slowly got to his feet. Although he was doing as he was told, the look in his eyes said that he had no intention of backing down.

Gui seemed shaken at first. Then, as though he could hardly believe his eyes, he spoke at long last. "Prince…?"

Yang Ming looked at the professor uncomprehendingly.

"…" My eyes widened. _What is this scene that I'm seeing?_

Gui seemed to have realized that he was behaving oddly in front of his class, because he immediately calmed down and smiled. "You may sit down now! Let's do a roll call so that I can get to know everyone."

I sat there uneasily with a heap of unanswered questions until the dismissal bell finally rang. As soon as Gui walked out the classroom, I immediately collapsed onto my table. I thought, _Just how exactly am I going to get through this semester? And Gui exclaimed_

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"_Prince" when he was looking at my brother earlier on – what on earth could that mean? Could Gui have mistaken my brother for me? That's impossible…_

_CRAP! _I thought, having suddenly remembered that Gui was GAY!_ …If he mistook my brother for me, then… Oh god! _My blood seemed to freeze within my veins.

"Lan, Lan! Professor Min said that if we play _Second Life_, he'll take us to meet the members of Odd Squad. I _sooo_ wanna meet Prince!" Jing said with a longing face, "So I've decided to play, can you help me level?"

"…" *_SWEAT*_

"Lan, tell me your username. I'll PM you once I'm online and we can power-level Jing together! After that, we can all go and meet Prince. I want to ask him how he managed to become that strong," said Yun, his expression similarly anticipatory.

"I…" _What should I do…? I want to cry…_

"What's the matter? Or could it be that your level's too low and you're too embarrassed to tell us?" Yun asked, laughing.

"Err, yeah, that's it! I didn't train much, so I can't help power-level Jing. You can take care of her," I said hastily.

Puzzled, Jing said, "So what? We'll just ask Yun to power-level the two of us in that case!"

I cast about for an excuse, any excuse. "I…uh, my hubby will power-level me!"

"_Ohhh_ – so you just don't want anyone barging into your private world, huh! You traitor, ditching your friends for a guy," said Jing and Yun, poking fun at me.

"I…" _Waaah_… _I really want to cry now_…

_In the school clinic…_

Gui stepped into the school clinic. Leaning against a wall, he watched the tall, broad-shouldered doctor inside, who was busy putting away the medical equipment. After a long while, he finally said, "I met a student today who really resembles Prince."

The doctor's back seemed to freeze for a moment. Then he turned around. "What a coincidence! Prince is also here?"

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"I'm not certain if it's actually him. In terms of their looks, they're not that alike, but their posture and attitude are almost identical," Gui said, his brow creased with thought.

"Try asking him?"

"I wanted to ask at first, but he didn't seem to recognize me. I don't know if he's just pretending not to know or if he really just isn't Prince." Gui raised his head and looked at the doctor. "Wolf-dàgē,should I ask him or not?"

"About that…hmmm!" Wolf-dàgē's – Lee Tian Lang's – rough-hewn and open face was filled with hesitation. "Your appearance is exactly the same in real life as it is in-game, so if he really is Prince, he must have just been pretending not to know you, since he could probably recognize you… Why don't you just ask him tonight, when you're online?"

"Hmm, all right," Gui replied, deep in thought.

At this time, I had just dragged my exhausted self home, where I saw my dad and mom fuming in the living room.

"Dad, Mom, you're back," I greeted them cautiously.

"_XIAO LAAAAAN!_" my mom suddenly hugged me tightly and began sobbing incoherently.

Shocked, I didn't know what to do, so I turned hurriedly to my dad and asked, "Dad, what on earth happened?"

"It's all because of that Prince…" my dad said indignantly through gritted teeth. "It took us so much effort to get into the finals, only to be defeated in the first round by him. Damn him!"

"…" _It's about my male alter-ego again,_ I thought, breaking out in cold sweat.

"That damn Prince, I hate him," said my mom as she looked up, her face contorted with hatred.

"Who said that they hated Prince?" Yang Ming asked as he came through the door. "I hate that punk too – he stole my chicks and caused me to get punished on the first day of school by my professor. I'll kill him, even if it costs me my life!"

"That's right! We will kill him, even if it costs us our lives!" echoed my parents.

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"…" _*Cries* I finally understand how you felt besieged by enemies on all fronts, Xiang_ _Yu!__17_

_Online…_

I met Lolidragon the moment I logged on to _Second Life_ that night.

"Prince, you look rather pale," said Lolidragon. She looked at me worriedly as I alternated between sitting down and pacing about uneasily.

"Is Gui here yet?" I asked, not really answering her question. Instead, I kept glancing left and right, unable to calm my heart down.

"Not yet… Since when did you care about him that much?" Lolidragon asked, looking at me with uncertainty.

"Quit having fun at my expense, Lolidragon! You have to save me!" I wailed as I hurtled into her arms.

Lolidragon clearly received a fright from my action. She quickly asked me what on earth had happened, so I tearfully recounted today's tragic encounters. First, I told her about my meeting with Gui, and then about how he actually mistook my little brother for me. After that, I told her about my brother's resentment towards me, and finally, about how even my parents vowed to kill me or die trying…

_My god, this has to be my unluckiest day ever._

"Hmmm…" _He really is pitiable. It's such a big world, yet Prince simply had to run into_ _Gui _–_ this must be fate!_

After three seconds of silently commiserating over Prince's misfortune, Lolidragon began to feel that the whole incident was…very interesting!

17** Xiang Yu: **Xiang Yu is one of the most prominent generals in Chinese history. Following the death ofQin Shi Huang, the Qin dynasty came to end (overthrown by Xiang Yu) and there emerged two groups – the Chu and the Han. Xiang Yu was of the Chu nobility, and thus he rose to assume the kingship of the Chu, but he was defeated ultimately by Liu Bang, leader of the Han and ancestor of Liu Bei (you know, that Three Kingdoms fellow).

According to legend, Xiang Yu was surrounded on a battlefield when he and his bodyguards made a final stand. Xiang Yu ultimately fell on his sword (some said he decapitated himself), preferring to die to on the battlefield and with his honor intact. After his death, the Han dynasty came into power. Go to wiki/Xiang_Yu for more information.

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Unfortunately, with my head buried in her arms, I did not notice that Lolidragon – who delighted in chaos – was grinning evilly, her fox's tail showing…

"You don't need to be so worried, Prince. You don't even need to rush to deny it; I suspect that Gui might not believe you anyway. It's only a matter of time before we meet Feng Wu Qing, and when that happens, Gui will realize that he's made a mistake," said Lolidragon.

In her head, she was thinking, _Still, before we meet Feng Wu Qing… Heh heh, there'll be_ _a good show to watch! _Lolidragon's grin grew even more cunning…

"Really?" I asked, my brows furrowing.

Lolidragon began to nod frantically.

"Then…okay, I guess!" I said. _I'm still a bit hesitant, but… Sigh! What will happen shall_ _happen. What can I do about it, anyway?_

Lolidragon suddenly pointed behind me and said, "Gui's here."

I froze. As I turned slowly, Gui's familiar face with its playful, cheerful smile came into view.

I forced my tense facial muscles to relax and smiled awkwardly. "Morning, Gui."

"Good morning, your Highness is as beautiful and noble as always on this morning." Gui gave a sweeping bow as per usual.

"Yeah… Ahahaha…" I laughed weakly.

Gui – who had already raised both hands to protect his head in preparation for a beating – froze for a moment, before raising his head and giving me a puzzled glance. The playful smile that was originally on his face had disappeared, and the brainless Gui was replaced by the Gui with an IQ of 200. He stared deeply into my eyes as though he was contemplating something.

"Prince, are you still a student?" he asked.

"Eh? Uh, yeah!" I replied, and my heart nearly leapt out of my chest.

He continued to stare intently at me as he asked, "Do you attend XXX University?" He finally mentioned the name of my university.

Breaking out in a cold sweat, I lied through my teeth and said, "No."

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"Oh." The word "suspicion" was clearly written in Gui's eyes as he looked at me thoughtfully.

My face paled, and I turned to look at Lolidragon, but all she did was give me an "OK" sign. _OK? Is there anything in the world less OK than this?_

Luckily enough, Gui suddenly changed the topic. "Oh yeah, I met Wolf-dàgēat my school. He's the school clinic's doctor!"

Hearing that, my eyes nearly fell out. "WHAT?"

_Wolf-dàg__ē__is at my school as well? Oh god, is this series of fated encounters going to continue for much longer? GIVE ME AN ANSWER, GOD!_

Even as I was cursing the heavens, Lolidragon was reviewing the tournament's elimination flow chart with indecision on her face. Unfortunately, I had no interest in hearing who our next opponent would be. _Doesn't matter who it is, I'll just vent all my_ _anger on them! _I though vehemently.

Just then, Wolf-dàgē'svoice rang out clearly, and I crawled unwillingly from my dark corner of despair to listen. "This time, our opponent is someone we know. It's Rose Team."

_WHAT? _This was yet another heavy blow to me. I crawled back into my dark corner tobewail Fate's prejudice against me. _It's bad enough that I can't vent my anger, but why_ _does it have to be Rose Team, whose members all think that I'm gay…? Waaaaaaaaah!_

"This match might prove troublesome for Gui," Yu Lian-dàsăo said, looking at Gui with sympathy.

"Yeah, poor Gui." Lolidragon, too, was looking at Gui as though he were someone who had already died.

However, Gui and I were both extremely confused. _What does this have to do with Gui?_ _Aren't I the one who deserves more sympathy?_

"I heard that Rose and Fairsky formed a support group for Prince, and that they've managed to get a lot of girls to join. Their group name seems to be… Rescue the Super Handsome Prince from the Demonic Clutches of the Gay Guiliastes and Help Prince Understand the Goodness of Women Once Again Support Group." Lolidragon finished saying the name of the group in one breath, and almost choked in the process.

_What sort of strangely named support group is that? _I thought as I listened,flabbergasted. _A support group has actually formed because of me? My god, am I not in_ _enough trouble as it is?_

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"Moreover, in order to give Gui a huge thrashing, they've been undergoing a special training regimen recently. Fairsky has also spent a lot of money on all kinds of godly weapons, which have greatly boosted Rose Team's combat strength," Yu Lian-dàsăo added with a frown and a sigh.

_There's finally someone with worse luck than me_, I thought, heaving a sigh of relief. Ithen gave Gui a look of commiseration. Unfortunately, the grin on my face completely gave away the fact that I was actually rejoicing in his suffering.

Gui merely smiled.

"For Prince's sake, I can handle anything," he said. He looked at me, his feelings written clearly on his face. He was promptly taken aside for a beating _…_

_Right now, I can hardly be bothered with the fact that he is my professor. After all, he's currently under the impression that I'm Feng Yang Ming! Even if Professor Min Gui Wen wants his revenge in real life, he won't be looking for Feng Lan… Heh heh, Lolidragon's advice is actually pretty good!_

"While Prince is preoccupied with beating up Gui, let's put our heads together and come up with a battle plan," Wolf-dàgēsaid sternly. "Can anyone think of a way to deal with their godly weapons?"

"Hmph! I don't believe that my Black Dao would suffer in comparison to a godly weapon!" I replied, even as I threw another punch at Gui.

"I also don't feel that their godly weapons are that big a deal. I don't believe they could beat us by using godly weapons alone," Lolidragon added coldly. "Money isn't all-powerful; money can buy godly weapons, but not the skill to use them."

I lowered my fist for a moment and said slowly, "Lolidragon, you seem…rather pissed off?"

Lolidragon scowled, and shouted bitterly, "Of course I'm pissed off! Do you know how much money Fairsky spent on those godly weapons? Ten million real life dollars! She spent an entire ten freaking million dollars, just like that! If I had ten million, I wouldn't have to work my ass off as a G– I WOULD HAVE RETIRED!"

_So, basically, you're jealous that she has so much money, _I thought, looking helplessly atthe resentful Lolidragon.

"Then first of all, let's set aside the issue of the godly weapons. Now, Rose Team is comprised of two warriors, one archer, one priest, one mage, and one thief. It's a pretty good team combination, but it shouldn't pose much of a problem to us. Still, just to be on

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the safe side, we should take them seriously and not underestimate them," Wolf-dàgēsaid seriously.

All the members of Odd Squad nodded in agreement, except for Gui… It wasn't his fault, however, since a person who has passed out on the floor couldn't possibly nod.

As I led the way into the arena, the unmistakably familiar faces of the members of Rose Team came into view. Standing at their helm were Fairsky and Rose, their expressions aggrieved as they looked at me. Inwardly, I felt extremely awkward, but on the surface, my expression was as cold and distant as ever.

"Prince…" Rose called out to me hesitantly.

I raised my hand, cutting her off. "Say nothing now. A match is a match; if there's anything you want to talk about, it can wait until after the match."

Hearing my words, tears began to well up in Rose's eyes. The sorrow and hurt in her gaze intensified…

Uncertainty suddenly assailed me. _Did I say something wrong?_

"Prince, how could you say something so heartless?" Fairsky was filled with resentment, and she cried out, "Do you know how much we think of you each day? We attend every single one of your matches to cheer you on, and we even formed a support group for you. Is all that still not enough to move you?"

_I'm heartless? I just wanted to deal with the matter at hand first! I really don't understand the way girls think…_

_Shit! Am I becoming less and less like a girl and more like a guy!?_

"Let's get started!" I had no choice but to continue speaking coldly. _Only after we've_ _taken care of business can I openly discuss that support group with the super-hard-to-pronounce name with them._

The familiar voice of the judge rang out. "Battle, begin!"

Doll immediately summoned her skeletons. According to my calculations, the skeletons and I would be more than enough to keep Li'l Strong and Broken Sword busy. I decided to take care of Broken Sword first and leave Li'l Strong for the skeletons to take care of. Our conversation in the restaurant booth had made me realize that Broken Sword was a foe to be reckoned with.

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As expected, Broken Sword swept his blade towards me with a cry of "_Swaying Sword_ _Style!_".

I immediately blocked his attack with my Black Dao, thinking, _Hmph! My brother has_ _described the contents of Jin Yong's novel series to me so many times that I already know them like the back of my hand. _There was a shower of silver and golden sparks as ourweapons met with a resounding sound of metal clashing against metal.

Broken Sword was a worthy adversary, as I had predicted. As we fought back and forth, my blood began to boil from excitement. After we exchanged a series of blows, we found ourselves locked hilt to hilt. Disengaging, we each retreated a few steps for a slight reprieve.

"You are indeed strong, Broken Sword," I said, looking at him with respect.

"Quit talking trash." Broken Sword's eyes were vengeful and filled with hatred, shocking me to the core.

_What's wrong? There's really no reason for him to hate me this much, even if he does believe me to be gay, right? After all, I didn't XX or OO him, right?_

"A match is just a match, Broken Sword. Is there really a need for you to hate me this much?" I roared even as I blocked his sword with my dao.

"If it wasn't for you, our Rose Team would not have become like this!" Broken Sword cried out agitatedly.

"Become like this?" _Like what?_ I thought, and froze… but, most unfortunately, freezing up on a battlefield was not a smart thing to do. Even though I managed to block his sword, I was punched square in the face by his left hook and fell to the ground.

Broken Sword immediately used his knee to pin me against the floor, and placed his sword against my throat. He had clenched his teeth together so tightly that he was grinding them as he stood over me.

Through gritted teeth, he spat, "It's _you. You're_ the one who changed Rose and Fairsky. Rose can only stare at your picture all day long and cry. Meanwhile, Fairsky keeps spending thousands and thousands of dollars to buy godly weapons, or to bribe opposing teams to surrender, just in hopes of meeting you in one of the matches. This team… _T-this team! _If not for the fact that we don't have the heart to abandon Rose and Fairsky,the four of us would've quit this team a long time ago."

By now, both teams had stopped to listen to Broken Sword's words. I was no different – I could only listen to his accusation dumbly, before turning to look at Li'l Strong, Legolas,

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and For Healing Only. They were all glaring at me with a mixture of fury and indignation.

Rose had covered her face with her hands and begun to cry, while Fairsky shouted resentfully, "Can't I like him? The person I like is Prince and Prince alone. No matter what, I will never give up. No matter what methods or strategies I have to use – even if I have to spend immeasurable amounts of money – I will never give up."

"Without sparing a thought for the number of people you will hurt – people who are by your side, and care for you?" Doll asked, looking sorrowfully at Fairsky. A twinge of guilt flickered across the latter's face.

I listened, feeling rather numb, as the usually childlike Doll actually said something so mature. _There've just been too many astonishing happenings today. My nerves have taken_ _too many shocks; I can't feel anything anymore._

"I don't care!" Fairsky yelled, covering her ears as though she could block out Doll's words. "And Broken Sword, move your weapon away from Prince! Don't you dare hurt Prince, or…or I'll take back the godly weapon I gave you!"

The instant those words left Fairsky's mouth, everyone realized that she had made a huge mistake. Broken Sword's face first flushed. Then it turned pale, and then green…

He gave Fairsky a pain-filled look before wordlessly moving his sword away from my throat. With a loud clang, he tossed the sword to the ground. Then, he turned and left the arena.

"Broken Sword…" Fairsky watched him as he left, stunned.

There was another clang as a heavy object was dropped to the ground. Li'l Strong had discarded his large axe as well.

"That's enough, Fairsky. I don't want your money," he said before following Broken Sword out of the arena. With a cold expression, Legolas threw down his bow and left without saying a word. Finally, For Healing Only heaved a deep sigh and let go of his staff, casting a sorrowful glance at Fairsky and Rose before leaving.

Rose looked at the backs of the departing Rose Team members, and the expression on her face betrayed her inner struggle and indecision. At long last, she walked towards me and said, "Prince, I will learn to forget you."

Then she suddenly wrapped her arms around me and KISSED ME…

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My mind was a sea of white. Feeling completely numb, I thought, _Great! Another event_ _to add to my list of shocking events for the day… I've just given my first kiss away to a beautiful woman!_

"Good bye, Prince." Rose said with a tearful smile – a smile that seemed to say that she had freed herself from something at long last. I watched as she gracefully turned and left. Although she may have stolen my first kiss, I still wished her well from the bottom of my heart, and I hoped that she would find her true Prince Charming next time.

"Rose, you're leaving too?" Fairsky shouted. "Even you are leaving me?"

Rose paused in mid-step and took a deep breath before replying. "Yes, I'm leaving. I hope you too can snap out of it soon, Fairsky." Then she continued to walk away.

"I don't want to! I don't want to give up! I won't give up, Prince," Fairsky shouted at me, her eyes full of tears. Then, she fled from the arena, sobbing into her hands…and for some unknown reason, Doll chased after her…

As the first team that I'd met when I had first started out in _Second Life_ crumbled apart before my very eyes, there was an indescribable pain in my heart. However, what upset me even more was…

_Is it my fault? _I couldn't help but wonder,_ After all, isn't it me who caused Rose Team to become like this?_

"Lolidragon, is my deception also hurting many people by my side who care for me?" I asked over team channel.

"Err… Well, I think Gui enjoys being hurt by you," Lolidragon replied casually.

"Lolidragon…" I said reprovingly, but she interrupted me immediately.

"You needn't concern yourself with it, Prince. Trust me, it isn't your fault," she said firmly.

"Really?" I asked, still feeling doubtful.

Wolf-dàgē,Yu Lian, and Gui listened to the dialogue between Lolidragon an d I, exchanging confused looks. However, they were very thoughtful and refrained from asking me any questions at the time.

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"Fairsky, wait up!" Doll was already out of breath from running, but she was still unable to catch up to Fairsky, who was a thief.

Fairsky spun around. "What do you want? To make fun of me?" she demanded.

"It's not that. It's just… I understand Fairsky-jiějie's way of thinking," Doll said softly.

"You like Prince too?" Fairsky asked skeptically.

"No, it's just that Doll's family is also very rich…"

Fairsky seemed a little stunned. "You…? I couldn't tell at all."

"That's not the main point, Fairsky-jiějie. Doll just wants to tell you that you can't continue to be like this. Many things cannot be bought with money," Doll said. Her tone relaxed. "Doll also used to think you could get everything you wanted with money… It was only later that I realized you couldn't buy anything that truly mattered."

"But… but I really like Prince. Aside from using money, I don't know of any other way for me to obtain his heart," Fairsky said dejectedly. _I'm not as pretty as Rose or_ _Lolidragon, and my personality is too fiery. Without my wealth, how else could I outshine other women?_

Doll replied firmly, "If you really like Prince-gēge, then do as Doll says."

"What should I do?"

"Apologize to everyone in Rose Team."

Upon hearing that, Fairsky's face immediately stiffened, and Doll quickly added, "If you had gotten along well with your team members and worked hard together to defeat our team, Prince-gēge wouldn't have begrudged you. He might even have really respected you, or liked you a lot! Didn't you see how much regard Prince-gēge had for Broken Sword-gēge?"

"Mm!" Fairsky agreed reluctantly after a moment of thought. After all, it wasn't like she wanted such a rift between her and the other members of Rose Team, either.

"Doll, you really are an unusual person," Fairsky said, looking at Doll curiously. "Who exactly _are_ you…?"

Doll only smiled mysteriously.

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As always, it was time to eat up and rest after a match. Gathered in the restaurant with a huge number of dishes on the table in front of them, the members of Odd Squad…watched helplessly as I heaved yet another sigh. I hadn't even picked up my chopsticks.

"To think that even food can't cheer Prince up; this is truly unprecedented!" Lolidragon said helplessly. She looked around the table, but everyone else just shook their heads, unable to think of a way to improve my mood.

"Sigh…" I had been mulling over what had happened to Rose Team; the guilt that weighed my heart down felt like a stone that had been picked up from a pile of dung – it was crushingly heavy and reeked disgustingly. Even if I wanted to, it was impossible to pretend that I didn't care…

In particular, Doll's words kept echoing in my head. _Should I just come clean with_ _everyone? _I wondered._ But what will happen if I tell the truth? What if they can't accept it? _I was on the verge of pulling my hair out._ What should I do? What should I do?_

"Don't blame yourself for this, Prince. After all, there are too many girls out there who like you. There's just no way you could possibly return all of their feelings," Yu Lian-dàsăosaid gently.

"But…" _The problem is that I'm a girl, and it remains a fact that I lied to all those_ _girls…_

"But what?" There was a slight note of coerciveness in Yu Lian-dàsăo's gentle voice as she asked.

"Err…" My face became white as a sheet. _Do I really have to come clean with them? Is_ _today the day that the truth gets revealed?_

"Prince, what is it that you've been lying to everyone about…?"

"I…" _I'll come clean with the truth then! I don't want to keep deceiving everyone,_ I thought unhappily. "I'm a gir—"_…_

Yu Lian-dàsăointerrupted me, saying, "I think the deception that you were talking about refers to something that you have been hiding from us, right? Prince, you don't have to fret over something like that. Everyone conducts themselves differently on the Internet than they do in real life. Take me, for example. I'm actually not nearly this gentle and easy-going in realăoevenlife!"attemptAsshedsaidtodemonstratethat,Dàs for us by

assuming a stern, frowning look…

_Dàs__ă__o,I think your "gentle and eas y-going" shadow smile is far scarier…_

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Wolf-dàgēalso tried to comfort me, saying, "That's right, Prince. As long as the you in - game is still you, that's enough for us. What sort of person you are in real life isn't important."

"That's not exactly true, either. After all, what if Prince is one of the ten most wanted fugitives?" Lolidragon faked a terrified expression as she looked me…

_You! Get this through your head, you stupid Lolidragon! Who's the one who's on the ten most wanted fugitives list? You're the one who tops the list of "ten most wanted criminals" in _Second Life_!_

"That's impossible. His noble Highness cannot possibly be a wanted fugitive," Gui said, looking at me with unwavering certainty. His eyes seemed to say that he trusted in me absolutely…so I began to beat him up. _Why, you ask? Because my hands were itching_ _from not having beaten him up for so long!_

"Yay! Prince-gēge started beating up Gui -gēge! That's great! It looks like Prince -gēge has recovered at last!" Doll exclaimed as she happily began to watch a certain person beat Gui up.

"Yep, yep, if he can beat up Gui, then it means that everything's fine now." The remaining members of Odd Squad nodded in relief.

_Whew! That was a long and satisfying work out. It felt like I was using my fists to vent out all the negative feelings that had built up in my heart._

I looked down at the broken and tattered form of Gui. _Thank you for your sacrifice!_ I placed my palms together and prayed for his departed soul. _May you rest in peace!_

It was about time for us to go offline. "See you, guys," said each of my teammates in turn. I watched as everyone logged off one by one, but just as I myself was about to log off to cook breakfast, Gui suddenly grabbed my trouser leg.

He raised his head and looked up at me, his gaze as unwaveringly certain as before.

"I'm sorry, Prince…"

"Huh?" I was completely mystified. _Since when does a victim apologize to the person_ _who beats him up?_

"I won't try to pry into your affairs anymore," Gui said, gazing at me tenderly. His expression was so captivatingly beautiful that it set my heart aflutter.

"No matter who you might be, I don't mind," Gui said, his voice intense.

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_Oh really? _For some reason, I felt very displeased upon hearing that sentence. I thought,

_You're gay, but I'm a girl. Are you sure you don't mind?_

"Even if the person I am in real life is drastically different from the person I am in-game?" I asked coldly.

"I firmly believe that who you are now is the true you, just as the person I am right now is the true me," Gui said firmly. "Everything else is of no importance – be it gender, appearance, or even the facades we assume in real life… none of those are important."

Gui's words made me very curious. _Does that mean that the brainless Gui is the real_ _Gui?_

"So the Professor Min in real life is just a facade?"

As soon as those words left my mouth, Gui froze.

I froze as well. _Doesn't that sentence clearly imply that I know Gui in real life?_ My face paled, but there was no way out of this now, so I looked at Gui sternly and said, "I am not Feng Yang Ming."

_I might as well say it. After all, the cat's already out of the bag. Besides, if it means preventing Gui from continuing to mistake my brother for me… See how nice I am to you, Yang Ming? Waaah…_

Gui suddenly recovered his composure and, with a smiling face, replied simply, "Mm, you're not Feng Yang Ming, then… I'm not Min Gui Wen, I'm Guiliastes!"

_Wait a… Oh my god, forget jumping into the Yellow River,__18__ I think even jumping into bleach won't clean this mess up! Bro, I didn't set you up on purpose. I've already tried to clear your name. This is heaven's will; I have no say in it!_

18** Forget jumping into the Yellow River: **Here, Feng Lan is referring to a Chinese saying, which goes,"Jumping into the Yellow River won't wash you clean of your transgressions/the stigma of suspicion".

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**Chapter 5: Zhuo Lin Bin and Ou Yang Mei **

From the time I woke up, cooked breakfast, chased after the bus, all the way until Gui's class ended, my mind was on only one thing: _Should I sneak into the school clinic and_ _take a peek at Wolf-dàg__ē__or not?_

_Rationally speaking, it would be wiser for me not to go; after all, who knows if Wolf-dàg__ē__ will recognize me or not? However, emotionally speaking… Ohhh, I REALLY want to see what Wolf-dàg__ē__actually looks like! There's just no way he resembles his in -game counterpart, is there!? That's obvious, since Wolf-dàg__ē__is n't a werewolf._

Uncertain about what to do, I could only start plucking flower petals… "Go look, don't go look, go look, don't go look, go look…"

Suddenly, a deep voice spoke from behind me. "Miss, you can't pluck flowers here!"

"Sorry, sorry," I apologized, bowing to the groundskeeper uncle.

_I think I'll go and take look after all! _Having made up my mind, I turned around to go tothe school clinic, but I suddenly thought, _Shouldn't I get some small injury first before_ _going? Otherwise, what would my excuse for going to the clinic be? But injuries hurt and this isn't like in the game, where I could just drink health potions to heal my injuries. A real injury will hurt for many days, plus it would also leave a scar! I don't want to get injured… But I won't get to see Wolf-dàg__ē__otherwise. What should I do?_

"Sis, what are you doing here?" Yang Ming suddenly appeared and gave me a slap on the back.

"_AHHH!_ You scared me, pighead Yang Ming!" I said.

_I'm in the midst of agonizing over something!_

"What are you being so fierce for? Did _that_ come?" Feng Yang gave me a knowing wink.

_That? Ah, right, that! Now I've got an excuse._

I gently pushed the clinic's door open and poked my head in for a look. _It seems like_ _there's no one around?_

"Is something the matter, little girl?" said a hearty voice behind me.

I turned around, startled. _Is this the human edition of Wolf-dàg__ē__?Wooow! Even though_ _he's not handsome, he's very stylish in his own right. How should I put it — he's like an_

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_authoritative, elder brother figure from an action manga, with a loud and commanding voice… Fine! I admit that my analogy is a pathetically poor one._

Wolf-dàgēlooked at me as I scratched my head, then gently asked, "Female student, where are you hurt?"

I returned to my senses. "Uh, I— I have cramps…" I said. Even as I rubbed my stomach, pretending to be in pain, I continued to peek at him from the corner of my eye.

_Wooow, Wolf-dàg__ē__is really as tall in real life as he is in -game. My neck muscles are starting to feel sore from having to look so far up at him, since I'm only 165 centimeters tall._

"Oh, then quickly lie down on that bed over there. I'll go and get you a hot water bottle now."

I lay on the bed obediently, but my eyes continued to follow Wolf-dàgēas he moved around the room. _Heehee, is my staring making Wolf-dàg__ē__abit embarrassed? Somehow_ _I get the impression that his back looks very, very stiff — I never expected Wolf-dàg__ē__to be so shy! _Secretly, I was giggling inside.

Holding the hot water bottle, Doctor Li Tian Lang said as gently as possible, "Here, place this on your stomach. It'll make you feel better."

I accepted the hot water bottle gratefully. _Wolf-dàg__ē__really is as gentle in real life as he is_ _in-game. _"Thank you, Wolf-dàgē,"I said sincerely.

Wolf-dàgēand I both froze. _My god, I really must be an idiot!_

"My class's Professor Min told everyone about you! I— I heard that you two are good buddies in-game? I've also watched your tournament matches before, so I actually went out of my way to catch a glimpse of you… Hahaha, I'm sorry, I'm not really having cramps," I said, laughing weakly. _God, please let Wolf-dàg__ē__believe my story!_

"Oh, so Gui told you about me!" Li Tian Lang recovered, laughing. "You gave me a shock, since usually only that fellow – Prince – calls me Wolf-dàgē.Everybody else calls me Wolf-gē, or just Wolf. What class do you play in -game? Are you in a team?"

I charged headlong into the rest of my cock-and-bull story. "Uh, I'm a mage. As for a team… Yes, but it's not as famous as yours. Wolf-dàgēprobably hasn't heard of it!"

_Waah, Wolf-dàg__ē__,I didn't intend to deceive you!_

"Oh. Do your best then!" Li Tian Lang reached out and patted me on the head and I giggled as always. "Write your name and student ID number on this patient log-sheet. Even though you were only pretending, it's still better to fill it out."

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"Okay." I took the sheet from him and filled in my name.

"Well, there aren't many people around now, so you can lie here until you want to leave!" Wolf-dàgēsaid to me with a smile.

"Haha, I'm leaving," I replied, getting off the bed. _Yeah right, continue to lie down? I_ _haven't even cooked dinner yet; I'm going to be cornered and killed by three people once I get home. _"Goodbye, Wolf-dàgē."

"Good-bye." Li Tian Lang gazed after me as I pushed the door open and left.

Li Tian Lang raised the log-sheet in his hand and carefully scrutinized it… "Feng Lan? Feng Yang Ming? Hmm…"

The door was pushed open a second time.

"Wolf-gē? Was that my student just now? Is she hurt?" Gui worriedly inquired.

"No, she came to see me. Who asked you to go around blabbing about me!" Li Tian Lang said reproachfully.

Gui was completely perplexed. "Me? Did I ever talk about you?"

Upon hearing that, Li Tian Lang pondered silently for a while before asking, "How is Feng Lan related to Feng Yang Ming?"

"They're twins — why do you ask?" Gui asked, puzzled.

"No real reason." However, Li Tian Lang still felt that Feng Lan and Prince's actions were very similar. When he patted Prince's head, Prince had also giggled in the same way. _Or is this resemblance simply due to the fact that Feng Lan and Feng Yang Min are_ _twins and twins often behave alike? _"I'll go see what Feng Yang Ming looks like someother day."

"Hmm… But I promised Prince that I wouldn't pry into his affairs anymore," Gui said, sounding troubled.

"You may be right. Well, if Prince doesn't want to tell us, then let's forget it and let nature take its course! I won't pry either," said Li Tian Lang candidly.

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At this time I was walking home, unaware that my identity had almost been exposed. I was just thinking about whether to cook spare rib soup or potato soup when Rose walked past me. I looked up, wondering, _Should I say hello to her? But the last time we met she_ _said that she would forget about me. I wonder if she's still willing to be friends with me…_

_Wait! _I glanced down as I tugged my shirt collar wider –_ I have breasts! _I looked aroundme. _It's a normal residential area. I'm in the real world, so how is it that I'm seeing_ _Rose?_

I gathered my focus and looked at her again. Rose was now standing next to the bus stop sign post, waiting for the bus. _This is such a weird feeling… Wait a second! The guy_ _standing about three steps away from Rose looks reeeally familiar… Wicked? MY GOD! Worse still, it seems like I'll be taking the same bus as them!_

_Ahhh, Buddha! Ahhh, God! Ahhh, Allah! _I began chanting a Buddhist scripture as Iformed a cross in front of myself with my arms. _I beseech you all! This must be a_ _hallucination… Or let it be a daydream! Waaaaaaah…_

However, reality remained cruel as ever. I still ended up boarding the bus and standing side-by-side with the two of them… _Forget it, after all, they probably won't— No, they_ _absolutely won't be able to recognize me!_

I stole a look at the hottie and the beauty standing next to me. _Rose is indeed very_ _beautiful and Wicked is also very handsome! The two of them really are eye candy – is it possible that they're a couple? _I secretly wondered.

Still, even after many stops, neither of them seemed to have any intention of getting off the bus. My home was at the last stop.

_Crap, it can't be anything as coincidental as them being my next-door neighbors, right? No, that's impossible. Our next door neighbors are my mom's older sister's husband's uncle and his family, aren't they?_

_Besides, if there was a hottie such as Wicked among my distant relatives, my mom would have dragged me to a matchmaking session a long time ago. That way, my mom could get this piece of male eye candy married _into_ our family__19__ — I mean, get me married into _his_ family, and _then_ have me bring him home for her to feast her eyes upon._

As I speculated wildly, Rose alighted one stop before mine. I breathed a sigh of relief. _That's one less person for me to worry about now._

19** Married into our family: **Chinese society used to be (and in some ways, still is) patriarchal. Thus, whena woman gets married, she marries into her husband's family and moves in to live with them.

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Finally, the bus reached my house. I stole one last glance at Wicked's handsome features before tearing my gaze away and stepping down from the bus…

_Ehhh, someone seems to be following me!_

Cold sweat poured down my neck as I turned my head back to look, only to see Wicked smiling faintly at me. _Huh? Just what exactly is going on here?!_

Although I was panicking inwardly, I forced myself to appear outwardly calm as I returned Wicked's smile. I then turned, ready to flee.

"Wait," Wicked suddenly called out to me.

I briefly considered the situation at hand. With my current height, leg length, physical strength, and stamina, I couldn't possibly hope to outrun Wicked. _Forget it then!_ I thought, resigning myself to my fate as I turned around to face him. "Is something the matter?"

"Xiao Lan — you are Xiao Lan, right?" Unexpectedly, there was a warm expression on Wicked's face.

_He knows me? He even knows my name? _I was astounded.

"You've forgotten then… I'm Zhuo Ling Bin – Zhuo-gēge. Remember me?"

_Zhuo-g__ē__ge? The one who used to live next door when I was a kid and eventually moved away – THAT Zhuo-g__ē__ ge? _I gaped at Wicked, trying to digest this mind-bogglingrevelation. _Is this for real? Such a huge coincidence? Wicked is Zhuo-g__ē__ge?!_

"Are you really Zhuo-gēge?"

"That's right! You finally remembered. I wasn't quite sure just now whether you were really Xiao Lan. Perfect timing, though — I was just getting worried that I'd forgotten how to get to your house." Wicked…no, Zhuo-gēge smiled as he looked at me.

After dinner, I carried a tray of freshly brewed tea to the living room where my bro and Zhuo-gē ge were merrily chatting away. According to Zhuo-gēge's explanation, he had been at XXX University_._

_That's MY university too! I couldn't have guessed that he is actually conducting his graduate studies' experiments at my university's laboratories!_

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There, he had seen me by chance, so he had specially made the trip over to my house to see if it had really been me.

Just as I sat down quietly, I heard their conversation turn to _Second Life_…

"Incredible, so Yang Ming is Feng Wu Qing – does that mean that we have been in the same team all along?" Zhuo-gēge had a flabbergasted expression on his face.

Hearing that, I suddenly remembered as well. _Yeah, that's right_ – _my brother and Zhuo-g__ē__ge are both members of Dark Emperor, aren't they?_

"So Zhuo-dàgēis Wicked-dàgē,and I didn't even figure it out." Astonishment was written all over my brother's face.

_What's there to be so astonished about? You couldn't even figure out the in-game identity of your own older twin sister, who was even born from the same womb as you were! Don't even mention Zhuo-g__ē__ge, whom you haven't seen in eight years, _I thoughtscornfully.

"Then Ming Huang is Zhuo Ming Bin?" my brother suddenly exclaimed. "He's quite different from how he used to be as a kid. He seems to have become much more bad-tempered."

_What? Ming Huang is Zhuo-dìdi? __20__ It can't be true – Zhuo-dìdi used to be so cute and affectionate, always__ě__jie"…followingHowcouldmehearoundbethatand calling me "Ji_

_violent not-male, not-female, Ming Huang? Don't ruin my beautiful image of Zhuo-dìdi! _Icried.

Zhuo Ling Bin smiled helplessly. "That kid is in his rebellious stage!"

Zhuo-gēge then suddenly turned to me and asked, "Do you also play, Xiao Lan?"

I hesitated for a moment before answering. "Uhhh, yeah."

"She's even a tranny there!" My brother – who simply couldn't resist dropping the bomb on others – had actually blurted out my secret! I glared at him relentlessly, hatred and regret overflowing in my heart.

_GOD… Why did I tell my secret to the biggest loudmouth in the Feng family?!_

"A tranny? That shouldn't be possible in _Second Life_, right?" Zhuo-gēge looked at me in disbelief.

20** Dìdi: **This suffix means "younger brother" in Chinese, but can also refer to younger boys whom thespeaker is close to.

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This prompted my brother – who had a mouth bigger than the Three Gorges – to immediately begin to recount the entire story to Zhuo-gēge. I kept my head bowed low from the beginning to the end of his narrative, hoping that Zhuo-gēge would forget what I looked like… Or forget what Prince looked like.

"So that's how it is?" Zhuo-gēge smiled at the jittery me and said, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

_But I'm not afraid of you exposing my secret, I'm afraid that you'll recognize me…_

Zhuo Ling Bin glanced at the clock and got to his feet, saying, "It's getting late, I should get going. There's still a match later tonight. I'll see you later in _Second Life_, Yang Ming." My brother gave Zhuo-gēge an OK hand signal.

"I'll walk you to the door, Zhuo-gēge." I walked him out conscientiously.

Zhuo-gēge halted as we reached the entrance. With a slight smile on his face, he said, "Xiao Lan, I hope that I can meet you in _Second Life_ one day!"

"Yeah." _We've already met!_

Hearing that, Zhuo-gēge's smile broadened, and I suddenly felt that the smile was painful to look at. _Zhuo-g__ē__ge, please don't put any more pressure on me!_

Just then, he asked, "I heard that your teacher is Gui from Odd Squad?"

"Yeah." _Why have you turned the conversation to Gui now? Do you know that it makes_ _me nervous?_

"I'm really interested in Odd Squad. Another day, I'll go sit in on your class. Your professor will definitely be very surprised to see me."

_Yeah, that's right! If he sees how close you are to my brother, he might think that you're his love rival! _I thought wickedly to myself, trying to imagine the situation._ It promises to be pretty interesting…?_

As soon as I thought of that entirely possible and very interesting scenario, I forgot all about the jeopardy my identity was in. I smiled cheerfully as I said, "Sure, sure. Just give me a heads up before coming and I'll tell my brother to save a seat for you."

"Oh? I'd much rather sit beside you instead," said Wicked. Before I could react, he had already waved goodbye and left, leaving me frozen in place behind him.

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Next to me, Yang Ming whistled loudly. "Looks like Zhuo-gēge is very interested in my big sis. Sis, you can take advantage of him in _Second Life_. Dark Emperor's dark elf warrior, Wicked, is quite famous!"

_Rely on Wicked in _Second Life_? _I imagined the situation:_ Two lovey-dovey men walking hand in hand with one another. Then, to that, add another guy – Gui – watching jealously from the side… Could anyone look at such a picture with a straight face?_

I shook my head impatiently, clearing it of that somewhat disgusting image. Paying no more heed to the whole mess of events and identities, I was about to return to my room and log on to train in _Second Life_ when…

"Xiao Lan, have you guys finished chatting? Come and meet your cousin21 who has just come back from America," said my mom with a broad smile as she beckoned me over to the living room.

"Cousin?" I asked uncomprehendingly.

"That's right! While you guys were chatting with Ling Bin, your cousin dropped by for a visit. She's the third daughter of my sister's husband's uncle who lives next door." The smile on Mom's face grew even more incandescent. With a face filled with questionable intentions, she pulled my brother to her and whispered, "Son, even though your cousin is older than you by two, three years, she is very beautiful. Plus, she's a distant relative who isn't related to you by blood, so if you have the chance…"

That brother of mine – who loves to flirt with girls – actually crudely replied, "I don't have any interest in big sisters. I only like girls around my age."

In any case, my brother and I still obediently went to greet our cousin. Upon walking into the living room, my brother adopted an innocent expression, wearing a smile that was specially meant for dealing with older relatives.

_You fraud! _I thought, even as I put on my most ladylike smile and looked at my cousin…

My brother and Rose simultaneously exclaimed out loud:

"Rose?"

"Wu Qing?"

"What rose? This is your cousin Ou Yang Mei," my dad said, looking questioningly at the two of them.

21** Cousin: **In this case, "cousin" actually means "older female cousin on the paternal side of the family"specifically.

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My fingers were trembling. "How can this be? Didn't you clearly alight at an earlier bus stop just now?"

Rose… Cousin Ou Yang Mei looked at me. "Bus? Oh, I got off a stop earlier because I wanted to buy some fruits as gift. Were you also on that bus, Cousin22?"

"Forget the bus, are you really my cousin?" Yang Ming asked disbelievingly. "Aren't you younger than me?"

"I'm twenty-three years old this year. I'm just baby-faced." Ou Yang Mei smiled helplessly. "To think that you're actually my cousin, Wu Qing."

"Yeah…"

"Hold up – is anyone going to explain to the two of us _parents_ what in the world is happening?" My dad and mom finally interjected, unable to watch silently anymore.

"It's nothing much, just that Cousin and I were previously in the same team in _Second_ _Life_," Ou Yang Mei said with a weak smile.

"So that's how it is…"

My dad, mom, brother, and cousin immediately started chatting cheerfully amongst themselves. I, however, just sat stiffly beside them, occasionally smiling. In my heart I was thinking, _Not only have I killed my dad and mom and snatched my brother's women_ _as Prince, but I've gone so far as to dump my cousin…and I even kissed her._

_Then…when Prince's cover is blown – is that when I'll be disowned by my family?_

With those realizations, I wailed in my heart, _Who is Prince? I'm not Prince…_

22** Cousin: **In this case, "cousin" actually means "younger female cousin on the paternal side of the family"specifically.

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**Chapter 6: The Truth, Revealed? **

_Online…_

"Prince! Prince, are you online? Quick, come to our usual place. We've got a huge problem."

The instant I got online, Lolidragon PMed me with such urgency in her voice that, before I even got a handle on the situation, I had already begun to run toward the meeting place.

"What happened?" I demanded, as I charged into the restaurant booth with an anxious expression.

"Right, now that everyone is here, I can start talking. The officials have announced that today's match will be cancelled," Lolidragon said calmly. Everyone in Odd Squad widened their eyes in surprise. "The competition is delayed until next week, when all teams will participate in the melee to decide the champion team."

"What will the melee consist of? And why did they suddenly change the competition method?" Wolf inquired thoughtfully.

"The rumor is that they made the change because this competition had too many participating teams, which caused the competition to drag on for too long and has severely affected normal game play. So the officials decided to resolve everything in one go.

"A melee is where all teams are gathered on one arena at the same time to fight. The team the last person standing belongs to will be declared the winner. No pets will be allowed to help out in the fight." Lolidragon paused, then drew in a deep breath and said, "In total, there will be one hundred teams, which means this will be a melee with six hundred participants."

Everyone was left speechless for a while.

"Surviving amidst six hundred people?" I muttered to myself. "I think in all likelihood I'll be the first one to be hacked to death."

_It can't be helped, but…Is it my fate to be so handsome that every man who sees me will want to hack me to bits? Can't I go into the competition wearing a mask?_

"That's right; seems like it's impossible to hope for Prince's survival," Wolf sighed. "Since I'm such a huge target, it's likely that I won't be able to hold out for long. Our best hope will be Lolidragon, I guess. Her agility is so high and her build is quite slender and small."

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Lolidragon laughed dryly. "Don't pin your hopes on me. I heard that there are already five teams saying that they would be willing to give up the chance for victory just to watch me die a horrible death."

_Man… Lolidragon, what exactly did you do that was so serious that even your beauty couldn't prevent trouble? _The rest of Odd Squad stared disbelievingly at Lolidragon, butthe person in question merely shrugged casually. "I'm just too bored when you guys aren't here, so I used the Steal ability… I only wanted to help earn some team money."

I leveled a trembling finger at Lolidragon and asked, "How much exactly did you steal?"

"One million, six hundred and fifty-five thousand, seven hundred and twenty dollars23… Plus a _Soul-Heaven Royal Sword_ and a Taoist robe that she hasn't sold yet," Yu Lian-dàsăometiculously reported. After a pause she added, "That's just the portion that Lolidragon gave us to be used on team expenses."

"Lolidragon, how much did you steal for yourself?" Both my menacing gaze and the blade of my menacing Black Dao were drifting between Lolidragon's neck and heart.

"Not much…" Lolidragon's face was artless and innocent. Hearing her words, I relaxed a bit. _If it isn't much, maybe we can just return all the money to the people that she stole_ _from…_

"I only bought two suitcases from LV and three evening gowns from Chanel…"

"Two suitcases and three evening gowns? That's not too bad. We can just pool the money from all six of us to cover the cost," Wolf and Gui, neither of whom knew the difference between life and death, commented lightly.

"You guys don't understand!" four terrifying women roared simultaneously… and then everyone gave me a weird look. (Except for Lolidragon, who seemed happy… _Grrr!_)

I coughed fiercely in an attempt to cover my mistake. "_Ahem_, I'm somewhat familiar with popular brands…"

"So just how much does all that cost then?" Gui asked uncomprehendingly.

Yu Lian-dàsăo's eyebrows furrowed as she calculated. "Two suitcases…? One suitcase costs approximately two hundred thousand dollars, so that's about four hundred thousand… and if the three gowns are the latest season's…" She rested her palm against

23** Dollars: **It's not very clear just what currency we're talking about here (that is, whether this is in-gamecurrency or real-world currency). If this is in-game currency, then this would be 1,655 crystals, 7 g (gold) and 2 s (silver). If this is real-world currency, then the dollars here would refer to the New Taiwan Dollar (TWD), and the sum here would be approximately 50,112 USD.

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her forehead and looked as if she was going to faint. Wolf quickly placed a hand on his wife's shoulder to support her.

"_LOLIDRAGON…_" I growled, resting my Black Dao against her neck again. "How much is it exactly?"

"I guess it's roughly one and a half million for the suitcases and the latest season's gowns," Lolidragon said, blinking her eyes innocently.

Everyone's expressions turned blank.

"Let's give up on Lolidragon then. We should try to think of a way to ensure the survival of the rest of the team; there's a much better chance of that happening," I said in defeat after a moment. The others nodded weakly in agreement.

"That leaves only Yu Lian, Doll, and Gui?" Wolf asked as he scratched the fur on his head. "Yu Lian and Gui both belong to physically weak classes – mage and bard respectively – so it would be kind of hard for them to survive, too. Doll has the best chances; she'll have a lot of skeletons to protect her."

_Therefore, our chances for victory rest on Doll? _We looked as one at the innocentlysmiling Doll. _Yes! Our chances do look pretty good after all. Doll is so adorable… Surely_ _no one would have the heart to bully her, right?_

"It's decided then. Everyone protect Doll!" Wolf said decisively.

"There is still another way, you know," Lolidragon said, waving her forefinger. "Wicked from Dark Emperor just PMed me and asked if we want to form an alliance with them."

"Alliance?" I asked uncertainly.

With a mysterious expression, Lolidragon explained, "Actually, it's an open secret that a lot of teams have formed various large and small alliances in order to win. Once the competition starts, the alliances will fight each other first, after which the alliances will break up into their teams and face off. Finally, the surviving remnants of the team will fight to the last man in order to determine the winner.

"Hence, if we form an alliance with Dark Emperor, then we will start the competition by fighting against other teams first. If both our teams can survive until the end, then the final confrontation will be between our teams."

"But the allied teams may end up being a hindrance to their allies," Wolf remarked in a worried voice.

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"That's why we all need to decide whether we can trust Dark Emperor Team or not," Lolidragon said as though that was the obvious answer.

"If my memory serves me correctly, our teams are sworn enemies," Gui replied coolly. 100% disapproval was written all over his face.

"One vote against, one vote in favor, so it's a tie for now. What about other people?" Lolidragon had begun to keep count of the votes with considerable enthusiasm.

The furrow between Wolf-dàgē'sbrows grew deeper, and deeper, and deeper, until at last he said in a troubled voice, "I also vote in favor. We don't know any other teams and surviving alone is too hard."

"I'm with Wolf." Yu Lian-dàsăolooked at Wolf lovingly. She always followed her husband's opinions.

"Wow, that's already half of us in favor of it. Prince, Doll, how about you two?"

"Doll doesn't mind either way," said Doll, an especially pure and ethereal smile on her face.

"Prince." Everyone stared at me. _But I… I really don't want to see Wicked now, and who_ _knows if he'll suddenly see the light and recognize me as Feng Lan? My stupid brother already told him I'm a tranny… However, more than that, I don't want to be mashed into a meat paste during the melee._

"In favor."

"Then it's decided!" Lolidragon said happily. "We will undergo special training with Dark Emperor every day this week."

"Lolidragon, what are you so happy about?" I asked Lolidragon with suspicion in my eyes.

Lolidragon winked at me, then PMed me her reply. "Feng Wu Qing will be there. When Wolf-gēand Gui see your brother, the misund erstanding will clear up. Haven't you always wanted to resolve that misunderstanding? See how nice I am to you?"

_The problem is, after solving the problem with my brother there'll be a new problem, this time involving Zhuo-g__ē__ge… God, why are you so unwilli ng to go easy on me? Sigh, I don't care anymore. After all, Wicked shouldn't be able to recognize me…right? _I tried toconsole myself uneasily.

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"It's been a while, Prince." Zhuo-gēge… no, _Wicked's_ distant smile appeared before my eyes once again. At his back was a clearly annoyed Ming Huang, whom I used to call Zhuo-xiăodìdi, and at his side was the charming and suave Feng Wu Qing, who was fanning himself with a feather fan. _My stupid brother…_

_No wonder they are my sworn enemies!_

"Feng Yang Ming?" Gui looked at Feng Wu Qing, dumbfounded, before turning back to look at me.

"Hello, professor," Feng Wu Qing said, grinning. "It didn't cross your mind that I might be a member of Dark Emperor, did it?"

_Judging by Gui's disbelieving expression, I think the thing that he didn't expect was you being a member of Dark Emperor instead of Prince in Odd Squad._

"You— Are you really Feng Yang Ming?" Gui still looked flabbergasted, as though he could not bring himself to believe that he had actually gotten the wrong person.

"Yes?" Feng Wu Qing queried, looking oddly at the professor who seemed to be a tad _too_ shocked.

As for me, I realized I had thwarted my own plans, since I'd wanted to entertain myself with the scene of Gui and Wicked fighting over my brother and getting all jealous. _What_ _a pity! _Still, looking at Gui's astonished expression and my brother's apparent confusion,I found a different entertainment…

With a considerable effort, I suppressed my laughter and said seriously, "We are very happy to be able to work with Dark Emperor. I hope that both teams can support each other till the end."

"Let's hope that is the case." Wicked smiled faintly.

"When the time comes, don't blame us for defeating you lot and winning the competition," Ming Huang said with a face filled with malice. It was obvious that he hadn't desired an alliance with Odd Squad in the least.

On the surface, I merely looked silently at Ming Huang, but in my heart I sighed, feeling infinitely regretful. _Why has the cute Ming Bin from before become so bratty now?_ _Should I help Zhuo-g__ē__ge teach his wayward brother some manners?_

Wolf-dàgēsuddenly clapped his hands. "Okay, that's it for everything that is unrelated to the competition! The thing that is most important for us now is the battle next week."

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Hearing that, Gui, Feng Wu Qing, Ming Huang, and I – who were all either staring or glaring daggers at each other – reluctantly withdrew our gazes and paid attention to Wolf-dàgēas he spoke.

"It is my opinion that we should try to practice surviving in a situation where we are surrounded by enemies on all sides. Hence, I suggest that we find a training place that is filled with mobs," Wolf-dàgēsaid.

"Dàgē,it'll be very easy to become pillars of white light if we do that," I said apprehensively, breaking out into cold sweat. The others also swallowed nervously, looking somewhat petrified by the thought.

"To win, one must always make sacrifices," Wolf-dàgēsaid ruthlessly. "Of course, it's also best not to lower our team's level whenever possible."

_Sigh! _Ever since I first met Wolf-dàgē,I had come to understand the phrase "To resignoneself to one's fate". Since Wolf-dàgēhad determined that I had the lowest chances of survival in the team, he ordered me (_Yes, that's right! It was definitely an order!_) to use my final moments to kill as many mobs as possible, so as to buy time for my other team mates to escape. This way, our team's level wouldn't be lowered by unnecessary deaths.

_And that's how I've ended up running for my life with a huge bunch of mobs hot on my heels right now…_

Time really seemed to drag on forever, with every second feeling like a year… After a few thousand years, I finally accomplished my impossible mission and pulled24 dozens of monsters away from my team without lighting any fireworks (_that is to say, turning into a_ _pillar of white light_).

I was so tired that I crawled back to my team on all fours like a dog. But just when I was about to sit down comfortably on the sidelines to watch Wicked's Flawless Frenzied Sword-Dance and Feng Wu Qing's Flexible Sword Technique…

"Prince, there are too many monsters again. Hurry up and pull them away," Wolf-dàgē shouted at me from the other side of the Great Wall of Monsters.

My eyes glazed over like those of a dead fish and I was left speechless…

"Hurry up and pull them away! I've already cast Wrath of the Nine Heavens twice and we still can't clear them!" Ming Huang shouted, his face clearly showing his annoyance.

24** To pull a mob: **Gamer lingo for luring a mob (or multiple mobs). This is usually done by either the meatshield (a.k.a. the tank) or a ranged attacker. As most mobs in MMOs tend to attack the first fellow who provokes it – either by stepping into its "aggro" range or by attacking it – this will ensure that the mob does _not _attack the other members of the group.

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I shot Ming Huang a savage glare, but took out Meatbun resignedly. "Meatbun, use

_Machine Gun Meat Attack_."

"Are we roasting meat again Mama? But I don't see Fire Bird." Meatbun said, eagerly hopping here and there, looking for Fire Phoenix.

"HURRY UP AND FIRE!" both teams — twelve people in total — roared together.

I boarded the "number 11 bus"25 once again and started running, and running, and running… _Bloody hell_! A devastated expression crossed my face and I mentally wailed in a tragic voice: _There. Is. A. Cliff. Ahead!_

For the first time in my life, I truly felt that my abysmal sense of direction was criminal.

_What am I supposed to do about the horde of mobs that were eyeing my back with a predatory gaze? _I stared at the cliff —_ it looks high enough that a fall would lead to certain death… _— then turned back and stared at the huge number of mobs behind me.

_They could probably just trample me dead… Plummet to my death? Or be trampled to death? This…seems like a difficult choice?_

Hanging onto my final shred of hope, I switched to the team channel and asked, "Wolf-dàgē,how many monsters are there left at your side?" _Do you have the time to come and_ _save me?_

"The monsters' numbers are just fine; I think we can clear them in half an hour." After Wolf finished replying to me, there was no further news from his end.

_Half an hour? There might not even be ashes left of me by then…_

I clutched my beloved Black Dao tightly and muttered under my breath, "Come and get me! You stupid monsters, even if I die I will drag some of you to the grave with me." The first ones to rush at me were a Bosilimi26, a spider monster with a human head, a huge slime monster, the very aggressive leader of a tribe of pygmies, and—

**Number 11 bus: **This is a very commonplace joke… Just think, what do your legs look like?

**Bosilimi: **Spider-bodied, human-headed monsters are in no short supply in most fantasy novels, althoughtheir names vary from book to book (alternative names include Spidrens and Dryders). An interesting side note: this is½Princeprobablythattheveryauthofi**r** stis hintafaninof R.A. Salvatore. (Yes, Yu Wo

loves Drizzt. She loves him so much that she event created a drow character similar to Drizzt in a later novel.)

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_There's just too many of them! _I gulped and retreated a few steps, but I hadn't noticedthat I was already next to the cliff's ledge, and in a moment of inattention…

"Done at last!" Lolidragon groaned as she sprawled beside the road. She was panting heavily; the distance she'd covered wasn't any less than Prince! Due to her higher agility but lower attack power when compared to the idiotic Playboy Lord, Lolidragon ended up having to be the bait that lured the mobs to run in circles.

On the other side of the road, however, Wicked and Feng Wu Qing were even worse off. Not only had they had to chase the mobs, they'd had to fight mobs too until their arms had turned to jelly. Both of them were panting heavily and their faces were pale.

"Ok, is anyone dead or injured?" Wolf asked as he stood up and looked over everyone. "Report!"

"1," said Human warrior Feng Wu Qing.

"2," said Dark elf warrior Wicked.

"3," said Human mage Ming Huang.

"4," said Human thief Playboy Lord.

"5," said Elf archer Ambusher.

"6," said Angel priest Black Lily.

"Mm…all members of Dark Emperor Team are here." Wolf turned to look at his own teammates. "Five people? Isn't Prince back yet?"

"Prince, where are you? We're done fighting! Stop lazing around and come back quickly," Lolidragon shouted through the team channel, but there was no response even after a long time.

"What happened? Don't tell me Prince is dead?" Gui's face became anxious.

"It's possible," Lolidragon said, recalling the huge amount of mobs that Prince had pulled away the last time… _He might really have died._

"I'll PM him to see whether he is online or not."

"Well?" Wolf asked, concerned.

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"Weird, he is online but he isn't replying." Lolidragon furrowed her brows.

"Perhaps he's angry?" Wicked opined impassively. "We did force him to lure a ton of mobs away… Perhaps that was a bit too mean?"

Everyone in Odd Squad gave Wicked an odd look and said in unison, "That fellow has already resigned himself to fate!"

"Plus he won't get angry at us; he'll just vent all his anger on Gui," Lolidragon added.

"Then what had happened to Prince-gēge?" Doll worriedly asked.

"Who knows? But he probably isn't in any big trouble," Lolidragon replied. _It's an online_ _game, the worst thing that can happen is dying, right? _Lolidragon tried to reassureherself, but at the same time she was slightly uneasy.

_Ouch…Did I faint? _I tried to raise my right hand to touch my head, which was hurtingfrom a splitting headache, only to find… _Why can't I move my right arm_?

_Of course I can't_, I thought as I glanced at my right hand. It was covered in so muchblood that it could pass for a hot dog covered in ketchup.

As for my left hand… I tried to move it, but the pain nearly drove the tears from my eyes. I glanced at my left hand and thought, _Oh, fantastic! My white bones are already_ _outdoors, shopping._

Next, I weakly opened my mouth to shout, but blood gushed out from my mouth like water from a tap. I no longer dared to verify whether my legs were capable of walking …

_God! Lying here half-dead is more painful than simply dying…_

_It hurts, it really hurts! _I looked at the cliff that I had fallen off, trying hard to imprint onmy memory the knowledge that a fall from this height isn't enough to kill, and that I should remember not to fall off random cliffs anymore…

_No! What am I thinking! I should be hurrying to PM other people to come and rescue me, before I faint again._

"Guys… save… save me…" _The blood in my mouth…how salty…_

"Prince?" Everyone in Odd Squad blanched. "Where are you?! Did you die?"

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"Urgh… It hurts… Come and save me soon, or you can just come to kill me off!" The pain had made me delirious and I was starting to spout nonsense.

Gui was so worried that he shouted, "Prince, where are you?!"

"Cliff… Don't jump off one for fun… It hurts…!" My head spun and I saw stars.

"Hang in there, Prince! Don't go offline yet; we'll come find you right away." _Is that_ _Wolf-dàg__ē__'s voice? It sounds like it's so far away._

_Pain… P… _My consciousness no longer registered any word but "pain".

All the members of Odd Squad looked as white as a sheet.

"I think Prince has probably fallen off some cliff. Everyone split up to find him, quick! Inform me once you've found him so that I can heal him," Wolf-dàgēbellowed urgently. As soon as he'd finished speaking, everyone dashed off in separate directions.

"We'll help you with your search," Wicked offered, concerned.

"Prince, where are you?" Gui was in such a state that he seemed almost like a man possessed. Yelling frantically, he ran helter-skelter as he searched.

After instructing his team members to help with the search, Wicked surveyed his surroundings carefully. _Given Prince's speed and the direction in which he was headed_ _last, where could he have fallen off?_

In the meantime, I was mentally lamenting my situation.

_Why can't I just die? Could this be considered a miscalculation by the game developers? I have to keep lying here, in such pain and agony, just so that everyone can find me? I'm absolutely going to complain to Lolidragon – the hidden GM – when I see her later…_

To divert my attention from the pain, I came up with all sorts of nonsensical thoughts and ideas, but… _Why hasn't anyone come to save me yet? Wuuuh, it really hurts! Someone_ _save me! Please! Gui, where are you? Let me punch you to vent my feelings, waaah! …_

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_Wait, who? Who is that? _As the sound of footsteps reached me, I felt so touched that Iwanted to see for myself who was approaching…

"I finally found you," the person said as he kneeled down beside me. He took out a health potion and tried to feed it to me, but I barely managed to swallow two mouthfuls.

"Is it Gui?" My vision was so blurry that I couldn't make out the person in front of me…

_Who is it?_

"No, it's Wicked. I've run out of health potions, so I'll have to bring you back to the priests for healing," Wicked said as he scooped me up from the ground.

"Oh… So it's… It's Zhuo-gēge!" I muttered to myself in relief.

_Zhuo__ē__.Ge.G _?! Wicked thought, stunned. He lowered his head to look at me closely, butI didn't notice because I'd been rendered delirious from the pain.

After peering carefully at my features, he whispered, "The exact same pair of eyes… and last time Yang Ming had told me that she was playing a male character in Second Life. Plus he called me Zhuo-gēge… Don't tell me you're… Xiao Lan?!"

Wicked stared at my pain-riddled countenance with mounting alarm.

"Xiao Lan, is that you?" Wicked asked loudly, his voice filled with distress.

"Prince! We've found Prince!" Gui called as he sprinted towards us. "Thanks, Wicked."

Gui reached out, thinking to take me from Wicked's hold, but Wicked just gripped me closer to him. He ignored Gui and instead walked over to meet Ugly Wolf, who was running over.

"…" Gui could only stare in bewilderment as Wicked stoically strode past him, carefully cradling me in his arms.

Once Wolf-dàgēhad finished casting a number of powerful healing spells on me, I finally revived and returned to my usual self – _and boy was I pissed!_

"Why did it take you guys so long to find me? I was in a lot of pain!" I snapped, remembering my earlier miserable situation with a shudder.

"Hey, you were the one who fell off the cliff on your own! We had to exert a ton of effort just to look all over the place for you. How dare you complain still!" Lolidragon retorted, brutally pointing out the facts.

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"I…" I was feeling rather sorry for myself. _It's not like I fell off the cliff deliberately_, I thought, pouting crossly. "Gui, Gui! Explain to me why you were slower than Wicked in finding me."

"I…" Gui managed a weak, confused smile, but his eyes were filled with guilt.

Not bothering to waste any more time on pointless conversation… _I'll just start beating_ _Gui up!_

"Xiao Lan?" Wicked suddenly PMed me, his tone indecipherable.

I stopped dead in my tracks and then slowly turned my head back to look at Wicked. _My_ _identity's been revealed? So in the end… _With no other choice, I dropped Gui and PMedWicked in reply, "You found out then?"

"Mmhmm." Zhuo-gēge had a strange look in his eyes, leaving me uncertain about what he was planning to do.

"Could you not reveal the truth to anyone else, Zhuo-gēge?" I pleaded, and then added, "Especially that brother of mine, Feng Wu Qing. He's got a mouth like a broadcasting station."

Zhuo-gēge stared at me, silently considering my request.

Seeing the situation, I found myself forced to use my tried-and-tested, near-godly cajoling technique. "_Pleeease,_ Zhuo-gēge! Don't tell anyone, _okayyy_?" _Ewww… even I_ _find it disgusting to hear myself sweet-talk someone else with Prince's masculine voice._

"Mm." Zhuo Ling Bin helplessly nodded his head. Obviously he couldn't stand being cajoled by a guy either.

"Why are the two of them gazing ardently into one another's eyes?" Lolidragon remarked slyly. "Not to mention that Prince has such a bizarre expression… Looks like your love rival has finally appeared, Gui!"

I gave Lolidragon the evil eye for the nonsense she was spouting and then turned to Gui. The bard was looking at Wicked and me expressionlessly. To be honest, his blank face actually alarmed me far more than any other expression would have.

The next day our teams decided to train separately. As usual, we waited for everyone to arrive before starting. I glanced over at Gui – he had been in a state of depression ever

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since the day before, and was just stopping short of having two demon fires

27 floating next to him.

Unable to resist the urge, I smacked him on the head and exclaimed, "What are you thinking about? You look terrible."

Gui looked at me with a searching expression for a while, before replying in a heavy voice. "Nothing much…"

I thought about it for a moment, and understanding dawned. "Are you nervous about the competition? Don't worry about it; as long as we give it all we have, the result is of no importance. All we can do now is work hard, anyway," I said as I patted Gui's back cheerfully.

_I'm actually nervous too, but winning or losing isn't really such a big deal to me. Of course, it'd still be nice to win!_

Lolidragon rolled her eyes and shot me a look that clearly said that she thought I was a lost cause. "Prince, your brain is really missing a tendon!"

Hearing her comment, I replied seriously. "Lolidragon, don't think that I'm completely clueless!"

"Oh? Then you _do_ know?" Curiosity was written all over her face.

"I may not be a medical student, but I still know that there aren't any tendons in the human brain. Don't try to trick me!" I said crossly.

"You thick-headed moron!" A vein popped on Lolidragon's forehead.

"Prince." Just as I was about to retort, Gui suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders and looked at me apprehensively. "Tell me, just _who_ is more important to you: me, or Wicked?" he asked.

"You're more important to me, obviously," I replied firmly.

Once I answered, Gui's entire body seemed to glow brightly. Standing to one side, he blissfully replayed my answer over and over again in his head, even as I continued to mutter to myself.

"After all, you are my teammate! And while Wicked might be an ally, we'll still need to fight him in the end."

27** Demon fires: **You'd definitely have seen these hanging next to Gui if you've read the manhua version ofthis scene, or if you've ever watched the anime "Ghost Hunt". They're called "鬼火" ĭ(guhuŏ)in Chinese, "onibi" in Japanese, and they're basically spirits.

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As I finished speaking, I suddenly noticed something. _Eh? Why has the atmosphere_ _around Gui gone all dark and heavy again? _I scratched my head, and asked uncertainly,"Lolidragon, did I say something wrong?"

Lolidragon cast Gui a sympathetic look. "No, but it'll be better if you don't say anything else."

"Oh…let's not bother about Gui then. Wolf-dàgē,what should we do next for our training?" I asked anxiously. "Even Dark Emperor has gone for their secret training, so what about us?"

"_Heh heh_…" Wolf-dàgē'ssly laugh gave me goosebumps. "We'll also be conducting our own secret training!"

Everyone went "_ohhh"_ apprehensively and began to listen attentively.

"If the opponent team only consists of six people, then we would just need to train for higher levels, better teamwork, et cetera. However, when we're squaring off against six _hundred _people, the most important thing is…" Wolf-dàgēdrew a deep breath."Escaping."

I collapsed onto the floor… _No,_ everyone _collapsed onto the floor._

_Escaping? We actually need secret training for ESCAPING?_

"Don't look down on the art of escaping. Even the _Thirty-six Stratagems__28_ states that escaping is the best strategy, so you can see that escaping can be a really profound area of study. Not only must you possess leg strength so that you can outrun your enemies, you also must have keen eyesight, in order to spot the best direction to escape. In addition, you need to have good judgment to efficiently use every possible trick in your book in the process of fleeing, and to decrease the numbers of enemies that are chasing you.

"Lastly, and most importantly, you need to be good at stealth and be capable of blending into a crowd, so that others won't think of killing you first." Wolf-dàgēpaused for breath before pointing at Gui, Lolidragon, and me.

"However," he continued, "Our team has the misfortune of having three individuals who stand out so much that nobody could forget them, even if they wanted to… and one of them even stirred up trouble right before the competition and made herself stand out more."

28** Thirty-Six Stratagems: **A famous set of Chinese writings relating to military strategy. The word"stratagems" actually means "ruses", so you can see why escaping plays such a huge role in it. The writings were often attributed to Sun Tzu (of Art of War fame) or Zhuge Liang (of Three Kingdoms fame), but recent historians believe that the origins of the Thirty-Six Stratagems are not rooted in any particular era or writer.

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"Then what should we do, Wolf-dàgē?" I asked anxiously. At th e same time, I thought to myself darkly, _Actually, our team has FOUR individuals who stand out, including_ _someone who's two meters tall._

"I have already thought of a solution," Wolf-dàgēreplied. As he took out a sack filled

with masks, I began to cheer mentally. _Yaaaaay,_ I thought, _I can go masked!_ I took out a mask and promptly put it on, feeling overjoyed that I wouldn't have to be hacked to death by those jealous, sword-swinging living creatures.

"Does it look good, Lolidragon?" I turned and asked her.

"If you were planning to stage a robbery, then this black cloth mask that covers your whole head with only three exposed holes would truly be suitable."

I took out another mask and put it on.

"If you thought you could blend into the crowd during the competition while wearing a safety helmet, then this one would be all right as well."

_Next!_

"Right, the quality of this silk stocking is pretty good."

_And next!_

"Even I had no idea that they sold Pikachu masks in Second Life…"

Wearing a Pikachu face, I watched speechlessly as Yu Lian-dàsăograbbed and twisted

her husband's ear and warned him not to buy objects at random anymore. _Wait a minute;_ _I seem to remember that I have…_

I rooted around in my pouch, finally found my first mask in my life — a masquerade mask. I took off the Pikachu mask and instead put on the old one that covered the upper half of my face.

"How about this?" I turned to face everyone.

"Much better," Everyone said in unison — except for Wolf-dàgē,who kept muttering insistently that the masks he'd bought were better, since the people on TV always wore those kinds of masks.

"I have a question. Are we escaping separately or as a team?" Gui asked. He began to analyze the situation with a severe expression. "If we all escape together, it will probably have the reverse effect from what we want, right? However, the risks are higher if we

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escape separately… So how about we separate into three groups, with two people in each group? That way, we can keep a low profile and still have back-up."

_To think that Gui could actually say something that made sense, _I thought, and had nochoice but to give him a serious response. "How should we split ourselves up then?"

Gui deliberated for a moment, then said, "Prince with Yu Lian-dàsăo, Doll with Lolidragon, and Wolf-gēwith me."

I considered his words, but quickly realized that I couldn't think of any reason for this particular arrangement. "The rationale being…?"

"You and Yu Lian-dàsăocan be considered a pretty strong combination, so you both shouldn't have any trouble if it's just a matter of escaping. In contrast, for our two groups, Doll can sacrifice Lolidragon in order to escape if necessary, while Wolf can sacrifice me." Gui said impassively. "A warrior's strength, a mage's powerful AoE spells,29 a necromancer's horde of skeletons, and the must-have Priest will all be very useful for our team. A Thief and a Bard are more secondary in importance."

"I see… then between Yu Lian-dàsăoand me, who should be sacrificed?" I thought that I should ask first. _Otherwise, what if the wrong person dies?_

Gui's brow wrinkled for a moment, then he looked at me and said firmly, "I believe that you'll definitely protect Yu Lian-dàsăoand at the same time protect yourself. Is that all right?"

I smiled. "No problem."

After that, Odd Squad began to practice the art of escaping — the recommended strategy of the Thirty-Six Stratagems.

To train our leg strength, everyone tried to come up with an ability similar to Qing Gong30. Of course, Lolidragon and I didn't need to learn it, since our agility was already extremely high. Then, everyone took turns being chased by Lolidragon, who was holding a torch, trying to scorch us… _Lolidragon, was it just me or were you rather fixated on_

**AoE spells: **AoE stand for "Area of Effect", so AoE spells are basically spells that deal damage within acertain area or radius. Such spells tend to be more destructive, but also require more time to cast, hence are easily interrupted. An example of this is Ming Huang's favorite spell, "Wrath of the Nine Heavens".

**Qing Gong: **The two characters in "轻功"īng(qōng) literally means "light" (as opposed to "heavy")

and "skill". This is a special type of ability that only the top martial arts practitioners in _wuxia_ novels are able to execute. To learn it, characters often have to go through some fairly harsh and unusual training, during which they must learn to channel their "_qi_", a form of energy, through the proper channels. One example is Little Dragon Girl from Return of the Condor Heroes, who is able to sleep by lying on a single length of rope, as though it is a hammock. Qing Gong also allows its user to "fly" by stepping on the air itself or move very rapidly.

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_singeing my ass? _Basically, we were trying in every way possible to make ourselvesswifter.

Next, to train our eyesight, we went to a jam-packed street in the most crowded market in Sun City, the largest city in Second Life. There, we tried to seek out the best route that would allow us to worm our way through the street as quickly as possible.

The final winner was the petite Doll. I came to the conclusion that having a big body wasn't always an advantage, because Wolf-dàgēnever won. In fact, he never reached the end point, not even once.

To train our judgment, we first considered robbing a bank; that way we could improve our judgment and also increase our team's funds, killing two birds with one stone. The infamy we would gain when committing the crime didn't matter to us – after all, even Yu Lian-dàsăodidn't l ook at our team's fame level anymore. (_We all knew that anyone who_ _saw it would feel heartbroken…_)

Our plan was to rob the bank, split into groups, and then – using various means and methods – we would hinder the guards in the course of escaping… However, after realizing that we might be jailed until long after the competition was over if we failed, we gave up this portion of our training.

Lastly, training the ability to conceal oneself was the easiest. Everyone just walked into the shop, paid one gold coin for a masquerade mask, and it was done.

The rest of our training consisted of killing mobs to grind levels31. After some discussion with Dark Emperor, they too decided to employ our strategy. Since the latest rumors said that all of the remaining ninety-eight teams had formed alliances, with each alliance having five or so teams, it seemed like a smart idea…

_In such a situation, what else can we do except to escape? Fight them head-on? We'd get decimated!_

Although Ming Huang kept bellowing about how we should just slaughter them all with _Wrath of the Nine Heavens_, Wicked, Feng Wu Qing, and I all agreed that we didn't havethe ability to fend off tons of opponents at once while protecting our mages. Thus, Ming Huang's "suggestion" was rejected.

Dark Emperor had split themselves up into three groups – Wicked with Ming Huang, Feng Wu Qing with Black Lily, and Ambusher with Playboy Lord. If necessary, the teams would cover for each other.

31** Grind levels: **Gamer lingo which basically means to keep killing mobs, doing quests, or doing anyactivity that yields experience points in order to level up.

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After finding out that Wicked was Zhuo-gēge, I had more trust in Dark Emperor. If Zhuo-gēge dared to go back on his promise, I would certainly give him hell.

_There's only one more day until the melee battle…_

_Real life…_

"Xiao Lan…" Zhuo-gēge said hesitantly.

I paused in the act of eating my noodles and looked questioningly up at him. Although I had known that Zhuo-gēge would come to find me to discuss my other identity, I never would have thought that he would ask me out for lunch the day before the competition.

"Mmff?"

"The competition will be very dangerous, so you should be careful," Zhuo Ling Bin said. There was indecision in his voice and his eyes were filled with worry.

"I will; dying doesn't feel good at all!" I replied.

What I didn't tell Zhuo-gēge was that I had decided I would protect Yu Lian -dàsăowith my very life if necessary, even though I'd told Gui that staying alive would be "no

problem". While I didn't know whether it was the right decision, at least without me they would still have Doll's skeletons as a meat shield.

"Mm…"

I smiled at Zhuo-gēge. "I'm going to use the restroom for a bit."

As I stepped out of the washroom a few minutes later, I smiled happily. The main reason for my joy was that this restaurant's food was delicious and, for once, I wouldn't have to pay.

However, as I turned the corner to walk to my seat, Professor Min Gui Wen's face suddenly entered my view. Alarmed, I immediately hid behind the wall and then stealthily poked my head out from behind it. To my surprise, I found that Gui and Zhuo-gēge were staring intensely at each other.

They sustained this standoff for what felt like five minutes, until even the surrounding customers were starting to look curiously at them. Still, they stared, without uttering a word. I grew so tired just from watching that I had to massage my neck.

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"What's going on? Did they fall in love at first sight?" I muttered to myself.

"Just you wait, I will defeat you," Gui finally said.

"Oh? And just how will you defeat me? By playing your guqin?" Zhuo Ling Bin retorted disdainfully.

Gui smiled faintly, not backing down an inch. "Prince and I will defeat you together."

I quickly poked my head out to eavesdrop after I heard their voices.

At Gui's words, Zhuo Ling Bin's expression changed and he said scathingly, "What do you know? You don't understand her32 at all."

"Although I've only known him for a short time, I understand his personality, his likes, and his tendencies," Gui replied seriously.

"_You_ understand her? Do you understand her as well as I do? I have loved her for eight years!" Agitated, Zhuo Ling Bin stood up abruptly, looming over Gui.

_Eight years? _A brief flash of white, hot pain stabbed through Gui's chest, gone as quicklyas it had come. He shoved the sensation aside and managed to retort, "Eight years and you have yet to win his heart… and you still believe that you have hope?"

His words wedged themselves into a crack in Zhuo Ling Bin's heart. They'd found their mark, his weakness, with unerring accuracy.

The two men glared fiercely at each other, neither willing to back down first.

Meanwhile, I stood confusedly at one side, thinking, _So they are love rivals? Who is that_ _lucky girl?_

_Wait a moment, Gui is gay! That must mean they're fighting over a man! Eh? Zhuo-g__ē__ge is gay too?! This is too complicated; I don't understand it at all!_

32** Her/ Him: **In Chinese, the character "她"ā)(tis used when saying "she" or "her", while the character "他"ā)(tis used when saying "he", "him" or "his". The two characters have the same pronunciation. As such, Gui does not realize that Prince is actually a girl.

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Eventually, Gui heaved a deep sigh. "Forget it," he said. "We can continue this conversation after the competition. At the very least, I don't want this to affect the competition, since it's so important to Prince."

Zhuo Ling Bin glanced at Gui briefly. "Yeah."

After getting Zhuo Ling Bin's agreement, Gui swiftly left while Zhuo-gēge sat down again.

_Looks like it's time for me to go out? _I hurried back to my seat, trying to act casual, butZhuo-gēge was just smiling as usual.

"Umm, I'm going to be late for my class, so I'll leave first. Bye, Zhuo-gēge!"

After I got home, following the end of my classes for the day, I couldn't help but keep thinking about the contents of their conversation. It was on my mind even as I cooked dinner that night.

_Firstly, it's someone Zhuo-g__ē__ge has known for eight years. Secondly, it has to be a guy… right? Gui is gay, so it's impossible that he'd be fighting with Zhuo-g__ē__ge over a girl. I must say, though, that finding out that Zhuo-g__ē__ge is a gay gave me quite a shock; I ha dn't thought that this world had so many gays before. Thirdly, it's someone Gui hasn't known for a long time, but understands very well…_

_Who could it possibly be? I'm sooooo curious! Who could actually be so attractive that he charmed both Gui and Zhuo-g__ē__g e? Thanks to him, whoever he is, I'm feeling a tad sour and maybe even slightly pissed._

"Sis, I'm going out to buy drinks; what drink do you want?" Yang Ming asked as he suddenly poked his head out from behind the door.

I stared at Yang Ming, and immediately thought of their conversation—

_A guy Zhuo-g__ē__ge has known for eight years, and whom Gui hasn't known for long but understands very well. All of that adds up to… my brother, Yang Ming?_

_God, I should have thought of it earlier! It's no surprise, then, that Zhuo-g__ē__ge suddenly came to our house. Maybe he knew from the start that Wu Qing was Yang Ming, and that's why he invited him to be a team member?_

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_And Gui… he must have fallen in love with Yang Ming during the period of time when he thought I was Yang Ming! That's why he said he hasn't known him for long, but understands him… was that how it happened?_

Something felt out of place, but at the same time it all seemed to fit. I tilted my head to one side, trying to get my thoughts straightened out and figure out whether my deduction was right or wrong.

"Sis, do you have to think so hard about your choice of drink?" Yang Ming looked impatiently at me, even as my head felt like it would burst from all that thinking.

_Arghhh, I don't care anymore, it would be faster just to ask_.

"Yang Ming, tell me, does Zhuo-gēge like…" I trailed off, finding it hard to actually say the words. _After all, isn't this like asking about what's going on between Zhuo-g__ē__ge and_ _my brother in a roundabout way? _I thought, hesitating.

Yang Ming seemed overjoyed. "You finally get it? Sis, I thought you were so slow that you would never realize it!" At the same time, he thought_, Poor Zhuo-g__ē__ge has liked you_ _for a long time. Now his unrequited love can finally have a happy ending._

My head spun at the revelation his words brought. _I guessed correctly? God! And my_ _brother is so glad about it… Don't tell me he's interested in Zhuo-g__ē__ge too?! But wasn't he hitting on girls all the time? Was that a cover? Even my brother is gay?_

I stared at Yang Ming, torn. "Bro…Let me ask you then, what do you think of Zhuo-gēge?"

"Zhuo-gēge is a very nice guy, and he's very loyal and gentle. He's definitely someone you can entrust your future to," Yang Ming answered, grinning.

"You like him?" I asked, clinging onto my last shred of hope.

"Yep, I like him very much." With a sure expression, he added, "Don't worry, Dad and Mom like Zhuo-gēge very much too, they approve of him."

_God! _My mouth fell open._ To think that my brother really is gay, and that two guys I know are fighting over him? In addition, my parents have given their approval? What kind of world is this?! _"Be honest, sis, are you okay with this turn of events?" my brotherasked seriously.

"I… what if I cannot accept it?" I replied timidly. _But… can I choose_ not _to accept the_ _fact that my brother is a gay?_

"Then someone will be heartbroken." He shook his head with a morose look.

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I looked at the sorrowful face of Yang Ming, and reluctantly thought, _Sigh! My brother_ _has grown up already. At any rate, the choice of the person he likes cannot be decided by his sister. It's better to give him my blessing rather than telling him "no," and making him unhappy. And besides, Dad and Mum aren't against it, anyway._

"Sigh. So long as you're truly happy with it…" I decided at long last.

I left my room sadly, mourning over the sister in law and cute nieces and nephews that I would never have.

Yang Ming watched me depart with a bewildered expression. Scratching his head, he mused aloud, "Odd, what did I come into Sis's room for again?"

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**Chapter 7: A Battle Without Regrets **

_Online_

Despite having completed our final training session the previous night, I continued to be plagued by a feeling of guilt – a feeling that I still wasn't strong enough. Thus, I decided to apply for medical leave and stay home to train in secret.

To be honest, although we'd fought so many rounds in the tournament, I'd never given a thought to the possibility of us losing a particular match. However, I hadn't expected that we would come this far in the tournament, either.

_Am I really that strong? _I couldn't help but feel a little worried. All I could think of wasfighting more mobs and gaining more levels. _Will I be able to survive in the midst of six_ _hundred people with my current level of sixty-two? I have no idea! _However, the thought"I will lose" still did not cross my mind.

With a horizontal slash, I defeated the last monster and brushed my sweat-soaked hair back from my forehead. It was only then that I noticed that someone had approached.

"Gui?"

"Yeah." Gui approached me, and there was a melancholic air about him.

"You're able to come online this early today?" I asked. In my head I wondered, _did the_ _professor skip classes too?_

"Yeah. I usually have more time on Fridays. On the other hand, this seems to be the first time you're online on a Friday morning," said Gui, a faint smile on his lips.

_Huh… Well, that's because I have other classes to attend! _I retorted acerbically in myhead. "Yeah, that's right, haha."

Gui continued to smile, but he could not conceal the forlorn look in the depths of his eyes.

_That forlorn look shouldn't be appearing on Gui's face. This isn't the Gui I know; I don't want to see him like this!_

"I don't like to see you like this, Gui. I much prefer you the way you were before, always cheekily calling me 'Noble Lord Prince'." As I finished speaking, I raised my _dao_ and stalked towards a freshly-spawned batch of mobs.

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"Really? But I…" Gui's eyebrows creased together as he exclaimed in a emotional voice, "I need your answer. Only then can I carry on!"

"Huh? Don't I always answer you by beating you up?" I replied. I was immersed in the thrill of swinging my blade to kill monsters – sprinting, leaping, and dodging.

"What sort of answer is that…"

Gui watched me intently, clearly mesmerized. His eyes followed my ceaselessly moving form, noting the light dancing off my blade, and that exhilarated and slightly bloodthirsty smile of mine.

"You really do like fighting very much, Prince," Gui observed.

I laughed heartily as I continued to fight. "Yep, I like it more than anything else. Swinging my _dao_, kicking, dodging… Don't you find it exhilarating?"

"I find it far more exhilarating to see your smile," Gui murmured. Then he said, "Do you really like me the way I was before?"

"Yeah!" I ducked to evade an attack, but just as I raised my head, a translucent arrow whizzed by my ear. Turning my head to look at the arrow, I saw it protruding from the forehead of a random mob that was about to land a sneak attack on me. I gave a low whistle and offered Gui a thumbs up.

Gui brushed back his hair with one hand and deliberately struck a graceful pose. "In order to rescue Noble Lord Prince, Gui is a one-hundred-percent-accurate shot!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gui was sent sprawling by the Meatbun that I'd lobbed at him. With a smug smile, I retorted, "I told you, don't call me 'Lord Prince'! Also, in order to beat you up, I am also a one-hundred-percent-accurate shot!"

Just then, Lolidragon's voice came over the team channel. "Wah! Who's online? You're even earlier than me."

"It's me and Lord Prince," Gui replied.

I, on the other hand, remarked doubtfully, "Is anyone on this earth _not_ more diligent than you?"

"Whoa! Prince-gēge is also online?" Doll's startled voi ce came over the channel as well.

"Looks like everyone's arrived," Yu Lian-dàsăoadded, sounding amused. "Right now, I'm breakfasting with a wolf that skipped work!"

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"Yu Lian…" Wolf-dàgē'svoice carried a hint of embarrassment as it came over the channel.

A playful notion struck me, and I exclaimed, "Quick, quick! Everyone assemble at the breakfast shop, so that we can be a five-hundred watt light bulb!"33 With that, I set off at lightning speed for the city, dragging Gui along behind me.

"Prince," said Wolf-dàgēto me helplessly, "I know you're here to be a light bulb, but do you have to stare so at me and Yu Lian?"

In a stern voice, I replied, "Wolf-dàgē,I'm afraid that I will fail to fulfill my duties as a light bulb if I don't."

"…"

"Prince, do you have the confidence that we will win?" Yu Lian-dàsăoasked in her gentle voice.

"None whatsoever," I replied honestly, but seeing how the members of Odd Squad immediately became a little nervous, I added, "But I have no intention of losing, either."

"No confidence that we will win, but no intention of losing, either? As expected, that's something you would say," Lolidragon said, and then broke out laughing.

I stretched out my right hand and gave everyone a confident smile. They smiled back at me and then stacked their hands on top of mine.

"Odd Squad, win!" I bellowed.

"Odd Squad, WIN!" the members of Odd Squad roared in unison.

"Let's go, everybody! The final round's about to start," I said. As always, I walked towards the tunnel leading to the arena. As always, I felt no fear. As always, I did not think about whether I would lose. As always, my beloved teammates followed silently behind me.

33** A five-hundred watt light bulb: **In Chinese, to be a light bulb means to be a fifth wheel or a gooseberry.Here Prince is basically saying that they need to be a SUPER big light bulb.

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In the instant I stepped into the arena, I hesitated, and then took off my mask and tossed it onto the floor. Turning around to look at my teammates, I saw that they were stunned for a moment. However, upon seeing the unshakeable resolve in my gaze, they smiled before also removing their masks and tossing them to one side.

"It doesn't matter what the results are, so long as our prowess in battle and our unyielding attitude are engraved into the minds of all those present," I said, my tone somber as one making a vow.

The teams had gathered at the center of the colosseum-styled arena, standing in loose groups here and there.

"Everyone, a hundred of Second Life's most outstanding teams will soon be participating in an intense battle for survival. Don't look away, or you'll miss seeing this exciting scene. Don't close your mouths – cheer your hearts out for your favorite team! I am Xiao Li, the commentator who will be reporting this entire life-and-death battle for you all today," Xiao Li roared, and he went so far as to hop around in a crazed manner as he clutched the microphone.

The atmosphere in the stadium was wild. Banners with the names of various teams hung all around the audience, while the spectators themselves hollered the names of the teams they were supporting.

I stared wide-eyed, noting that the sight of six hundred people was really something out of the ordinary. Worse still, these six hundred people very clearly formed three large camps.

Courageously, confidently, and proudly, I…snuck to a random corner to wait. _Don't kid_ _me! The strength of one's fighting spirit or the amount of one's courage doesn't matter; if you smash an egg against a rock, the result will never change!_

I looked at the frontlines of the three camps. There, at the forefront of the three camps, stood their leaders: a tigerman warrior, a human warrior, and a holyman warrior. Each one of them had the presence of a king.

"Hmph. Standing at such an obvious spot, the king should take care not to become the deceased."34 _Who? Who was it who said that this is a case of sour grapes?_

At that moment, the members of Dark Emperor filed over to stand next to us.

"What do you think our chances of victory are?" Wicked asked me calmly.

"Hmph, it's as big as can be, about as big as my chest!" _(An A-cup…it hurts to admit!)_

34** The king**…**the deceased: **This is a pun. In Chinese, the words for "the king" and "the deceased" areboth pronouncedě". as "wáng z

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_I even wounded my own ego when making the analogy. Looks like that abusive streak in me is growing with each passing day, and I'm not even sparing myself._

Ming Huang looked at my chest with derision and said, "That's one lousy analogy. You're so flat that you don't even have any chest muscles to speak of."

_You damn kid; I'm still an A-cup at the very least, okay?_

"Be careful, this battle will be very dangerous," Wicked said. His brow was creased with worry as he looked at me.

"Don't worry about me; you should watch over Feng Wu Qing carefully instead!" _Sigh!_ _I'd originally intended not to think anymore about that heartrending issue, but now that I've said it, I guess it's all right. I hope that Wicked will take good care of my brother._

I turned my head back and glanced worriedly at Wu Qing, but he and Wicked both pretended to look at me uncomprehendingly.

_Perhaps they don't want to let others know? After all, this kind of thing isn't that common, and not everyone is as open-minded as I am and able to accept this kind of BL relationship._

_Good luck, brother! Sister will always be supporting you silently, _I thought as I looked atmy little brother with tears in my eyes. I threw a sympathetic look Gui's way as well. _It_ _can't be helped, who asked my brother to fall in love with Wicked! Poor Gui._

Without waiting for the three of them to respond, I beckoned to Yu Lian-dàsăo.ăo,"Dàs

you should come over here! It looks like the battle's about to start. As soon as it begins, we'll have to pay attention to the situation and look for a new spot where we can avoid trouble accordingly." Yu Lian-dàsăonodded in ackno wledgment.

"Prince, both you and Yu Lian must be careful. Remember, you are both very important, so both of you must survive to the last." Wolf-dàgēlooked at me, and after I gave him the "OK" sign, he turned towards Lolidragon and Doll. "Lolidragon, you must make sure that your enemies are not nearby. If possible, avoid having to sacrifice yourself. Also, Doll will be depending on you, although somehow it seems to me that you're the one depending on Doll…"

Lolidragon smiled, embarrassed.

"Wolf-dàgē,Gui wi ll be in your care," said Gui. He looked at Wolf-dàgē,a fragile, gentle, and submissive expression on his face…before one of Yu Lian-dàsăo's shadow smiles scared him into a corner to repent his actions.

"Battle, begin." The referee once again shouted those familiar words.

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Although the battle had begun, everyone stood stock-still and remained quiet. The audience ceased their cheering as well. The atmosphere was such that no one dared to exhale, and a silence had fallen over the entire battleground – the type of silence that came before a storm.

I, too, moved nothing except for my eyes. My gaze darted from the left where the mighty tigerman stood – _not bad, his muscles are so oversized that they look kind of disgusting –_ to the right, where the super cool-looking human warrior was – _very good, that cold_ _expression really pisses me off – _and lastly to the holyman warrior in the middle. Iadmired the holyman's girly beauty for a moment. _This guy probably is a gay…right?_ I speculated.

In the end, it seemed like the beastman warrior couldn't stand the silence anymore. He stretched both his hands out and made a rude gesture at the human and holyman. The human warrior fixed him with a cold look in reply, while the holyman merely gave an unconcerned smile. The beastman warrior roared, pointing a finger at the human warrior.

"AT THEM!" He roared, shattering the silence in the entire arena. The members of the tigerman's alliance began to charge.

In contrast, "Kill!" was all that the human warrior said before charging towards the oncoming enemies.

The holyman warrior, however, maintained his relaxed pose. He stretched out a hand to stop the members of his alliance behind him from moving forward to join in the fray. "The clam and the crane quarrel; the fisherman prevails," he said simply.35

_I've got to hand it to this guy; he really is a sneaky bastard._

I made my mind up then. After pulling Yu Lian-dàsăoto where I was, I took advantage of the chaos to stealthily slip through the battle zone from behind. While everyone's

attention was on the battle between the humans and beastmen, I snuck up and hid behind the holymen's alliance. _This place should be a safe spot for the time being,_ I thought.

There was a tap on my shoulder, and I turned my head to look. _One, two, three… Ten_ _people. Excellent, the members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor have all come over to avoid the conflict. _Once again, I looked forward at the scene of the grand melee.

35** The clam and the crane quarrel; the fisherman prevails: **Some Chinese sayings actually originatefrom stories. This one goes like this: a clam was sunning itself when a crane came by and tried to eat it. The clam snapped its shell shut, and the crane refused to let go of the tender clam meat inside. As a result of the weight, the crane could not fly, and the clam could not move. Neither refused to back down; as a result, both were caught by the fisherman. The saying basically means that if neither will give way, then only others will profit.

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_It really is a chaotic battle!__36_The situation before us could only be described as onecompletely lacking in technique. Often, individuals couldn't tell who they were attacking, nor did they know who attacked them. Still, the players couldn't be blamed for the lack of technique in their fighting. After all, since they were being squeezed together like the meatballs I make, it was already a miracle that they could find the space to swing their weapons around. _Technique? Forget it._

Before long, there were already dozens of beams of white light shooting into the sky.

Suddenly, the human warrior discovered that something was wrong. He began to bellow desperately, and it seemed that he was directing members of his alliance to come over and do battle with the members of the holymen's alliance. I understood what he was shouting about when I saw the battle grew closer and closer to where the holymen were. At the same time, the human warrior led a group of particularly outstanding fighters to charge directly at the holyman warrior leading the alliance. They began to fight!

_Finally, now even this side of the arena is no longer safe. _I looked over my shoulder ateveryone, and said in a low voice, "Each group, take care! Don't go head-to-head with them; no one is allowed to fly away, you understand me?"

"Understood." All of them met my gaze steadily.

"Scatter," I then commanded.

Holding Yu Lian-dàsăo's hands tightly, I spotted an area behind the main fray which nobody paid much notice to, and we began to make our way over. Although we attracted unwanted attention a number of times along the way, I never retaliated. Instead, I relied on my agility to dodge like mad, or used my _dao_ to block attacks before continuing to run for my life. Luckily for us, the situation on the battlefield was truly chaotic, and I only needed to flee. There wasn't really anyone who was free to pursue me and Yu Lian-

dàsăo, although occasionally there would be someone shouting stuff like "coward" or "lackey" after us. _Hmph! This is called "preserve a green mountain and one will not have_ _to fear for lack of firewood to burn", understand?__37_

_What I don't get is why all these people are eagerly rushing into the midst of the human meatball as though they are contented just to be able to hack at others a few times? Look, of the three alliance leaders, is any one of them in that crowd?_

**Grand melee/ chaotic battle: **In Chinese, a grand melee is called a "混战" (hùn zhàn). The meaning ofthe first character is "chaotic" and the second character means "battle".

**Preserve a green mountain and one will not have to fear for lack of firewood to burn: **This sayingmeans that if you cut down all the trees on a mountain at one go, then you will run out of firewood ultimately. On the other hand, if you only take what you need, then you will never run out. As such, it is prudent to not overdo things and one should always plan ahead. This saying is actually not very appropriate to Prince's situation, but what he's trying to say is that he is preserving his life so that he can live to fight another time – i.e. this is strategy!

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_Ah, can't talk now, there are blades and swords every which way and fists and legs flying everywhere; I'd best focus on dodging them._

"Members of the audience, look at this chaotic battlefield where all of the participants are busy fighting. According to the latest data, already a hundred and thirty-one…a hundred thirty-five participants have been eliminated, and eleven teams have been completely wiped. Right now, the ones who are garnering the most attention are the three alliance leaders, not one of whom has been eliminated so far. Will one of the teams that they belong to emerge victorious? Or will it be a case of mutual destruction?

"Whoa, whoa, the beastman's giant axe has once again met with the cold steel of the human warrior's sword. Which one of them will be defeated in this fight?" Xiao Li was so agitated that he was practically showering saliva everywhere, but thanks to his report I was able to stay on top of the current situation.

_Over a hundred people have been eliminated already? No wonder it looks like the sky has been lit with fireworks. If we weren't so busy fleeing for our lives, I would definitely stop to admire the view, _I thought.

"Yu Lian-dàsăo, can you still carry on?" I asked worriedly, as she had been dragged along by me as we dashed frantically through the fighting the whole time.

"I'm fine, and it seems like everyone else is fine as well," said Yu Lian-dàsăo. However, she then added, "What I meant was, all the members of Odd Squad are fine – but it seems like Wicked and Ming Huang are in trouble!"

"What?" My brows furrowed together. "Where are they?"

"To our left. It seems like it was because Ming Huang was unwilling to flee obediently."

"Damn it!" _I should have thought of it. With Ming Huang's personality, if someone called_ _him a coward or other similar stuff, he would definitely not let the insult slide. There's an eighty percent chance that he would drag Wicked along into a fight with the other party._

_To save or not to save? Isn't that obvious! _I gave my own cheeks a hard pinch, thinking,_ if I don't save them, how could we be called allies? _Even as I used my_ dao _to deflect theblades of nearbyăo,whichweapons,groupisI theasked,closest"Dàsto us?"

"Wolf and Gui are just behind us."

"Good." I abruptly changed directions and immediately spotted Wolf-dàgēand Gui standing not too far away from us. I rushed over to where they were.

"Wolf-dàgē,Gui, youă às to go save people," I said.

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Looking in Ming Huang and Wicked's direction, I saw that they had been surrounded by four players. Wicked was having difficulty defending against three of them by himself.

First, I snuck up behind the enemy. Like a ghost appearing out of nowhere, I slit the throat of the nearest mage, who had been standing at their back. He did not even have the time to cry out before he flew away. Wicked saw me then, and I gave him a look warning him not to say anything. I then proceeded to single out the strongest of the three warriors, and brutally hacked off his arm. Shocked, he spun around to look at me, and with a single thrust I drove my blade through his heart, making him my second kill for today's battle.

Of the two remaining warriors, one had already turned around to face me. I turned about and retreated, leading him in the direction of Gui and the others. I made a gesture at my forehead to Gui, and Gui gestured back at me to say that it was no problem.

I watched as Gui strummed his _guqin_, sending a single _Supersonic Soul-chasing Arrow_ in my direction, and then I ducked and rolled forward to avoid the arrow. When I looked back, I saw that Gui had upheld his claim of being a hundred percent accurate shot; the translucent arrow was planted solidly in the forehead of the warrior who had been chasing me.

Wicked had also finished off the remaining warrior by then, and he was looking my way. I gave him a smile and he gave me thumbs up in appreciation.

Returning to Gui and Wolf-dàgē'sside, I grabbed Yu Lian -dàsăo's hand and, before pulling her away, said, "Guys, continue to work hard and flee for your lives!"

"Prince, you have to be careful of that holyman warrior. I have a feeling that he will be your opponent in the end," Yu Lian-dàsăocautioned me thoughtfully.

_Yu Lian-dàs__ă__oreally isn't an ordinary person, _I thought._ She's being dragged after me as we sprint, yet she can still speak in a stern voice. I'm impressed!_

"Rightăo..I'll" be careful, Dàs _But first, we must survive in this remaining crowd._ With only two hundred plus players remaining (according to Xiao Li's report), I was finding it harder and harder to make use of the chaos to run away. Moreover, many of the enemies we encountered would chase us for a long time before they were willing to give up.

"Prince, the beastman warrior has flown away. The alliances of the human and holyman warriors have now surrounded the remainders of the beastman warrior's allies. It looks like the beastmen's alliance is about to be completely wiped out. I think the holyman warrior's alliance will probably be the last one standing out of the three. If you have the chance, you should kill some of the members of the holymen's alliance; otherwise, they'll have too many members left at the end. If that happens, it'll be difficult for us to win even if we combine forces with Dark Emperor," Yu Lian-dàsăosaid, her t one betraying her anxiety.

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"Huh… But I haveăo's, andmy handstheotherfull,handwith one hand holding Dàs

holding my sword," I replied helplessly. _And my two legs are busy running, so they're not_ _free to kick anyone either._

"Prince, you can leave me with Lolidragon and Doll!" Yu Lian-dàsăosmiled gently at me. "I think Lolidragon's enemies probably don't have the time to hunt her down, plus

most male players usually aren't too keen on attacking girls, so the two of them are pretty relaxed."

"But our strategy…" I looked at Yu Lian-dàsăoin askance.

"This is a tactic to deceive our enemies." A broad smile lit up Yu Lian-dàsăo's face, but…_how odd, why am I covered in goosebumps?_ "Go and help the human warrior right away – and make sure you even the odds between his alliance and the holyman's. Then, when both of them are heavily injured, it would be best if you could make use of the opportunity to stab them in the back…hehe."

_Yu Lian-dàs__ă__o, you really aren't an ordinary character. I'm starting to be curious ab out what Yu Lian-dàs__ă__o's job in the real world is _, I thought even as I dashed towardsLolidragon. Luckily for us, she and Doll weren't too far away.

"So I'll be leaving you with Lolidragon? Be careful, you all," I said worriedly.

Yu Lian-dàsăogave a light knock on my head with her fist. "You're the one who needs to

be careful," she chided.

I grinned as I jogged off, preparing to execute Yu Lian-dàsăo's terrifying strategy.

"Play to your heart's content, Prince. If we made you hide like a turtle throughout the entire battle, then there would be no meaning in participating in this tournament," Yu Lian-dàsăomurmured to herself.

As I looked at furiously battling form of the human warrior and the relaxed, laid-back holyman warrior, I thought, _Help the humans? This will be a bit challenging…but_ _interesting!_

I smiled faintly, and in my chest there was a slight twinge of excitement. With the human warrior tightly surrounded by enemies, it was the perfect opportunity for me to pretend to

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be a member of his alliance. The moment I saw a gap in the human wall that surrounded him, I charged. In a single move, I lunged forward and rolled inside the bounds of the ring, and then began to stab savagely at the feet of those who had gathered around. In an instant, many of them fell to their knees and began to howl in pain.

"You are?" The attacks on the human warrior had eased and he looked me in surprise.

"A friend!" _At least for the present moment,_ I thought, giving him a friendly pat on the back.

"You're not from my alliance; I don't remember you," said the human warrior doubtfully as he tried to recall, but it was impossible for him to have overlooked such an outstanding person.

"It's true that your alliance doesn't include me, but I just want to help you. Can't I?" As I spoke, I swung my sword up to fend off a player who was about to land a sneak attack on him. I gave the little sneak a kick, causing him to lose his balance, and then drew my blade across his throat. _Problem solved,_ I thought, and before I realized it, a bloodthirsty smile had once again surfaced on my lips.

"Nan Gong Zui." He offered me his name calmly, but his eyes couldn't conceal his wonder.

"Prince." My eyes continued to scan our surroundings alertly, and I kept my guard up against the enemies surrounding us even as I answered.

"_The_ Blood Elf?" Nan Gong Zui could not suppress a soft exclamation.

_Huh! It's that nickname I hate the most again. Am I really that bloodthirsty and terrifying? Am I? I just –_

I jumped and, with a flying kick, separated the top half of a player's head from the rest of his skull.

– _tend to use methods that make people slightly mindful of horror movies. Plus, I always_ _like to _–

I then split some random player into two with a sideways slash at his waist.

– _get myself soaked in blood, and I'm also very polite_ –

Covered in blood, I smiled at those stunned-looking enemy players standing in front of me.

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– _and like to smile at people. Just like that, they gave me such a scary nickname. Blood_ _Elf? That's too unreasonable! No matter what, I'm still just a lovely and delicate young lady!_

"Zui, quit zoning out, let's enjoy the exhilaration of battle together!" I said, laughing heartily at the spaced out-looking Zui.

Nan Gong Zui took a deep breath and said, "The Blood Elf's reputation isn't an empty rumor…"

Disgruntled, I retorted, "Call me 'Prince'."

A slight smile finally appeared on Nan Gong Zui's somber face. "All right, Prince."

"Who is that person?" Fan38, who had originally been standing to one side in a fairly relaxed manner, watched with dissatisfaction as the situation ahead slowly turned around.

_Who exactly is that elf with the evil aura? To actually be able to turn a completely unfavorable situation around, single-handedly… He's a threat! _An alarm went off inFan's mind.

His face, with its serene smile, suddenly grew harsh and murderous. To the members of his alliance standing next to him, he commanded, "Kill that elf; kill him and Nan Gong Zui, and the battle will be as good as over."

"Damn it, why have the number of enemies suddenly increased?" With this many enemies, I was busy enough just defending myself.

_It seems like most of the members of the holyman warrior's alliance are specifically attacking me and Zui? _I glanced over my shoulder and saw Zui similarly engaged inparrying and blocking.

"Prince, retreat to the rear with me," Zui roared, before hauling me along to where his allies stood. Finally, we stopped in the middle of a crowd of Zui's allies, and Zui suddenly lifted his sword and leveled it directly at the holyman warrior. "Fan, if you have the guts, then quit hiding and sulking around in the back. Come out and face me in a duel!"

38** Fan: **The pronunciation for this is closer to "fun", but "fan" is how it is written in_pinyin_.

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I looked at Zui, who was livid with rage, and then at Fan, the holyman warrior across from us, but the latter's expression was one of indifference… _Don't tell me they know_ _each other from before? I'm afraid it's not an ordinary grudge between them either, _Ispeculated.

"Nan Gong Zui, aren't you too naïve? I'm really curious as to how a person like you, who doesn't care about the big picture, managed to find yourself so many allies."

Fan gave him a seemingly peaceable and good-natured smile, but a shiver ran down my spine. I felt as though I had just witnessed Yu Lian-dàsăo's shadowy smile, or seen the innocent smile Lolidragon had on her face when she was actually sharpening her claws in secret.

_This Fan really isn't a regular character! Yu Lian-dàs__ă__o's observation was right on the mark._

"You…" Zui's expression had grown even more infuriated by now, completely losing its earlier calm. "Do you really not give a damn about Ice Phoenix?"

"Ice Phoenix? Who?" The smile on Fan's face was irritatingly smug, and clearly revealed that he was feigning ignorance.

"You…" Zui clenched his fist and it seemed that he was about to charge at Fan. Those allies of his standing nearby hurriedly grabbed him and refused to let go, but Zui howled maniacally, "Let me go! I'm going to kill that bastard! Fan, get your ass over here!"

It was apparent that the situation was on the verge of going out of control. _If it continues_ _like this, Nan Gong Zui will definitely be trashed to kingdom come. _I schooled myexpression and, with a cold look on my face, reached out and grabbed Nan Gong Zui by the collar. In a cool and distant voice, I said, "I misjudged you. I thought you were the type of person with a passionate heart but a cool head when it comes to doing things. Fan was right; you really are the type of person who doesn't care about the big picture. No matter what sort of grudge there is between you and Fan, you are the leader of an alliance right now, with the hopes of so many people resting in your hands. And you're just going to charge out there and get yourself killed?"

Nan Gong Zui slowly relaxed. He shook his head as if to clear his mind and calmed down at last. "You're right, Prince."

After that, he hurriedly gathered his alliance together. After a while, they began to resemble an army being mobilized…

_They're really well trained; I'm a bit taken aback. Have I gone and done something foolish now? If Zui manages to defeat Fan easily, how am I going to defeat Zui? Haha… I'll think about it when the time comes! Although it seems like my teammates in Odd_

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_Squad and the members of Dark Emperor are glaring at me from that corner over there…_

"Thank you, Prince." Zui gave me an unaffected smile…

_Why do I suddenly feel so guilty?_

"Damn it, knew that elf would mess things up," Fan said, glaring at me with hate-filled eyes. "Doesn't matter; I won't lose to him even if it's just a matter of ability. Everyone, form up, this will end things once and for all."

I was lost in thought, my head tilted to one side as I walked back to where the members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor were. As I watched the showdown between the two alliances, I asked, "Lolidragon, this entire business has nothing to do with me right?"

"If this was a chemical reaction, then you are the biggest catalyst in it," replied Lolidragon helplessly. The two teams, a total of eleven people, had watched helplessly from the sidelines as I incited the entire situation to its climax.

Under my breath I said, "Lolidragon, I'm a literature student, so I don't understand the chemistry stuff you're talking about."

"Do we know who will win?" I asked. Watching the exchange between Zui and Fan's forces, I thought, _they're probably utilizing some warfare tactics right?_ Unfortunately, just like the chemical reaction thing that Lolidragon was talking about, I had no knowledge about warfare tactics to speak of, so I had to ask that question.

"In terms of ability, both sides are at about the same level. I think Fan will win, however," Yu Lian-dàsăoanalyzed coolly. "After all, Nan Gong Zui expended too much of his forces when he went up against the beastmen at the start."

"Really? But I like Nan Gong Zui better." I tilted my head to one side, feeling a little dissatisfied with the analysis that Zui will lose.

"Then all the more reason for you to pray that Nan Gong Zui will lose, otherwise if he wins, we will have to fight him. If that time comes, will you be able to kill him?" Wicked gave me a stern look.

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"I don't know. I'll think about it if the time comes," I replied breezily. _Why worry? After_ _all, Yu Lian-dàs__ă__oalready said that the odds of Zui winning were smaller._

Once again, Xiao Li's agitated voice rang out. "Right now the situation is critical, very critical. According to the data, there are finally less than a hundred people left. We can clearly see the showdown between the two alliances, and it as almost like two armies fighting on a battlefield. From the headcount we can see that the number of players left under the command of Nan Gong Zui is less than that of the alliance led by Fan, the holyman warrior. The situation looks very unfavorable for Nan Gong Zui; has the conclusion already been determined? Or will there be a change?

"We can see the Blood Elf – who had slaughtered so many players earlier – and his teammates watching from one side. Will they just keep watching? Or will they join in the fray, changing the situation once more?"

That was the first time I really felt like beating up Xiao Li. Thanks to him, everyone's attention focused on where we were standing, and even Nan Gong Zui and Fan couldn't help but look our way. After all, each of their alliances had less than fifty members left. Between our two teams we had twelve players, and if we chose to join a particular faction, it was very likely that we would be able to help that side to attain victory.

"Prince, help me," Zui yelled at me across the empty expanse between us.

My expression became troubled. I knew full well that this wasn't the time for us to intervene, and that we should wait until both of their factions were heavily injured and weakened from fighting one another. That would be the opportune moment for our two teams to get in there and clean up those who remained. Thus, I only looked helplessly at Zui, my new friend.

"Haha, you really are still naïve, Nan Gong Zui. Did you think he really wanted to help you?" Fan said with a malicious grin on his face.

"He was just worried that we might not be able to perish together in mutual destruction, so he came to intervene. You really thought he did it for the sake of your so-called 'friendship'? I must say, though, I really have to hand it to them. Their grasp of the concept behind the saying 'the clam and the crane quarrel, the fisherman prevails' surpasses even my own, and they're even sneakier bastards than I am," Fan said spitefully.

Zui looked at me silently, his disappointment clear in his gaze. At long last, he turned away coldly and did not look at me again.

I was filled with guilt and more importantly, the sorrow of losing a newfound friend.

_Which is more important, victory or friendship?_

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"Victory is for but a fleeting moment, while friendship is eternal." It was a difficult decision to make, but just as I was about to turn around and explain to everyone, I suddenly remembered: I was carrying the hopes of all the members of Odd Squad as well.

We'd said that we would create a legend together and win together…

_What should I do?_

"Prince…" The members of Odd Squad looked at me, as I faced such a difficult decision, with a mix of uncertainty and compassion.

"Go, Prince. I will go with you," said Wicked as he stepped forward.

We looked at Wicked with astonishment. In addition, I was furious. _Even though Wicked_ _is Zhuo-g__ē__ge, this is a competition. He _cannot_ help me like this, _I thought.

"You saved me and Ming Huang earlier, Prince. Plus, if I go with you, then at least the final fight between Odd Squad and my team will be a fair one, with five against five." Wicked's tone was firm.

"What you're really saying is, the two of us will be dead for sure," I replied, scratching my head in uncertainty.

"… _Meteor Shower."_

All of a sudden, a thunderous roar sounded, and we looked up, startled, as shooting stars rained down from the sky one after another…

_Quick, make a wish! Oh, oops, sorry!_

I noticed that most of the meteors were landing on the side of Fan's forces. Of course, with such a large-scale spell, it was impossible for the spell to only hit Fan's people, so a number of Nan Gong Zui's people also lost their lives beneath this beautiful spell.

_As for who cast it…the only fire-type mage who hasn't died yet, and who has lots of free time to chant the incantation for a large-scale spell who comes to mind is none other than our noble Yu Lian-dàs__ă__o._

"… _Wrath of the Nine Heavens!"__39_ Even as the meteors continued to rain down, I heard a familiar and irritating voice. Even without using my brain and just using my tiara to think, it was certain that the spell had been cast by the other (lightning-type) mage with lots of time to kill: that pain in the ass kid, Ming Huang.

39** Wrath of the Nine Heavens: **This was originally translated as Heaven's Nine Wrath, but after a bit ofthought I realized that Wrath of the Nine Heavens is actually more accurate (and in my opinion it sounds a bit better).

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It was very evident that that damn kid's objective was very different from Yu Lian-dàsăo's, however, as he had cast his spell right over the center of the are na, having not spared a single a thought to the safety of my friend Nan Gong Zui. _He just wants to be at_ _the center of things, _I thought.

"Will we become their common enemy?" I asked. I felt a little worried at the sight of players on both sides scurrying away from the scene of destruction and beams of white light shooting into the skies.

"Hmm, that's possible, but after being caught in two such large-scale spells, I think there probably isn't anyone left with more than a third of their health out there to fight us." Yu Lian-dàsăowatched as fiery rocks and lightning continued to rain down with a smile on

her face.

At that moment, I thought, _Who gives a damn about Fan? He's not even half as terrifying_ _as our Yu Lian-dàs__ă__o._

"Nan Gong Zui!" I watched helplessly as Zui was struck by a bolt of lightning and collapsed to the ground, where he lay motionless…

_He hasn't flown away, so he's probably not dead yet!_

Seeing as the spells were almost over, I immediately sprinted forward, dodging left and right in order to evade bolts of lightning. Occasionally I even had to cut down those who dared to block my way, or those people who grabbed my leg and begged for help.

Finally I reached Nan Gong Zui's side. In a single move, I swept him up into my arms and began sprinting back. The instant I moved away, a last meteor landed on the spot where Nan Gong Zui had been lying a moment before…

"I really don't know if I should describe Prince as evil or kind. He goes to such lengths to save Nan Gong Zui, and yet along the way hacked a whole bunch of people to death…" Yu Lian-dàsăomurmured.

"He's not kind and he's not evil either. He just really cherishes his friends," said Ugly Wolf, grinning broadly as he watched me carry Nan Gong Zui in my arms and sprint back like mad.

"Huff…huff." Back at last, I placed Nan Gong Zui on the ground, panting furiously.

"Why save me?" Nan Gong Zui's expression was cold, but also tinged with stubbornness as he looked at me.

"Because I don't wish to see a friend die without understanding the situation," I replied coolly.

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I turned to Wolf-dàgēand asked, "Wolf -dàgē,could you please heal him?"

Wolf-dàgēgave me a nod.

I charged onto the battlefield for a second time. This time, I walked up to Fan, who also looked like he was on the verge of collapse. He glared at me non-stop, as though he wanted to skin me alive. I gave him a single punch to the stomach, and then picked him up and carried him back to where Odd Squad stood. "Wolf-dàgē,please heal him as well. I think there's some grudge between him and Zui that needs to be settled."

I watched with a sense of satisfaction as Zui and Fan were healed by Wolf-dàgē,and the two men appeared to be preparing for a duel to the death. Then I turned to look at the members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor, and simply said, "Let's go. It's time for us to clean up the field."

There were still twenty-odd players left on the field. However, there was a confident smile on my face that revealed that I did not even think of these twenty-odd players as opponents for two teams. I gave an experimental swing of my Black Dao and said, "Game, start!"

Once again, Xiao Li was wild with excitement as he said, "Look, everyone! The situation is now truly astonishing as the two teams that have been standing quietly to one side suddenly unleashed two super large-scale spells, _Meteor Shower_ and _Wrath of the Nine_ _Heavens_. The two groups that had been trying to kill each other are now either dead ordying. The Blood Elf saved Nan Gong Zui in the nick of time, and then hauled Fan away as well. However, now the two have once again gotten to their feet in order to fight one another to the death! Just what exactly is going on?

"Next, let's see…whoa, whoa, whoa, Odd Squad and Dark Emperor have begun to move! They have only twelve people as opposed to the twenty-odd survivors on the field, but the situation's totally going their way. It's a massacre! It's simply a one-sided massacre; these two teams have three uninjured warriors, two extremely stealthy thieves skilled in assassination, two long distance attackers – an archer and a bard, numerous skeletons, and finally, extremely powerful and deadly mages! This outcome of this tournament is almost determined. What we're all dying to know is, which of these two teams will manage to clinch victory?"

Even as I dealt with the wounded survivors on the battlefield, I watched the showdown between Zui and Fan. In my heart I thought excitedly, _finally I can fight Wicked and see_ _which of us is stronger. Our fight last time was inconclusive, but this time we can settle it for good. Fighting really is an interesting thing._

Wicked finished off the last remaining enemy, and then said, "Prince, will you really battle me and Zui? Won't you find it difficult to fight us because we're your friends?"

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I turned my head to look at Wicked, leveling the Black Dao I held in hand at him as I said, "Because we are friends, I will fight you fair and square to decide who wins and who loses. I won't hesitate or hold back, and I hope you won't hold back either, Wicked. This is a battle, and I enjoy battles. I am standing on the field of the arena right now, in front of so many people. This is my battle, my legend, and no matter how things turn out, I will have no regrets!"

With that, I lifted my _dao_…

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**Extra Chapter: Diary **

_Guiliastes:_

A genius with an IQ of 200, he entered university at the age of fifteen. He graduated at eighteen, received a doctorate at twenty-two. Then, furthering his studies overseas, he returned with another doctorate at twenty-five.

At twenty-six, top universities in the country were vying to employ him as a professor.

I looked at the pile of recruitment letters on the table. _Which university should I go to?_ I thought, shaking my head at the ridiculousness of the situation.

_I don't even need ten minutes to calculate which university would be the most advantageous for me, so what is there to feel troubled about? Right _–_ there's nothing to worry about!_

Still, in a fit of irritation, I gathered up all of the recruitment letters and savagely thrust them at the ceiling. The sheaves of paper fell, scattering all over the floor, except for one letter that landed on the table.

"It's you then!" I picked up the recruitment letter, and barely glanced at the university's name before putting my signature on the paper. Grabbing my helmet, I headed out to mail the document.

I dealt with the post-office clerk's smitten gaze by faking a warm smile. After that, I went to a street filled with vendors selling electronics, with the thought of getting upgrades for my computer.

The shop owner, who had just made a fortune off me, grinned and asked, "With such good upgrades for your computer, are you planning to get started on playing 'Second Life' and beating everyone else?"

"'Second Life'?" My eyebrows furrowed. _What's that?_

"You don't know about 'Second Life'? It's a virtual reality game that was just released two days ago! The game's realism level is 99%, the highest ever attained!"

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I glared at the game helmet that the shop owner had insisted on giving me, thinking, _what's so fun about virtual reality games? Isn't it just wielding a sword to hack, and hack, and hack?_

Still, I had already finished reading the instruction manual…

_I really hate my tendency to read anything with words on it out of habit_._ Now my brain is full of information on how to play the game… Oh, forget it _–_ I might as well try it out! I have nothing better to do anyway._

_First, I need to decide on a race and class_…_where's that die I used last time?_

Once online, I was at somewhat of a loss for what to do.

I stood at the birth point, wondering_, I decided on being a demon bard based on the roll_ _of a die, but how exactly do bards train? There's only a shirt, pants and a wooden flute in the supply pouch – don't tell me I'm supposed to beat up mobs with a flute? Are all games these days so weird?_

After nearly a month of training, I found myself liking the carefree lifestyle of a bard more and more. I wandered everywhere with my beloved _guqin_ in hand, mostly training, and occasionally entering the town and singing on the streets.

I ran my fingers through my hair. _Why do I keep feeling like something's incomplete?_ _What _is_ it that I'm missing? Oh, forget it _–_ I'll just keep singing my songs._

As I was singing, there seemed to be a slight disturbance in the crowd in front of me. My strumming ceased as I raised my head to find the source of the commotion.

An incredibly handsome young man – stunning enough to elicit breathy sighs – entered my view. He was…_gazing at me with a smitten expression? Is he a homosexual?_

_Interesting! _For some mysterious reason, I had an inexplicable urge to tease that beautifulyouth. For a moment, the two of us stared at one another. Then, I walked over to him…and – behaving as if he were a princess – asked for permission to kiss his hand.

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Unexpectedly, the young man actually accepted my kiss, blushing fiercely.

_What am I supposed to do next? Shit, I didn't actually have a follow-up plan. How do I get out of this embarrassing situation? Why didn't I think things through before getting myself into such a situation?_

The youth and I looked at each other awkwardly…

"Umm, you do know that I'm a guy, right?" The youth asked me suddenly, anxiety in his voice.

_Another chance to toy with him!_

I smiled and placed a finger beneath his chin, lifting up the young man's face. Striving to maintain a mesmerized expression as I looked at him, I said, "Of course I know. You exude such a spirited aura, how could I mistake you for a feeble little girl?"

Upon hearing my answer, the young man's face seemed to tense.

_How odd_…_ Why is the boy reacting this way? Still, his frozen expression certainly is entertaining, _I thought, laughing mentally as an evil plan formed in my heart.

I enfolded the youth in my arms, and with a deliberate sigh, I added, "Men are the best. With muscles as firm as these…it feels _soooo_ much better than hugging those soft, squishy girls."

The young man smiled at last. _As expected, he really is a homosexual_, I thought. _It's such_ _a waste of that face of his, which can mesmerize any female between the ages of five and fifty._

Within a second, however, I realized I had been wrong…

Unexpectedly, the youth was incredibly strong. With a "_Nine-headed Dragon Strike!"_ he gave me my first taste of death in this game.

As I emerged from the rebirth point, I thought, _I don't get it_. _What was going on in that_ _youth's head? His actions didn't have the least bit of logic behind them!_

With questions swirling in my mind, I attempted to come up with a satisfactory explanation for his actions. However, no matter how I thought about it, they just didn't make sense…

_Oh, forget it. I'll just get back to training! After all, I doubt I'll ever see him again._

_But why does that thought leave me feeling somewhat…crestfallen?_

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Because they moved slowly, zombies were my favorite mobs for training. This allowed me to leisurely stroll out of their range while casting my _Supersonic Soul-Chasing Arrow_ and to slowly whittle away their HP.

"Hang in there, Lolidragon!" A shout broke my train of thought and I looked up_…_

_It's that youth again!_

I watched as he shouted to a thief, who was running further and further away. I understood the situation instantly, and decided to help them out.

"_Supersonic Soul-Chasing Arrow!_"

I looked at the youth, a feeling of insatiable curiosity in my heart.

"I would very much like to join your team." For someone who had always been a loner, I marveled at the words that I had never thought I would say.

As it turned out, the youth's name was Prince – a name that suited him very well.

To make matters still more interesting, Prince seemed to be under the impression that I had designs on his virtue. _Hehe, mistaking me for a homosexual? Now that's a first!_ _Interesting… then I shall act as one, just for you!_

From then on, my behavior towards Prince was such that even I found it disgusting. I even cooked dragon XX soup for him – which, unfortunately for me, also wound up being the first time I got beaten up and even stomped on…

Oddly enough, for some reason all I could remember was the livid expression on Prince's face.

The first time I saw Prince's tears was when he was kicked below by some damnable girl. I was enraged.

_Nobody should ever be allowed to do such a thing to him, much less make him cry!_

Prince's face was suited for laughing, for acting brutally cool, for being furious, but definitely not for crying…

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That was the first time I slapped a woman, although it was proven later that _he_ wasn't a woman after all.

Today, Lolidragon asked me a question: she wanted to know exactly how I felt towards Prince, as she'd realized that I was only pretending to be gay.

I replied that I only thought that it was rather entertaining to watch his reactions… but damn it, the instant the words left my mouth, I began to doubt myself.

_Is it really only because I find it fun that I let Prince beat me, punch me_?

I couldn't figure it out.

Today, I met someone in school who greatly resembles Prince…

_Is it him? _I was very uncertain, since he was similar to Prince in some ways, but Icouldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. _Could he really be Prince?_

In the end, I decided not to give a damn about Prince's real identity. After all, the Prince I know in the game is the one whom I like, anyway.

_I like…? Damn it, what sort of thought is that?_

Lolidragon came to me with the same question again.

Instead of answering her, I retorted – somewhat jealously – with a question on my own: just what was her relationship with Prince anyway? Why was she so concerned about Prince? Plus, Prince seemed to be pretty close to her, too.

Lolidragon didn't answer me; she just looked at me with a smile.

_That smile…it seemed to say that she knew me better than I did myself, damn it!_

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Many things happened today. The first thing was that I discovered that I had gotten Wu Qing and Prince mixed up – so Feng Yang Ming wasn't Prince after all.

The second thing was that Prince got into trouble. As his pain-laced voice came over the team channel, I could feel my insides twisting as well.

_I hate hearing his anguished voice, _I thought, as I ran all over the place like a madman.However, I still failed to find any trace of him… That was, until I saw him cradled in Wicked's arms.

I reached out my arms to carry him, but Wicked just stalked past me, fury flashing in his eyes. It made me uneasy…

_Why? Why must Prince wear that kind of expression as he and Wicked look at one another? I don't like this feeling, I really, really don't!_

"Lolidragon, does Prince like Wicked?" I asked her frantically, as though I'd gone mad.

"Eh? I don't know, but I do know that Wicked likes Prince…" Lolidragon looked at me.

"But I like him too!" I roared, no longer giving a damn about the consequences.

Lolidragon replied, "You're at a disadvantage."

_Disadvantage?_

"Why? I've known Prince longer. Wicked… Wicked has only met him a few times." _So_ _why am I the one at a disadvantage? Does Prince really like Wicked more?_

"Then do you really love Prince? Have you ever thought about his gender?"

A painful, forlorn smile crossed my face. "I did, but… compared to his smile, his gender is totally unimportant. I only want to protect his smile. I don't care about his gender."

"Your feelings for Prince really are deep."

"Yes. I will always watch over him, support him in all his endeavors, accept all his flaws, and share all his pain. This I swear."

_I vow, with all my heart, to protect that smile, forever and ever. Prince, you are my one true love._

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_Wicked:_

The first time I saw her, she was wearing a pink frock and her hair was tied up with a little bow. She had large, eloquent eyes, and it felt as though you could understand everything about her, just by looking into those eyes.

"Are you going to be our neighbour?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Yep, that's right. What's your name?" I asked her curiously.

"Feng Lan, but Daddy and Mommy call me Xiao Lan."

I smiled. _What an adorable name. It suits her very well._

"I'm Zhuo Ling Bin, but you can just call me Zhuo-gēge. Xiao Lan, do you want to come in and have a glass of juice?"

"Yes!" Xiao Lan replied happily.

"Zhuo-gēge, will you marry me when I grow up?" Xiao L an asked me expectantly.

I heaved a sigh. _Are all the twelve-year-old girls these days this mature?_

"Yes, of course I will." _How can I say no to you, when you're looking at me with such an_ _expectant expression?_

_I have watched over Xiao Lan since she was young, and now she is already twelve years old and at the age where she will ask people to marry her! _I patted Xiao Lan on the headaffectionately.

_Marry Xiao Lan? It sounds like a pretty good idea._

"Zhuo-gēge, you're moving away? Why?" Xiao Lan asked m e, crying.

_Don't cry, crying doesn't suit you._

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"I… it's because of my father's work. Don't worry, I will come back and find you for sure. I will, definitely."

With an aching heart, I wiped Xiao Lan's tears away. I silently vowed in my heart that I would definitely return, and that I would never ever make Xiao Lan cry again.

_In 'The World' ONLINE…_

_Xiao Lan? _I stared dazedly at the person in front of me, at those eyes that I'd seencountless times in my dreams – eyes that I could never forget. _It's her, isn't it? That silly_ _girl who naively asked me to marry her…_

_Could Xiao Lan have forgotten about her Zhuo-g__ē__ge? A Zhuo -g__ē__ge who had promised to marry her? _My heart thumped wildly in my chest.

I walked up to her and asked, "Would you like to be my in-game wife?"

She looked at me with some surprise, and then asked me a silly question. "Will you take care of me?"

_This silly girl, doesn't she remember that she has a Zhuo-g__ē__ge? _I was slightly worriedthat she had really forgotten about me, although I had never forgotten about her.

"Yep!"

"Okay then." She gave a merry laugh, and then asked, "But why do you choose to play as a beastman?"

"Because beastmen are strong."

"Ohhh. But they're so ugly!"

_She really is a silly girl…no wonder she didn't stop to think before agreeing to be my in-game wife. I'd wager that she's been too direct and scared off all the guys, so she couldn't find a husband_.

Although those were my thoughts, I was still secretly delighted.

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I read the letter clutched in my hand, feeling helpless. _Xiao Lan, you're leaving to play_ _'Second Life'? Then what choice do I have?_

Thus, I switched to playing 'Second Life' as well…_but where are you, Xiao Lan?_

Relentlessly, I kept PM-ing Feng Xiao Xiao, Feng Xiao Xiao, but the system indicated that there was no such player.

_Xiao Lan, where on earth _are_ you? Don't you remember me at all?_

_Don't you care about me at all? _The bitterness that I felt… I could almost taste it in mymouth.

I could hardly believe my eyes. _Isn't the girl who just walked by Xiao Lan? All this time,_ _Xiao Lan has been studying in the same university as me?_

I schemed to place myself in her path, hoping she would recognize me, but… _She doesn't_ _remember me at all, _I realized. The pain in my heart was overwhelming.

That night, I logged onto 'Second Life', my mood a wreck. Ming Bin was throwing a tantrum again. I was hardly in the mood to pay him any heed, but it seemed that he had pissed off this team in front of us. _Odd Squad? Weird name._

_Hmph! If you want a fight, then I will give you one. I'm in a lousy mood anyway._

_Damn it, I can't take it anymore_, I thought, deciding to go to Xiao Lan's place in person.

By some coincidence, I encountered Xiao Lan at the bus stop. This time, her expression changed as soon as she saw me, and she kept staring at me…

_Has she finally recognized me? Is that it? _I fought very hard to control my smile.

By the time we got off the bus, she still hadn't said anything to me, so I decided to talk to her myself.

"Xiao Lan… you are Xiao Lan, right?" I pretended to be surprised to see her.

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Unexpectedly, she just stared at me, gaping. _So she really didn't recognize me_. My aching heart twisted painfully at the thought.

"Have you forgotten me? I'm Zhuo Ling Bin. Zhuo-gēge, remember?" I forced myself to smile.

_At least she still remembers me… I can still take some small consolation in that fact_, Ithought, mentally mocking myself.

I followed Xiao Lan back to her place. To my astonishment, I found out that Feng Wu Qing was actually Feng Yang Ming.

_So it's not just Xiao Lan who has trouble recognizing people_, I thought with a wry smile.

"Tranny?" I could hardly believe my ears. _Xiao Lan actually went and became a tranny_ _in-game? So that's why she didn't use the nickname Feng Xiao Xiao…_

However, she refused to tell me her character's name in 'Second Life', and even Yang Ming had no idea who she was.

I was slightly disappointed, but it wasn't important. After all, I could finally talk to her openly on campus, and even attend classes with her when I had spare time. Cheerfully, I envisioned attending classes with Xiao Lan.

To increase our chances of survival in the competition, I decided on behalf of the team to form an alliance with Odd Squad, despite Ming Bin's non-stop griping…

_Odd Squad really is odd. They're actually sending their only warrior Prince as bait to lure away the mobs? Aren't they concerned that Prince might die?_

Prince wasn't dead. However, from what I heard, he had fallen off a cliff – which really was a fate far worse than death.

_As a matter of principle, we – Dark Emperor Team – should help them out. _I tried todeduce which direction Prince would have gone in… and promptly found him lying half-dead in a pool of blood.

I walked over to him and fed him a bottle of health potion. He even asked me if I was Gui.

_So Ming Bin wasn't just mouthing off when he said that Gui and Prince had a weird relationship_, I thought, amused.

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"Oh, so it's Zhuo-gēge!" Prince muttered to himself.

_Zhuo-g__ē__ge? _I froze._ Only Xiao Lan ever calls me that… and if I add to that the fact that Xiao Lan is playing a male character... _I peered carefully at Prince's face.

_That pair of eyes… Xiao Lan! Damn it, how could I have been so stupid? Prince is Xiao Lan, and more importantly, she's lying in a pool of blood and in pain!_

Just then, Gui appeared at the scene, and I was filled with ire.

_How could they let Xiao Lan experience such excruciating torment? She should be carefully watched over and protected. Furthermore, Gui actually dares to reach out his hands to take my Xiao Lan from me? And Ming Bin even said that they have some kind of weird relationship?_

I glared at Gui and strode past him.

In the end, Xiao Lan asked me not to tell anyone else the truth about her.

_I won't, especially not that Professor Min! He doesn't deserve to be with Xiao Lan, not when he's completely incapable of protecting her._

"I will protect you with all my power. I will always stand before you, shielding you from harm. I will never let you experience any pain or sorrow, my Xiao Lan."

_I swear never to let sorrow fill those eyes again... Xiao Lan, my dearest and most beloved girl._

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½Prince Volume 3 : Records of the Vagabond

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**S****YNOPSIS****:**

The Adventurers' Tournament is finally over, although the last survivor was someone rather unexpected. In any case, Odd Squad can be considered the victors. Unfortunately, now there's a rather pressing matter at hand – _that is, we're going to build a city!_

Looks like everyone has a field of expertise, except me, _waaah!_ So I was sent on a "simple mission" and given the responsibility to rope in, rope in, and rope in all the people we knew well into helping out with the construction of the city. _Let me think for a_ _moment about who I should look for… There's Dark Emperor, Nan Gong Zui, and Rose Team, whom I haven't met in a while…_

Unexpectedly, my first time drinking led to a huge problem – I actually drank until I got lost! _God, just tell me straight: Where on earth am I? Please don't torture this poor soul_

_– who can reach the South Pole by following the North Star – any longer…_

_Aiyah_! To actually meet someone I whom I know from the real world, and it's not_ one _but _two_ persons. _Is this good luck or bad luck?_

_Hmm… This NPC in front of my eyes looks rather… familiar?_

**A****BOUT THE**** A****UTHOR**:

Yu Wo:

Who am I? Sometimes I am like a warrior, wielding a sword on the battlefield with limitless passion and energy. At other times, I resemble a mage, with a mind devoted to research, completely absorbed in the things I like. Or I might be like a thief, leading a free and easy life, letting fate lead me to distant and unfamiliar lands. Occasionally, however I am similar to a priest, with a gentle heart, filled with compassion towards the living things of this world. Ultimately, I am a kindly Fantastical world.

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Records of a Vagabond Prince

**H****ALF**** P****RINCE**** V****OL****. 3**

**Original novel in Chinese by: **御我** (Yu Wo)**

**Table of Contents **

**Disclaimer ...**

** 4**

**Chapter 1: The Final Victor ...**

** 6**

**Chapter 2: Infinite City ...**

** 15**

**Chapter 3: Everyone has Assembled ...**

** 27**

**Chapter 4: Jing and Yun ...**

** 35**

**Chapter 5: Demon King Kenshin ...**

** 58**

**Chapter 6: The Demonic Dark God ...**

** 79**

**Chapter 7: The Battle Begins ...**

** 99**

**Extra Chapter: Companions for Eternity ...**

** 116**

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**Disclaimer **

Please take note of the following:

- The followi½PrincegtranslationisbyPrinceof Revolution! and is a "by fans, for fans" translation.

- This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this, you have been ripped off!

- Prince Revolution! does NOT ask for donations, payment, or anything else of the sort. We do not benefit monetarily from our translations AT ALL.

- We only ask that you do NOT steal credit or attempt to profit monetarily from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across any individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translation.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthels are held by Yu W o, the author of the novels.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthel artworks are held by Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu,

the cover artists for the first and second editions of the novels respectively.

- Copyrights½Princetomanhuathe artwork are held by Cai Hong Z hong, the

artist½Princeforthemanhua.

- Prince Revolution! has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novels into English. However, this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

- As such, please cease distribution of this PDF once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

**Links**

Prince Revolution!

Yuʼs WoBlg

.cc/blog/kim1984429

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**C****REDITS**

**Translators:**

Eilinel (chapters 3-4)

Erihppas (chapter 5)

Samuki (chapters 1-2 and 8)

Spence (chapter 6)

Desiree (chapter 7)

**Proofreaders:**

Bridget (chapters 4-5 and 7-8)

EvlNabiki (chapters 3-4 and 6-7)

Hopehime4 (chapters 5-6)

Iskeirka (chapters 3 and 8)

ShadowRebirth (chapters 1-3 and 5-8)

**C/E Editors:**

Erialis (chapters 1-8)

**PDF and eBook Formatter**

Katerina

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**Chapter 1: The Final Victor **

"Let's get started, Wicked. Don't make me repeat myself," my voice, laced with anger, rang out.

Wicked gazed at me solemnly, a trace of melancholy in his eyes. At long last he drew his sword and said, "Then, before that – I want to duel Zui. I can't let you keep hogging the limelight."

I scratched my cheek, wondering, _Had I really been hogging the limelight? Okay…maybe_ _just a little. _"As you wish."

I glanced over at Zui and Fan, just in time to see Fan being forced into a corner before being cut in half by Zui. _Seems like Fan isn't Zui's match in one-to-one combat, despite_ _being his superior when it comes to strategy and tactics… (Or should I say Fan's a sneakier bastard?) Could it be that it was very cruel of me to have forcibly hauled Fan back from the brink of death, only to let Zui beat him to death? …Never mind! At the very least, it's better for him this way than being beaten to death by me instead._

After finishing Fan off, Nan Gong Zui walked slowly toward me. _It can't be that he_ _wants to challenge me to a duel, can it? Interesting! _I thought. With a faint smile I raisedBlack Dao, readying myself. I watched as Nan Gong Zui drew closer to me with each step. _He's about to attack!_ I tensed up…

"Thank you, Prince," Zui said suddenly.

"…Huh?" I froze. _Thank me? I massacred all his allies and still the man wants to thank_ _me?_

"You gave Fan and I the chance for a fair duel to the death," Nan Gong Zui hastened to clarify as he eyed my unconvinced expression. "Besides, that was the main reason why I entered the tournament in the first place."

"Oh… Ah, right, Wicked said that he wants to fight you first." I pointed over at Wicked.

Nan Gong Zui simply smiled upon hearing that. "There's no need; I'm the only one left in my alliance, so there's no point in fighting on. Besides, I have more important matters to settle, so you might as well kill me now, Prince," he said, a deep melancholy in his eyes.

His gloomy mood rubbed off on me, and I said softly, "All right then…"

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Before I had even finished what I was saying, a sword's blade suddenly pierced through Zui's chest –and the owner of the sword was none other than Wicked. Wicked wore an irate expression as he looked at Zui.

_I can overlook the fact that this fellow became friends with Xiao Lan, _he thought,_ and it's no big deal if he had the opportunity to be carried by Xiao Lan in her arms. But now he actually dares to ask Xiao Lan to kill him? Why can't he just go and find some place to die quietly by himself?_

"Wicked, what are you doing?" I exclaimed, deeply displeased. "Zui already said he wanted _me_ to kill him!"

A flicker of realization darted across Nan Gong Zui's face as he looked at Wicked's resentful gaze. "Never mind, it doesn't matter, Prince," Zui said. "After I've settled my business, I'll look you up for a drink…"

The conversation was once again interrupted as a translucent arrow was fired from behind me, on my right, landing squarely in the middle of Nan Gong Zui's forehead. The culprit, Gui, threw a cold glance at Nan Gong Zui. I thought, _I guess you could say that_ _Gui was more chivalrous than Wicked; at least he waited for Nan Gong Zui to say that he would come back to look for me before he finished him off!_

Watching as Nan Gong Zui's pillar of white light shot off into the sky, Gui and Wicked both revealed sinister, satisfied smiles as they thought, _Who asked that slightly handsome_ _bastard to get close to Prince!?_

"Since when were the two of you on such good terms?" _Even their smiles are identical_, I thought as I looked suspiciously at those two butchers. However, as soon as I said that they immediately stopped smiling, and even glared hatefully at each other.

"Two weirdoes…" I muttered to myself.

I hefted my Black Dao and leveled it at Wicked. "Whatever the case, it's now time for us to fight to the death once again, Wicked. I really missed your longsword – and your moves that seem to come out of nowhere!"

hg

"Prince…" _Xiao Lan…_thought Wicked, pained. How could he possibly turn his blade on his beloved Xiao Lan? Originally, Wicked had planned to perish together with Nan Gong Zui, so that Xiao Lan would be spared from having to kill her friend, and also so that he wouldn't have to swing his sword at his own beloved girl _—_ even though it would mean letting down his friends in Dark Emperor!

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Wicked looked towards his teammates and they returned his gaze expectantly, waiting for him to draw his sword. As for Feng Wu Qing, he had long since drawn his own rapier…

_Feng Wu Qing, if you knew that this was your own sister, would you still be able to attack her?_

(_Feng Lan: You don't have to worry about that, he'll be more than happy to thrash his_ _sister – who stole his women from him – till kingdom come_…)

hg

I waited for Wicked to draw his sword, but for a long time he didn't move an inch…

_Could it be that Zhuo-g__ē__ge wants to let me attack first? _I frowned, feeling extremelyticked off. _I want to win, but not this way!_ I roared, "Draw your sword!"

My fury only blazed more fiercely still as Wicked continued to look at me hesitantly.

_What's this supposed to mean? That I can only win if people go easy on me? I—_

Suddenly, Gui rested a hand on my shoulder and the look in his eyes seemed to be telling me to calm down. He walked up next to Wicked and murmured by the latter's ear, "If you don't want to lose Prince forever, then you'd better draw your sword. Any kind of concession on your part will only further agitate him. Do you still not understand what he's like, even though you've known him for eight years?"

_The problem is_, Wicked thought,_ Xiao Lan didn't use to be like this. _In the game_ The World_, she had always hidden behind him, and was always cajoling him to buy things forher. Wicked felt nostalgic as he recollected Xiao Lan's impish antics, but… _Now she's_ _really grown up. Now she's always at the front of her team, always laughing delightedly even as she fights, weapon in hand; now she knows how to work hard for what she wants. Prince isn't the old Xiao Lan anymore._

"I admire the current Prince…" _But I miss the Xiao Lan from before_, Wicked added silently in his heart.

Wicked looked steadily at Gui. "Watch your own back; even if you've just helped me, we're still love rivals. Just you wait; I'll still gut you like an animal later."

Gui's lips curled upwards slightly. "My words exactly."

Wicked finally drew his sword, and I gave a satisfied swing of my Black Dao. Both teams began to prepare for the battle ahead. Wolf-dàgēhurriedly told Doll to summon her skeletal minions and then directed us to take up our positions. When the members of both teams had taken up their positions, the skeletons and I stood in a fan-shaped formation in front to protect the rest of the team, while Dark Emperor had Wicked and Feng Wu Qing at the fore.

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Wolf-dàgēreminded us, "Everyone, the outcome of the battle w ill be determined the moment the mages cast their large-scale spells. As such, we have to either cast our spell first, or take down Ming Huang. Lolidragon, you'll go and distract Playboy Lord, and no matter what you must not let them kill Yu Lian. If you can, finish Ming Huang off. Gui, you'll have to pay attention to the enemy archer. Doll, you hide at the back as much as you can and keep the number of skeletons up. Your job is to stay alive. Last of all, Prince, your duty is to protect all the team members."

All of us gave Wolf-dàgēan "OK" sign.

Wolf-dàgēobserved Dark Emperor for a moment, and after making sure that their preparations were ready, he tore a corner off the hem of his shirt and threw it into the air. Everyone watched as it slowly drifted to the ground – and landed!

Both sides went into action simultaneously.

hg

After releasing his breath explosively, the commentator Xiao Li exclaimed, "The final battle has begun at last! It's a showdown between Odd Squad and Dark Emperor — which team will be the victors of the Adventurers' Tournament? Presently, we can see the Blood Elf Prince engaged in battle with the dark elf Wicked, as well as the human swordsman Feng Wu Qing. The movement of their weapons is so rapid that I, Xiao Li, can't even begin describing their moves.

"Prince is now executing a series of attacks, following it up with a flying kick, then a low kick… Wicked isn't backing down either, crouching and whirling around quickly to evade Prince's attack. Now it's Wicked's turn on the offensive with a Z-shaped attack, almost hitting Prince… Has it appeared; is that Prince's ultimate attack? Heavens, a series of blows, all laced with flames, what an amazing move! But did it hit Wicked at all? Pity… Only one attack landed and once again there is a clash of blades. How will this contest between longsword and _dao_ end?

"Next, let's take a look at how Feng Wu Qing is decimating the ranks of skeletons with his rapier —he seems to be holding his own against eight skeletons! The way he handles his rapier is simply incredible; all of his attacks are deadly. The speed with which the skeletons' HP is going down has left the necromancer in a fluster… Wait a minute! Everyone quick, look at the battle between the thieves; it's like a fight between wind and wind. Did you see that? The two shadows are darting about the stadium relentlessly, drawing close to Odd Squad at times, forced back toward Dark Emperor at others, so quickly that I, Xiao Li, cannot differentiate one from the other!

"As for the mages on both sides… Are they preparing to cast large-scale magic? No, they're both now maintaining shielding spells over their teams. It looks like neither mage is able to execute such attacks for fear of the long-range attackers on the opposing team.

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The mages and long-range attackers have come to a stalemate; it looks like they can only sit tight and hope that their warriors at the frontline will triumph, or that their thieves will be able to successfully assassinate members of the other team."

hg

_I see, so it all depends on the warriors and thieves huh? _I smiled._ I definitely cannot lose to Lolidragon; otherwise she'll use her piercingly shrill laughter to make jabs at me. _Idecided to step up the pace, increasing the speed of my attacks.

_I wonder if you can still manage to keep up so effortlessly, Wicked? _I smiled slightly.

"Ugh…!" A sudden flare of pain in my knee – _Impossible! I'd clearly dodged all of_ _Wicked's blows! _I looked down and saw that it was actually an arrow, its head buried inmy knee. I raised my head to look at Ambusher and sure enough, he was smirking at me. Worse still, a whole volley of arrows was flying toward me. With an effort, I managed to roll away, but an arrow still found its mark in my left shoulder. Cold sweat poured down my back even as pain washed over me. Luckily, Wolf-dàgēimmediately restored a large amount of the HP that I'd lost, so I was able to get back to my feet, but only with considerable effort on my part.

I turned around hurriedly to face Wicked in case he was going to make use of the opportunity to attack me…but he was just standing there with a look of reluctance on his face. I glared furiously at him and even swung my Black Dao in front of his face a couple of times. _I think I must be the first person on Earth who's ever had to remind the enemy_ _in the middle of a fight to not hesitate to attack, and even to take advantage of the opportunity to land a sneak attack!_

Wicked seemed to have finally decided to quit dawdling. "_Flawless Circle of Profundity_

_– True Blade of the Solitary Man_."

_What a bizarre-sounding move_…_ Of course, I'm not going to lose to you. _"Watch me!_ Ringing Blade, Frenzied Strike_!"

My Black Dao seemed to morph into a thousand copies, each blade striking Wicked from a different direction. Blood spurted as wounds appeared all over Wicked's body, but…

True Blade of the Solitary Man _indeed,_ I thought. _I see. It's completely different from my_ Ringing Blade, Frenzied Strike_. That move of Wicked's was designed to pierce just one_ _time, but to hit a vital point in the process._

Unfortunately, due my wounded knee, I was only just barely able to prevent the attack from piercing my heart by shifting slightly. My _dao_ was around twenty centimeters away from Wicked's neck, whereas his longsword was buried deeply in the right side of my

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chest. Moreover, the point of the blade was angled towards the left side of my chest, at my heart. _No matter how you look at it, it seems that I'll be dead before him…_

hg

Back to main fight, neither Yu Lian, who was maintaining the protective shield, nor Gui, who was waiting for the opportunity to strike, had expected the enemy archer to leave the safety of his team's shield to spring an attack on Prince. It was clearly a kamikaze strategy…but what was still more frustrating for them was that even though Yu Lian immediately dropped the protective shield, letting Gui rain a barrage of arrows on Ambusher, the archer continued to fire a number of shots at Prince before he died.

Gui quickly turned to check on Prince's condition. Upon seeing the situation, his heart almost stopped, but lucky his hand continued to reflexively fire arrows. Wicked, who had not noticed Gui, was hit squarely in the middle of his forehead by an arrow. He looked at Gui with astonishment in his eyes before turning into a pillar of white light and shooting away into the sky.

hg

I breathed a sigh of relief, but instantly the pain in the right side of my chest nearly overwhelmed me. Gripping my chest tightly, I forced myself to endure the agony as I waited for Wolf-dàgēto finish the incantation for the healing spell. _I have to get rid of_ _Ming Huang while he's still casting the spell for the large-scale magic…_

"Urgh!" I looked down disbelievingly at the blade that had just emerged from between my ribs, and then turned my head to look at the owner of the rapier… _It's a really_ _complicated feeling, dying at the hands of your own brother! _I thought._ Feng Wu Qing, you bastard, you sure chose a good time to kill your sister!_

"Prince…!" Gui gave an ear-shattering roar, but could only watch on helplessly as I followed in Wicked's footsteps and turned into a pillar of light.

hg

Ugly Wolf, who wasn't able to cast the healing spell in time, could only direct the team to change tactics. "Doll, block Feng Wu Qing. Gui, get rid of the mage. Yu Lian…" Ugly Wolf turned toward Yu Lian, about to ask her to begin the incantation for her large-scale magic, but Yu Lian had already seen Ming Huang chanting the incantation and begun chanting her own.

Feng Wu Qing could see that the situation had turned against Dark Emperor. Should he hurry back and protect Ming Huang, or should he go up to Odd Squad and kill off their mage?

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"Playboy, quit fooling around over there and come over here to help!" he roared, even as he backed up to Ming Huang, using his body to shield the latter and frantically deflecting Gui's _Supersonic Soul-chasing Arrow_s with his rapier.

Playboy Lord only smiled bitterly as he thought, _Does Wu Qing think that I actually_ want _to fool around? _If he hadn't been following that elf thief – who was fast as the wind andcould burrow into the ground – closely, she would have assassinated heaven only knows how many members of Dark Emperor already. Still, as the situation seemed to call for a different strategy, Playboy Lord gave up on pursuing Lolidragon and turned his attention to the other members of Odd Squad.

Lolidragon and Playboy Lord were locked in a stalemate as they circled Yu Lian continuously. Playboy Lord knew that he would be unable to attack Yu Lian right in front of Lolidragon's eyes. He smiled coldly, and with a light step, retreated several meters. He turned around at the same time and the dagger in his hand scored a line across Doll's throat. Thus, adorable Doll was killed and the skeletons that had been about to pursue and attack Feng Wu Qing also crumbled into dust.

"Damn it!" With a single leap, Lolidragon jumped and landed right in front of Playboy Lord. Not caring that she was weaker than Playboy Lord in terms of physical strength, she attacked him in a flurry of dagger blows. Light danced and glinted off their daggers, and there was the sound of metal on metal as their blades met over and over again unrelentingly.

"… _Wrath of the Nine Heavens_!" Ming Huang spat out the final line of the incantation viciously.

"…_Meteor Shower_!" Yu Lian-dàsăowas only slower by a heartbeat.

Instantly, the earth and the skies began to heave violently…

"Shit," both teams thought at the same time.

hg

As an aftereffect of death, I was a little fuzzy-headed when I stepped back into the stadium and stood next to Ambusher, who had arrived a long while ago. I'd returned just in time to witness an amazing sight – Ming Huang's lightning had consolidated into pillars of electricity, and there were so many meteors descending in Yu Lian-dàsăo's meteor shower that you could lose track of the number of wishes you'd made on them. I searched the arena for signs of survivors…but unfortunately, I couldn't see anyone.

"Don't tell me it's a draw again! Wicked and I survived the last time, but everyone perished this time around?" I remarked.

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I waited silently for the spells to dissipate and for the outcome to be decided. Just then, Wicked too came to stand beside me quietly…and then came Doll, with two streaks of tears on her cheeks, and was whining about the pain as she came up to me. The seconds seemed to tick by slowly, and we grew tenser with each passing moment.

The commentator Xiao Li seemed to be just as eager as the audience to know the outcome. "Members of the audience, this is the moment of the tournament that we've been anticipating most. Which team will be the ultimate champions of the Adventurers' Tournament, Dark Emperor or Odd Squad? Or were both teams annihilated? Ah… The spells have faded away. There seems to be figure in the midst of all that smoke; let's see which side he or she belongs to. That's, that's… The person lying on the floor is Feng Wu Qing, the human swordsman from Dark Emperor! Although he's close to death, he is still alive. The winning team has emerged!"

"Ah! It's Wu Qing!" I couldn't help feeling a little crestfallen, but it made sense that the sole survivor of the deadly storm of magic would be the warrior, with the highest HP and strongest defense. I turned to Wicked. "Congratulations on winning."

The audience went into a frenzy of roars and cheers. Xiao Li's voice was like the sound of pigs being butchered as he shrieked, "Dark Emperor! Dark Emperor has emerged victorious!"

A hand appeared! From the arena's dirt floor, a hand abruptly shot out. At first only a few spectators stared at it in silence with mouths gaping wide open, but like a contagious disease, that silence soon spread across the rest of the audience as everyone stared at the hand sticking out of the ground… The entire stadium was engulfed in silence!

"What is that thing?" I went numb all over, thinking, _Don't tell me it's the fourteenth day_ _of the seventh lunar month… Could it be a haunting? No way! Do those things also play online games?__1_

Following that, another hand shot up through the ground. More than a few members of the audience couldn't take the terror and were already screaming…

"Whew… It's a good thing I'd taken the pains to learn _Burrowing_," Lolidragon muttered to herself as she clambered up from the ground and began dusting off the dirt from her clothes.

1** Fourteenth day of the seventh lunar month: **This is more commonly known as the "Ghost Festival", atraditional Chinese festival that takes place on the fourteenth day of the seventh lunar month every year and is usually celebrated by Taoists and Buddhists. The seventh lunar month in general is known as the Ghost Month, during which the gates between the realm of the living and the realms of the dead are believed to be opened such that the dead may freely walk the earth. The fourteenth day is known as the Ghost Day and it is on that day in particular that deceased ancestors would visit their living relatives.

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I paid no mind to my image as I gaped at the sight. However, my mouth wasn't gaping _that _widely compared to the members of Dark Emperor, the audience, and Xiao Li.

When Lolidragon had finally finished patting off the dirt, she sauntered over to Feng Wu Qing with an intolerably smug smirk on her face. "_Yooou_ look like you're about to die!" The evil smile on her face was definitely Satan's own; it was a bewitchingly charming smile, but one which you would definitely _not_ want to see twice!

Lolidragon raised her dagger, but lowered it after a moment as the smile on her face grew even smugger. She lifted her foot lightly and then stomped forcefully on Feng Wu Qing's solar plexus. As she grinded her foot into his chest, she remarked coyly, "As the saying goes, 'dying under the peony, a gallant hero even as a ghost'.2 Isn't that right, great hero Chu Liu Xiang?"

Finally, Feng Wu Qing vomited a huge mouthful of blood and then turned into a pillar of white light which shot into the sky… _I really can't tell, was he stomped to death, or_ _infuriated to death?_

"Odd Squad, victory!" yelled the referee.

2** Dying under the peony, a gallant hero even as a ghost: **This is actually a line from a poem, which hasalso become a well-known saying. What "dying under the peony" actually means is "to be killed by a beautiful woman". Thus, the saying's meaning is actually along the lines of "a gallant hero should act like a man and not mind dying at the hands of a beautiful woman". (In case anyone's forgotten, Chu Liu Xiang is the fictional character that Wu Qing loves to emulate. He's supposedly a gallant hero but also a huge flirt as well.)

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**Chapter 2: Infinite City **

"Why must I be the liege lord?" I grumbled, malcontented. _I don't even have the foggiest_ _notion of what to do as a liege lord; wouldn't it be better if the position was given to Wolf-dàg__ē__?Making me the liege lord! I'm not even sure what to do with our new_

_territory. What are we going to do with it, farm?_

"Let me ask you, Prince," said Lolidragon in an interrogative manner as she jabbed a finger at my nose, "Do you know how to devise strategies or command troops like Wolf-dàgē,and so be put in charge of the military department?"

I cocked my head to one side, thinking, _Me, handle military matters? I don't even know_ _what the difference between strategies and tactics is… _"I don't know how to."

"Or are you by some chance like Yulian-dàsăo, with the talent to manage finances and accounts with incomparable skill, able to use money to generate more money, and so manage the finance department? Are you, in addition, a mage, and so able to take charge of the mages' department as well?"

"No, I can't." _It's already an achievement in itself if I don't spend all of my money, and_ _besides, I'm not a mage, _I thought, feeling sorry for myself.

"Then do you have a brain as good as Gui's? Are you able to come up with the blueprints for the entire territory and even supervise the entire construction process?"

I went to a corner to be gloomy. "About drawing… People have always said that the dogs I draw looked more like cats."

"Then do you have my technical knowledge, to be able to lay traps around the territory to prevent monsters or other players from attacking?"

"Not stepping on one of those traps myself, that can already be considered a blessing…" There were now two ghost fires floating next to me.

"Then are you by any chance able to summon skeletons like Doll, to help with the construction?" Lolidragon questioned, dealing me a final blow.

_I didn't expect…that even Doll's more useful than I am! I want to weep… _"If I'm souseless, why do you still want me to be the liege lord?" I pouted, sulking.

Lolidragon gave me a pat on my shoulder, her face the picture of kindness – _or was it_ _faux kindness? _– as she looked at me. "That's precisely why we want you to be the liegelord! After all, the only thing you can be is the liege lord, who doesn't need to do

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anything except be good-looking, be presentable, and not do anything to damage our territory's reputation!"

"So that's how it is! So it's because I don't know how to do anything that I can only be the liege lord…" My eyes filled with two large, glistening tears and I whimpered. "I must apply myself to learning some skills from now on, otherwise I'll never amount to anything more than a liege lord."

_…Is being the liege lord really such a sad thing? _wondered the remaining members ofOdd Squad.

Backtracking a little, back on that day when Lolidragon used _Burrowing_ to safely sit out the havoc wrought by the two large-scale AOE spells, stomped Feng Wu Qing to death, and then snatched victory back for Odd Squad in the Adventurers' Tournament, we went onstage happily to claim our prize as a team. We drank in the deafening cheers of the crowd and admired the remarkable sight of the members of Dark Emperor standing stock-still, mouths gaping in shock for an entire hour…until the headaches began.

Of all the prizes, the most significant one was a piece of land, which we were suddenly saddled with for no reason. According to hearsay, it could compare with Sun, Moon, and Star cities in terms of size, and so we had no choice but to start discussing how to manage this piece of trouble…

"This land of ours is really no small burden. Sun, Moon and Star cities are spread out along the fringes of this continent in a triangular formation; as the cities are quite far from one another, and as teleportation fees are expensive, most players will usually opt to make one of the three cities their base camp and then train in its vicinity. Our territory lies right smack in the middle of the entire continent, however, and the amount of time needed to travel from our land to any of the key areas on this continent is pretty much the same.

"As such, if we play our cards right, we'll definitely be able to lure most of the players away from Sun, Moon, and Star cities and get them to settle down here. However, for the same reason there will be many people eyeing this piece of land…and that will probably be much scarier than an attack by mobs," Lolidragon mused, frowning. "Although the developers have provided us with NPC guards for the moment, once the time's up, they will be removed, after which we will have to defend the city on our own. While we can hire NPC guards, they're overly expensive and, after all, they're not human players. They lack adaptability and thus cannot be the main pillar of our defense. We must organize our own defense force, create a vibrant economy, and design our city well…"

That was how we began to divide the work among us… _And, as you can see, because_ _there's nothing special about me except my good looks, I ended up as an ornament – the liege lord!_

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"Although the liege lord is supposedly nothing more than an ornament, Prince, I have an assignment for you, to keep you from dying of boredom." Wolf-dàgēcleared his throat. "We have a serious shortage of manpower, so you have to recruit some help."

"Who am I going to recruit…?" _My fan club? You've got to be kidding me!_

"Rose Team." Lolidragon said as she tapped her chin with a finger thoughtfully. Upon seeing me flinch, she hurried to add, "Even though there was some unhappiness the last time we met, they're good people. I don't think they really felt that what happened was your fault. Besides, there are quite a few talented individuals in Rose Team."

"The big brothers and sisters from Dark Emperor too!" Doll exclaimed delighted. "They're all good people!"

"Nan Gong Zui!" Yulian-dàsăoadded, even as Gui's face hardened upon hearing that name. (His objections were overruled, however.) "To have been one of the head honchos of the three major alliances in the tournament, he must have considerable influence. If you can get him to join us, Prince, our force's numbers will be greatly bolstered."

"That's right, it's basically these people for now," Wolf-dàgēsaid with a nod. "While

we're pouring our sweat and blood into constructing the city, Prince you should make use of the time to chat with them and do some networking, and then get them to join us while you're at it. Oh, by the way, it'll be great if you can find other talented individuals as well. What do you think? Isn't your assignment quite simple?"

Biting my index finger, with my head tilted to one side, I thought, _It seems to be…quite_ _easy?!_

"Okay, then I'll get going. It'll be tough on you guys!" I felt a little guilty. _Everyone else_ _will be working hard on construction, whereas I'm running off to chit-chat… Sigh! It's all because I don't know how to do anything, that's why I'm so useless._

Everyone waved cheerfully at me as I left. I too waved back at them enthusiastically, and then embarked on my "chatting" journey…

hg

It was not until they could no longer see Prince that the smiles, which had been plastered on the faces of the remaining Odd Squad members, finally came off.

"Hmm… I feel a little guilty. We've tricked Prince into carrying the toughest job; I wonder if he'll be okay?" Wolf-dàgēremarked, looking slightly worried.

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"Don't worry about it; that fellow has extremely good luck with people in general. Besides, I don't have a conscience to speak of, so I don't feel the least bit guilty," Lolidragon said with an evil smile.

"Prince is the liege lord after all, so one way or another he has to have a little responsibility!" Yu Lian-dàsăosmiled, stretching her index finger and thumb as far apart as possible as she said "a little".

In a troubled tone, Gui asked, "But will Prince lose his way?"

_…That is the most worrying question indeed!_

hg

"Who should I look for first?" I agonized. "Oh well, I guess I'll look for Dark Emperor first; since Zhuo-gēge is there, it shouldn't be that difficult to recruit them, right?!"

I made up my mind and immediately PMed Wicked, saying, "Wicked, where are you guys? There's something I'd like to talk over with you all!"

"…We're in Star City, but it's better if you don't come over now." Upon receiving her message, Wicked was initially delighted at the prospect of being able to see Xiao Lan. However, after he took one long look at his drunken teammates sprawled about in the restaurant booth and thought of how they had been talking about hacking the members of Odd Squad into a million pieces just a moment ago while drinking, Wicked thought the better of letting Xiao Lan come over. "What's up?"

"I want to rope you guys into managing the territory!" I went straight to the point.

"Hmm… I'll talk things over with my teammates, but they're too angry to think straight right now, so it'll be better if you don't come over first."

"Oh, then I guess I'll look for Nan Gong Zui first," I replied, even as I thought, _Rose_ _Team… I guess I'll look for them last. _I still felt a little guilty about what happened, so Iwasn't ready to meet them yet.

Unbeknownst to Prince, Wicked's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're going to look for Nan Gong Zui?! That fellow Gui actually didn't try to stop you?"

"Yeah, he did. I have no idea why he was objecting, but after Lolidragon got him in a chokehold, he didn't object anymore." (_Or perhaps it was because he had no way to_ _voice his objections?_)_ Seriously, Gui gets jealous over just about anything. Are all gays this troublesome? He gets agitated if anyone approaches me, never mind whether they're male or female… He's such a poor thing!_

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"Don't look for Nan Gong Zui! I guarantee you that Dark Emperor will join you guys!" Wicked looked menacingly at his teammates on the floor; woe betide any naysayers!

"I knew you're the best, Zhuo-gēge! It's a done deal then; you have to join us!" I said happily, thinking, _One team down already, looks like I'll be back with my Odd Squad_ _teammates in no time! _"I'll go look for Nan Gong Zui now then."

"Hey—!"

I closed my private channel with Wicked and PMed Nan Gong Zui for the first time ever. "Nan Gong Zui, paging for Nan Gong Zui!"

"Who is it?"

"Prince," I reported my name cheerfully.

"…The Blood Elf?" Nan Gong Zui sounded somewhat startled.

"Just call me Prince." _Why does Nan Gong Zui like calling me "the Blood Elf" so much?_

"Oh, Prince. Is something the matter?" Nan Gong Zui asked enthusiastically. "Looking for me to go drinking together?"

"Erm…something like that, and there's some other stuff I want to discuss with you."

"No problem; come over first! I'm in Moon City, just let me know before you arrive," Nan Gong Zui replied, and his voice became tinged with frustration. "I still have to settle that problem with my godsister Ice Phoenix first."

"Sure. It might take me a few days to reach, as I'm still pretty far from Moon City, so take your time to settle things," I replied.

_So, my destination is Moon City? _I unfolded the map and saw that Moon City was on thewest side of the continent. _Which way is west?_ I looked blankly at the huge moon and the sky full of stars, thinking, _Gui told me before that if I can find the North Star, I'll be able_ _to tell which way's north…but what did he say about finding the North Star again? First I have to locate the Big Dipper…but what is the Big Dipper? _My head slumped to oneside, uncomprehending. (Gui: I couldn't get you to understand in the end, but didn't I give you a compass?)

hg

"Phoenix, do you mean to infuriate me to death?" Nan Gong Zui was on the verge of exploding with anger as he looked at his godsister. "Fan is clearly deceiving you; can you still not see that? Why did you foolishly send him yet another present?"

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Ice Phoenixē,is smileditreallysorrowfullywrongto."Dàglove a person, to want to

make sacrifices for his sake, to want to dedicate yourself to him? I believe that his heart will be truly moved by me one day."

"You, you…!" Nan Gong Zui gave an exasperated sigh as he wondered, _How is it that_ _women can be _this_ foolish?_

"I have loved Fan deeply since the moment I first laid eyes on him," Phoenix said. There was an intoxicated expression on her face as she recollected, "He is just like a perfect god. Back then, when he walked towards me, I even thought that I was looking at the most handsome Sun God, Apollo! I believe that there is no other person in the world who can rival his perfection."

Goose pimples broke out all over Nan Gong Zui's body. _Fan certainly is quite good-looking… I wonder, between him and Prince, which one of them would Phoenix prefer?_

"Ah… Fan's PMing me, I've got to hurry over," Phoenix said, almost beside herself with joy upon receiving Fan's message.

"I forbid you to go—" Before he could finish speaking, his godsister was already gone, and so Nan gong Zui had no choice but to hurriedly chase after his godsister's disappearing figure.

hg

In the end, I still took the wrong path. I inadvertently walked to the East instead, and thus wound up in Star City…after which I chose to simply travel to Moon City via the teleportation station. As it turns out, Moon City was actually a Chinese-styled city. As I wandered through the city, I happily admired the bamboo buildings, red lanterns, and the streets full of fan-waving swordsmen.

_Talk about how the culture of a city influences the character of the people living in it… That's odd, why did my brother, that Chu Liu Xiang-wannabe, end up in Star City instead? _I mused as I gnawed on a stick of candied haws that I had just bought.

"Stop right there, Phoenix!" Nan Gong Zui grabbed Phoenix's hand angrily.

"Let ē;goletofmeme,lookDàgfor Fan!" Phoenix wailed.

I chewed another candied haw as I watched the scene unfold before my eyes, thinking,

_Looks like my luck's pretty good; I found Nan Gong Zui without even having to PM him!_

Fan sauntered over slowly towards the duo from the other end of the street with a smile on his face. "Nan Gong Zui, don't you think that your behavior's rather unsightly? You couldn't win your godsister's heart, so you're resorting to brute force now?"

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"What did you say? Don't spout nonsense, I just don't want her to be deceived by a bastard like you," Nan Gong Zui roared, enraged.

"Nan Gong Zui, you should be more careful about what you're saying. Who's deceiving her? Phoenix, have I ever tried to deceive you?" Fan asked, and his expression was one of confidence. "I made everything clear to you, including the fact that you're only one of the women I'm seeing."

"I know. It's okay, I don't mind at all," Phoenix replied, mesmerized by Fan's handsome side profile.

Fan shrugged and gave Nan Gong Zui a helpless look.

"You…" Nan Gong Zui was so furious that he had drawn his sword and was about to charge forward and duel Fan.

Terrified for her beloved, Phoenix hurried forward to bar Nan Gong Zui's path. "Stop it, Gēge! I won't allow you to harm Fan!"

Nan Gong Zui's expression revealed how wounded he was by her action. "Phoenix, you…"

"Dàgē,I…" Phoenix was wracked with guilt, but also unwilling to budge.

The atmosphere grew heavy as the situation stalemated. I swallowed the last candied haw, licked my lips, and tossed the remaining bamboo skewer into the trash bin.

…_An infatuated woman, a worried brother, and a heartless and dissolute playboy; this is_ _quite the detestable soap opera. Allow me to break up this meaningless drama! _I thoughtwith a devilish smirk.

I straightened my posture, affixed a slight smile to my face, elegance oozing from every pore_. Right now I am…the most perfect Lord Prince!_ In a low and warm voice, I said, "Nan Gong Zui, is that you?"

All those present turned to gaze at me – or more accurately, stared at me, blushing fiercely, their hearts thumping furiously – and I saw with satisfaction that even Ice Phoenix was looking at me infatuatedly. With elegant steps, I walked up to Nan Gong Zui, remarking, "My apologies, I arrived early. I'd meant to take a look around first and then pay you a visit. I hope it's not too much trouble?"

"It's not…" Nan Gong Zui looked at me with uncertainty. In his head, Nan Gong Zui was thinking, _The Prince here today seems…quite different from before?_

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"Hmm, this lady here… She must be your godsister, Ice Phoenix, correct?" I turned towards the stunned-looking Phoenix and flashed my most brilliant and peerless smile – one which could mesmerize both women _and_ men – at her. "Nan Gong Zui often mentions you!"

"Re- really?" Phoenix stammered as she stared fixedly at my face, enraptured.

"You're just as adorable as he described!" Inching my face closer and closer towards her as I spoke, I could almost hear her heart as it thumped wildly in her chest. Finally I took her hand lightly in mine, raised it to my lips, and brushed the back of her hand with a kiss.

Phoenix breathed in sharply, and then actually _fainted_… _Now I know that I'm hot enough_ _to make people faint, _I thought, as I carried the unconscious girl in my arms, mildlyexasperated. "Nan Gong Zui, come and claim your sister!"

"…" Nan Gong Zui came over and took Ice Phoenix from me wordlessly.

"It's you again, Prince!" Fan snarled. The mask of serenity that he had been wearing was starting to crumble away.

I grinned maliciously at him. "What? You wanted to see me _that_ badly?"

"Who would want to see you?" Fan's face had become twisted with hatred.

"Aiyah! Still trying to act tough?" I walked up to Fan with slow, deliberate steps, not forgetting to give him an ambiguous smile. "If you wanted to see me you just have to say so. I _guarantee_ you that I'll look you up whenever I'm free."

"Get away from me," Fan said, backing up three paces, and he even remembered to draw his sword and point it at me.

I laughed coldly. Placing my hands on my hip in a show of magnificent unconcern, I said, "You sure you want to fight me?"

Hearing that, Fan hesitated. He hadn't forgotten the Blood Elf's prowess on the battlefield, but there was no way for him to back out when his own reputation was at stake, and so his sword remained leveled at me unwaveringly.

My expression changed, growing severe within an instant. "Don't ever come near Ice Phoenix again. You should know that from this day on, her heart no longer belongs to you."

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Fan's face became almost mottled with rage, and he laughed mockingly before saying, "Blood Elf, aren't you a little too nosy? What happens between Phoenix and I is really none of your business."

"Hmph, Nan Gong Zui is my friend, his sister is my sister, so how can I stand by idly and watch as Phoenix gets played by a beast like you?" I drew my Black Dao and watched with considerable satisfaction as Fan paled, which made me decide to challenge him further. "If you want to fight, cut the crap and come at me!"

Fan looked at me with a sick expression, and then deliberately glanced at Nan Gong Zui, who was standing nearby. "Planning to fight me two on one, is it?"

I replied coldly, "Quit looking for excuses, you know very well that Nan Gong Zui won't interfere."

"That's hard to say!" Fan retorted nastily, sheathing his sword. "I've no interest in being ganged up on by two people!"

I said no more and only looked coldly at Fan. After all, I didn't really intend to fight him here on the streets, especially not for a reason like competing for a woman's heart…

Fan shot me an icy look before he turned to leave. "One day, I will exact from you everything you owe me, Blood Elf."

I lifted an eyebrow. "I'll be waiting."

_Sigh, this visit to Nan Gong Zui has left me with yet another beauty for a suitor and earned me the enmity of a formidable rival… If he still refuses to join us, even if he's a friend, I will definitely turn him into mincemeat. _With that thought, I turned to look atNan Gong Zui menacingly, but he continued to look at me with innocent confusion.

"Nan Gong Zui, are you going to join me or not?" I demanded, grabbing his collar.

"Huh?"

hg

_In Nan Gong Zui's house…_

"I see, so it's about the territory you won!" Nan Gong Zui smiled. "Have you decided on the name for your city yet?"

I was taking a long sip of my bubble tea, but I immediately froze upon hearing Zui's question. "My city's…name?"

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"What? You guys haven't decided on it yet?" Nan Gong Zui's astonishment was evident.

I cocked my head to one side, thinking, _Maybe they have already decided on it but forgot_ _to tell me? _"Wait a minute, let me ask them."

"Wolf-dàgē,does our city have a name yet?"

"…Oh no, we clean forgot about that. Prince, since you're the liege lord, you think of one!" was Wolf-dàgē'sirresponsible reply. "After you've come up with a name, you might as well go and register it with the Office of Land Development in the city. That's all."

_Why is it like this_… I frowned. "They asked me to think of name myself! Nan Gong Zui,help me come up with a name."

"…This kind of heavy responsibility is best left to you, the liege lord!"

I thought and thought, turning my head inside out and back again as I racked my brain for an idea, any idea…but I collapsed on the floor in tears in the end. _Uwaaah, I just can't_ _think of anything! _I turned my tearful gaze to Nan Gong Zui in a silent plea…

"…Why not call it Infinite City, to represent the limitless potential of the future?" Nan Gong Zui pronounced after mulling over it briefly.

"Excellent name!" I dashed up to Nan Gong Zui and clasped his hands. Looking at him with gratitude-filled eyes, I said cajolingly, "Since you've already helped with the founding of Infinite City, you can't run away now! You _have_ to join us, okay? Please,

_Zuiiiiii…_"

"…I think we should be able to join you guys. I've no problem with it, and our team's Phoenix is definitely going to follow you, which means that her older sister will too. Her sister's husband is our team's priest, and his younger brother is our team's thief, and the remaining person in the team will probably come along as well."

"…It's agreed then, I- I have other people to look for still, so I'll leave it to you to meet up with my teammates in Infinite City." The smile on my face had stiffened. _What Zui_ _just said…did he mean that if I don't take responsibility for Phoenix, her sister and two brothers-in-law will definitely hunt me down? Sigh, how am I going to survive in the future? _I considered getting Gui to design a secret room for me to hide in.

"Sure! No problem at all."

"Thanks, Zui," I smiled cheerfully, thinking, _That's another assignment completed!_

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Nan Gong Zui gave me a friendly knock on my chest and said, "Don't sweat it, what are friends for! Come on, let's go register your city's name and then go for a drink."

I smiled foolishly… _Will I actually be able hold my liquor?_

hg

"This is the only thief in my group, Kong Kong," Nan Gong Zui introduced the drinking companion that he'd invited along, the petite thief Kong Kong.

"Hello, I'm Prince," I introduced myself politely.

"Don't be fooled by how thin and small Kong Kong is; he can handle even a thousand drinks. You should watch out, Prince," Nan Gong Zui said with a hearty laugh.

I joined in and laughed heartily as well…but inwardly I felt really helpless! _I've never_ _gone drinking before and I'll be in a drinking competition with two men the first time I go drinking? Dear heavens! Isn't that asking a little too much from me? Waaah… I don't care anymore! It's not my problem no matter how things pan out!_

"Let us first toast to Prince for successfully clinching victory! Cheers!" Nan Gong Zui yelled.

"Cheers!" Kong Kong too, lifted his cup and yelled.

"Cheers!" I could only follow their lead. I stared at the liquid in my cup for three seconds, gritted my teeth, and then gulped down the contents of my cup… _It burns!_ I fought to hold back the tears. _Don't tell me I'm going to have to guzzle down a whole lot_ _more of this in a moment? It can't be, right? I want to cry…_

hg

_After three hours…_

"Another round!" I bellowed, swaying unsteadily as I held up my cup.

"Urgh… I can't, Prince. You're just too strong, let's stop drinking…" Kong Kong groaned from where he sat, half-sprawled out on the table. "If we keep drinking, I'll really die…"

"Hahahahaha, you can't out-drink me!" I laughed wildly, but my body was swaying uncontrollably. "And you still say you can handle a thousand, a thousand drinks?!"

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"That's because you, you won't collapse even after ten thousand drinks, Prince." Zui, who had passed out earlier, suddenly woke up and said. He massaged his temples. "Let's stop drinking and go back!"

"Okay…" I replied, feeling a little sullen.

The three of us staggered along the moonlight-flooded street. A faint feeling of melancholy wrapped about my heart and I suddenly felt the urge to draw my weapon and vent my feelings. Without sparing another thought, I drew my Black Dao and, like a person possessed, I swung and hacked and slashed, leaping and dodging furiously, roaring…until I was too exhausted to continue my rampage. I stood still, panting, all the moves that I'd executed up until now in the game flashing through my mind.

Eventually, I began to dance, the techniques melding together into a seamless flow, a dance. Bathed in the clear, icy moonlight, hearing only the delightful sound of my Black Dao whistling through the air, I felt euphoric and a smile crept onto my face, growing wider and wider. The moonlight, the blade, the slender, flitting figure, and the arrogant yet refined laugh – which only an elf could be capable of – wove together into an achingly beautiful melody which echoed throughout the rustic Moon City.

"Hahahaha…haha!" I laughed wildly.

"Excellent! An excellently proud swordsman," Nan Gong Zui roared approvingly. "Let's test how good you are, Prince!" With that, he drew his sword and leapt in front of me. Our blades met with a resounding clang, like a song of steel crashing down on the silence of the night.

"Here I come as well!" Kong Kong couldn't resist drawing his dagger and joining the fray, swift as a wind.

I aimed a kick at Kong Kong even as my _dao_ continued to fend off Nan Gong Zui's sword, and then followed up with a twist in mid-air, evading their combined attack. The three of us were like children fooling about on the street, dodging here and darting there, striking out at one another with our weapons from time to time. We fooled about in this fashion and had a whale of a time…until we reached Nan Gong Zui's place.

After waving goodbye to Zui, I looked up at the star-studded sky, suddenly filled with the desire to explore the ends of the earth! And so my legs carried me toward an unknown street…

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**Chapter 3: Everyone has Assembled **

"Sheesh, Prince hasn't been replying to my PMs for a few days now," Lolidragon complained.

"Well, you know that he's a really careless person. He probably just didn't notice the messages," Ugly Wolf replied absently. "How's the trap-setting coming along?"

"We've only covered one-quarter of the perimeter. Honestly, this city is too large," Lolidragon answered, her brow furrowing.

Ugly Wolf turned toward his wife. "Yu Lian, do we still have sufficient funds?"

Yu Lian's brow was also deeply furrowed. She replied, "If we build according to Gui's blueprint, we won't be able to complete the construction of the city just by depending on the tournament's prize money. I plan to build half the city first and open that part of the city to the public, and then continue to build the rest of the city with the tax income."

"Can't we just ask Gui to amend the blueprint?" Ugly Wolf asked with some anxiety.

"We can do that, but in my opinion, if we want to operate this city for a long period of time, or even make this city the largest city on the Central Continent, then Gui's blueprint is perfect." Yu Lian eyes shone as she spoke. She added, "I'm certain that we will not regret it in the future, even if we have to work harder now."

"You're probably right. As expected, you are more farsighted than I am," Ugly Wolf said with an affectionate look at his beloved wife.

"Wolf…" said Yu Lian bashfully, and the two of them gazed at each other with eyes full of love…

"I'll go and check up on Doll and Gui!" Lolidragon said quickly and walked away, looking rather embarrassed.

Lolidragon left the building, which was still under construction, and strode towards Doll, who was working hard to direct her skeletal minions to build a wall, and Gui, who was supervising the remaining NPCs and player workers.

"How's the situation? Is everything coming along alright?" Lolidragon asked.

"We're slightly behind schedule," Gui replied, not looking altogether pleased. "_Sigh_… It can't be helped since we simply don't have enough funds, so we can't hire more workers. If not for Doll's skeletons, the construction would probably go on for months."

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"_Sigh_… It would be nice if Prince could quickly find us some recruits and hurry back. Every little bit of help counts," Lolidragon said as she sat down, propping her chin on her hands in worry.

Doll suddenly came dashing over with a delighted expression on her face. "Wicked-gēge is here and all the big brothers and sisters from Dark Emperor have arrived as well."

As usual, Wicked was at the fore of his team. They walked up to Gui and Lolidragon and stopped.

"You're finally here," Gui said, raising his eyebrows and looking as though he wasn't in the least bit surprised to see Wicked.

"Where's Prince?" Wicked asked, frowning.

"Not back yet…" Gui replied, troubled.

"He's still at Nan Gong Zui's?" Wicked demanded as a vein popped on his temple. "And you didn't do anything to stop him?"

"Prince isn't my prisoner; on what grounds am I supposed to stop him?" Gui retorted acidly, and then added, "Besides, we really do need Nan Gong Zui's help." Although what Gui had said was the truth, Wicked still continued to glare fiercely at Gui.

As for Doll, she was happily holding both Ming Huang's – whose face was black as a thundercloud – and Wu Qing's hands. "Yay! Doll missed all of you big brothers and sisters very much! Did Ming Huang-gēge and Wu Qing -gēge miss me too?"

Feng Wu Qing's face softened, his disgruntled expression slowly replaced by a smile as he patted Doll's head and said, "Yes, I missed you very much! It's just that there was a certain someone whom I really didn't want to see." When he mentioned "a certain someone", Wu Qing fixed a glare at the female thief who was busy feigning innocence.

Ming Huang's expression of annoyance had started to slip as well, and when Doll turned to peer at him with her large, guileless eyes, he instantly surrendered. "Yes, yes, I did miss you," he said reluctantly.

"Playboy-gēge, Black Lily -jiějie," Do ll greeted the two smiling individuals and gave them each a peck on the cheek.

Just then, Ugly Wolf and Yu Lian emerged from the temporary headquarters and approached Dark Emperor with evident delight. "You guys are here, that's great! I was really worried at first that Dark Emperor might not be willing to help us." Ugly Wolf shook hands with Wicked.

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"We would not be so churlish. So long as we lost the showdown in a fair and square way, why should there be any resentment from us?" Feng Wu Qing said as he gently fanned himself, sounding for all the world like a perfect gentleman… _Then who was that person_ _who got drunk and said that he wanted to kill everyone from Odd Squad, especially Lolidragon? _The remaining members of Dark Emperor looked at Feng Wu Qinghelplessly.

"Nevertheless, thank you all very much for your willingness to come and help out. It'll really help to lighten our workload," Ugly Wolf said with a broad smile.

Yu Lian mumbled to herself, frowning, "It's still not enough people. I wonder if Prince will be able to convince Rose Team and Nan Gong Zui to help out."

"Of course he can!" A voice roared from the city gate, which was still under construction, causing the members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor to look sharply in that direction. A cloud of dust, accompanied by hoof beats, approached them swiftly and the person in the lead was none other than Nan Gong Zui himself. He rode up to Odd Squad, then abruptly stopped and dismounted. The one hundred and fifty riders at his back dismounted as well. "Prince isn't back yet?"

"Not yet…" The two teams answered in unison and stared dazedly at the ranks of a hundred and fifty riders and a hundred and fifty horses.

"I see. Then I'll have to wait until he returns to introduce our liege lord to my fellows. Here, let me introduce you all. This is my adventurers' group – The Righteous Blades. It consists almost entirely of warriors, plus a handful of priests and mages. As you can see, it's an adventurers' group with very high offensive power." Nan Gong Zui could not conceal a look of pride as he regarded the group which he had founded.

"An adventurers' group!" Lolidragon exclaimed, moved by the impressive sight of The Righteous Blades. She added, "I knew that the strength of Prince's dumb luck and popularity is nothing common. To think that he even managed to recruit an entire adventurers' group!"

The members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor nodded in agreement unconsciously…

_Prince is definitely unusually popular._

Nan Gong Zui only gave a small smile when he heard what Lolidragon said. He said, "The sole reason that I came here is because Prince is truly a person worthy of respect. My adventurers' group and I deeply admire the way he treats his friends and his martial prowess. All of us are very pleased to become a part of Infinite City."

"'Infinite City'?" Ugly Wolf asked, feeling slightly bewildered.

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"Huh? Hasn't Prince told you guys yet? I helped him to decide on 'Infinite City' as the name for the city. We've already registered it," Nan Gong Zui asked, puzzled.

"Infinite City! I can't believe that the last people to know the name of the city are us, the ones who own it! Where on earth did Prince run off to?" Lolidragon exclaimed totally losing her cool.

Yu Lian rubbed her temple and said, "Could it be that he didn't dare to look for Rose Team and was afraid of getting scolded by us, and so he decided to simply go missing instead?"

"I don't think he would go that far; shouldn't he already be accustomed to getting scolded by us?" Ugly Wolf said, sounding a tad worried. "Maybe he was rejected by Rose Team and felt so hurt that he decided to hide somewhere?"

"Don't tell me he lost his way and fell from some cliff again!" Gui said, his face white as a sheet, and even Wicked looked worried upon hearing that.

"What? Did he really fall from a cliff?" Ice Phoenix – who was standing next to Nan Gong Zui – demanded anxiously upon hearing Gui's words.

"Who are _you_?" Gui and Wicked turned their heads in unison to look at Phoenix, their eyes narrowing dangerously.

Before Phoenix could answer, a person who looked like a thief suddenly interjected, "It's not possible for Prince to do something as silly as falling off a cliff."

"And who might _you_ be?" Gui and Wicked once again turned to shoot a glare each at the speaker.

Nan Gong Zui immediately introduced them, "This is a mage in my adventurers' group, Ice Phoenix, and the other is a thief, Kong Kong. Kong Kong has gone drinking together with Prince and I before. Additionally, this is Phoenix's older sister, Madame White Bird. She is the strongest female warrior in my group and my second-in-command. Her husband, Chuang Wai, is one of the priests in the group."

"From what I've just heard, why does it seem like Prince is a muddle-headed sort of person?" Madame White Bird remarked, not wholly pleased. She did not wish to see her sister, Phoenix, fall in love with yet another weird person. Turning to Kong Kong, she demanded, "Kong Kong, it was you who said that Prince is strong, proud, and possesses extraordinary martial skill. You said that he is gentlemanly in his attitude toward women and is both frank and loyal towards his friends, a veritable man amongst men, which was why I did not object to the decision to become part of Infinite City. So why does Prince's character seem very different according to what they've just said?"

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Kong Kong instantly retorted, "I don't know why they spoke of Prince in such a way, but I've seen with my own eyes that Prince is exactly like how I've described him to be. After all, I've gone drinking with him and exchanged blows with him before. He is prideful and his martial prowess is at such a high level that even Captain Nan Gong and I couldn't win against him together. He always treats girls with a tender smile on his face; you can ask Phoenix about this. As for friends, you have all seen it for yourselves that day on the battlefield. Did he not go to Captain's rescue, even though they were opponents at the time?"

"Is that really the case?" Madame White Bird asked doubtfully as she looked at the members of Odd Squad.

"That's right. Prince is indeed as all of you have described. We were just joking around to lighten the atmosphere, please don't take it seriously," Ugly Wolf answered with a serious face… Overall, it wasn't a lie. Their description did fit Prince, and as for the other aspects of him, since they didn't ask…then there was no reason to mention them!

"Nan Gong, is that really the case?" Madame White Bird looked at Nan Gong Zui sternly.

Nan Gong Zui nodded. "Yeah. Moreover, although he may appear proud, he is actually quite easy-going and is easy to get along with." He hesitated for a moment and thought,

_That's how it is, right? Although Prince does do some pretty weird things at times! Still, that probably doesn't need to be mentioned…_

Madame White Bird's expression softened and she looked at Odd Squad apologetically, saying, "My apologies for having doubted your liege lord, but I had to be certain about this since the matter concerns the whole of The Righteous Blades." _Besides, the_ _happiness of my worrisome little sister is also at stake here. Phoenix always falls in love with some unsuitable person or another, making me worry. Still, this time it seems like she's finally fallen in love with the right person, _White Bird thought, and felt a knot ofworry undo in her chest.

"No problem at all, you should be vigilant indeed," Ugly Wolf said even as he ignored the voice of his conscience.

"When will we be able to meet the liege lord?" Madame White Bird asked.

"With regard to that, our liege lord is currently travelling around in the hopes of recruiting more people to help us construct and manage the city. I'm afraid all of you will have to wait for a while before we can introduce him to everyone." On the surface, Yu Lian answered Madame White Bird's question calmly and unhesitatingly. Privately, however, Yu Lian said through clenched teeth over team channel, "PM Prince straight away and don't stop PMing him until he replies. If they catch sight of Prince in his muddle-headed state, I'm afraid we'll lose this hard-to-come-by adventurers' group."

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_She's right, _thought the rest of Odd Squad. Their thoughts went to the sight of Princebiting his index finger and looking muddle-headed. _If the members of The Righteous_ _Blades see that sight, things will definitely get real messy. _With that thought, everyonebegan to spam Prince with PMs.

"I see. It must be hard for our liege lord," Madame White Bird said, nodding her head understandingly.

"Then let us discuss about the placement of everyone first, and about the personnel who will take up the key officers' job." Ugly Wolf voiced his opinion.

"Sure, no problem," Madame White Bird replied unhesitatingly.

Just as they were all about to enter the temporary headquarters, Doll suddenly caught sight of some very familiar-looking people at the city gates. "Eh! It's Rose-jiējie and the others," she cried out.

The members of Odd Squad turned to look. Sure enough, loitering by the city gates was none other than Rose Team. All of them looked slightly embarrassed as soon as they realized that Odd Squad had spotted them.

Ugly Wolf promptly walked toward Rose Team, saying, "So Prince found you guys; that's great!"

"Prince?" Broken Sword asked, looking a bit taken aback by Ugly Wolf's words.

"Wasn't it Prince who recruited you guys to help with the construction of Infinite City?" Ugly Wolf asked with uncertainty in his voice. His expression had also changed visibly.

Everyone from Rose Team looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Rose said apprehensively, "We didn't encounter Prince… We heard that you guys had won the tournament, so we wanted to come and apologize for the incident that happened last time, and also to see if you needed any help."

"So that's how it is. Then where on earth has Prince run off to…?" Ugly Wolf said, feeling a headache come up. However, as soon as he remembered that at his back stood the members of The Righteous Blades, he immediately said loudly, "It looks like you came here before Prince could even find you guys! That's great; we really need Rose Team's help."

"But, the last time, I vented my anger out on Prince. I'm really sorry about that," Broken Sword said, remorse clear on his face. "It really wasn't his fault at all."

"And I shouldn't have forced my feelings on Prince like that, and even…kissed him," Rose said, lowering her head. Her cheeks were flushed.

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Fairsky poked her head out from behind Li'l Strong's broad body, teary-eyed. "It's entirely my fault; I shouldn't have used those wrong ways to court Prince. I really know that I've behaved wrongly. I won't do it again."

Yu Lian patted Fairsky's head gently and enfolded the younger woman in her arms. Fairsky immediately began to sob softly. "Don't worry; Prince has never blamed you guys. He always wanted to reconcile with everyone from Rose Team. When he returns, I'm sure he'll be delighted to see all of you."

Upon hearing Yu Lian's gentle explanation, everyone from Rose Team heaved a sigh of relief, and smiles finally appeared on their face.

"Rose, Fairsky… Are the two of you still in love with Prince?" Lolidragon asked worriedly. These two girls had already suffered too much anguish over Prince, so much so that even Lolidragon felt sorry for them.

The members of Rose Team suddenly looked at Rose with uncertainty, while Rose merely lowered her head bashfully. Next to her, Broken Sword placed an arm around her shoulder and said with a smile, "Rose is my wife now, so of course she doesn't like Prince anymore."

"That's debatable, actually," For Healing Only jibed playfully, causing Broken Sword to give him the evil eye.

"I won't give up on Prince," Fairsky suddenly shouted loudly as she pulled away from Yu Lian's arms, two streaks of tears coursing down her face. Her loud announcement surprised everyone. "I know that my past methods were wrong, but I've improved since then. I'll definitely move Prince's heart with my patience and deep love."

Hearing her words, Ice Phoenix came forward and demanded, "You like Prince _too_?"

Fairsky looked at Phoenix doubtfully. "You said 'too'? Don't tell me that you are _also_ in love with Prince?"

"That's right, and I will _never_ give up either." Phoenix said firmly, pronouncing each word clearly. There was the crackle of electricity as lightning bolts appeared between Fairsky and Phoenix.

In an incomparably icy voice, Gui said, "Prince is _mine_!"

While everyone else was trying to wrap their shocked minds about Gui's sentence, Wicked had begun to glare at Gui fiercely. "Nonsense, Prince is _mine_!" There was another crackle of lightning…

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All the people present gaped as they watched two men fight over another man, with the exception of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor's members. Most of them had knowing expressions on their face; in particular, Ming Huang had pursed his lips and was glaring at his brother, Wicked, with an indignant expression.

Seeing that her sister's face was turning pale, Madame White Bird turned to Odd Squad, and demanded fiercely, "Prince, he's…he's a…"

"Prince is definitely _not_ a homo!" Lolidragon guaranteed with a stern look on her face. _It's the truth too! _"It's just that Prince is simply too handsome, so even guys want him forthemselves," she explained. _This is simply too much fun!_ Lolidragon thought, collapsing with laughter inwardly. She couldn't wait for Prince to come back and see this messy situation… _Hehehe!_

Both Phoenix and Fairsky heaved a sigh of relief, and then they glared at the two gays and said in unison, "I warn you, don't you dare lead Prince astray! He's _mine_!" Then the two girls turned to glare at one another again.

"No, he's _mine_!" Both men roared, and then they joined ranks of those glaring at one another.

"Not _baaad_ at all; they have enough people for a game of mah-jong, and they even have a common topic to chat over," Lolidragon said nonchalantly.

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**Chapter 4: Jing and Yun **

As soon as I opened my eyes, I couldn't help but exclaim admiringly, "Such a blue sky!"

I lay there lazily for a while, marveling at the sky blue expanse before my eyes. When I stood up reluctantly at long last, I peered around at my surroundings and bit my index finger, puzzled. "Where on earth is this place?"

_Wow, there are seagulls here! _Pleasantly surprised, I watched as an entire flock ofseagulls flew by… _Eh? Is that a sail? I've never seen such a large sail before… This_ _thing underneath my feet, I think it's called a "deck"?_

I walked up dazedly to the ship's railing and gazed into the distance.

_What a blue sea, and there's a salty-tasting sea wind blowing this way. Hoho, it's so comfortable, _I thought, grinning foolishly for a full ten seconds, and then realization hitme… _Wait a moment!_ I looked left and then right. _My god! It's a blue ocean as far as the_ _eye can see. Where has my beloved land disappeared to? Why am I on a ship? Where am I heading to?_

_Don't panic, don't panic! _I tried to calm down._ There must be some reason as to why I am here._

I attempted to recall what had happened. _I remember that I was drinking with Nan Gong_ _Zui and Kong Kong; the liquor burned as it went down my throat and was very hard to drink…and then? _I held my head in my hands and thought as hard as I could, but simplycouldn't remember a thing. _Just what exactly happened after that?_

Suddenly, I spied someone from the corner of my eye. I rushed over and seized him by the arm. "Excuse me, big brother, but could you tell me where this ship is heading to, please?" I asked worriedly.

"This ship is the Star of the Ocean, which sails from the Central Continent to the Eastern Continent. Didn't you know that?" The man, who resembled a sailor, wore a questioning expression on his face as he answered me.

_The Eastern Continent? _I stared at him blankly. "The Eastern Continent? Since when did_ Second Life _have so many continents?"

"…This world has a total of five continents: the Eastern, Western, Southern, Northern, and Central Continents. This should be common knowledge!" The sailor stared at me as though as I was a freak.

_So that's how it is? _"Then where am I from?"

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"Judging from the ship's course, you're probably from the Central Continent, right?"

I rubbed the back of my head, grinning foolishly. "You're probably right!" I exclaimed.

"So how can I get back to the Central Continent?" _Although sailing on a ship is quite an_ _interesting experience, I'll definitely get a dressing down from my teammates in Odd Squad if I don't hurry and look for Rose Team._

"You can take another ship back when you reach the Eastern Continent."

"How much longer will it be until we reach the Eastern Continent then?"

"Probably another five more days or so! Can't chat with you anymore; I've got work to do." The sailor walked away, muttering to himself, "What a weirdo; the ship fare is this expensive and yet he wants to return even before he's reached the Eastern Continent…"

_Wait a second!_

"Five days, then including the return trip, it'll be ten days altogether?" _I want to cry, it'll_ _be a miracle if I don't get scolded to death this time._

I sighed. "I guess I might as well tell my teammates first."

"Guys, I have something to tell everyone…" _Why aren't they responding?_

"Paging Odd Squad, paging Odd Squad…" _Still no response from them? That's_ _impossible! Shouldn't there be at least someone online at this time? _I grew panicked andhastily grabbed the Sailor-dàgēagainē,why."Dàgam I unable to reach my teammates

via the messaging system?"

Having been forcibly stopped by me, the sailor asked me exasperatedly, "Where are your teammates?"

"On the Central Continent," I answered obediently.

"Players on different continents cannot use the PM channel to communicate with one another; this includes the team channel as well. While you're at sea, you can only PM players who are also on the ship."

My jaw hung slack with shock. "I'm in deep shit this time."

There was nothing else that I could do, however, so I simply sat woodenly on board the ship. At first, I could still look at the blue sky and the ocean, but I nearly went mad with boredom eventually. _The sailor-dàg__ē__told me that it's the off season right now, with very_

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_few players taking ships, not to mention ships that leave in the small hours before dawn, so I'm the only player on board this ship, waaaaah!_

I rolled forward, backward, to the side… _I'm so booooored! God! What on earth am I_ _going to do? Even the NPC sailor-dàg__ē__has gone into hiding after being pestered so much by me, so there's no one around for me to talk to. _I buried my head between myknees plaintively, my eyes red with incipient tears. "_Waaah_, Lolidragon, Wolf-dàgē,Gui, Doll, and Yu Lian-dàsăo, I miss you all so much, _waaah_!" I'd realized only now how lonely I was without the rest of Odd Squad around.

"Mama, why cry-cry?" A child-like voice came from my pouch.

I froze for a moment, and then quickly opened my pouch. "_MEATBUUUUUN_!"

I took Meatbun out and hugged it tightly, showering it with kisses, pinches, and cuddles. "I forgot that I still have you."

"Mama, Meatbun-bun feels pain- pain!" My hand had gone on a rampage, pinching Meatbun all over and causing the latter's bun skin to turn red. Just like before, Meatbun – which was afraid of pain – began to cry, with mega-huge teardrops falling from its eyes.

_Erk! Shit. _I hastened to console Meatbun in a kindly manner. It wasn't very effective,however, and Meatbun still ended up crying like two faucet taps turned on at full blast…

_Erk! This is really bad, I'm afraid I'm about to be the first player to find out whether NPC ships can sink or not. _With Meatbun cupped in my hands, I tilted my head to oneside and thought, _Hmm, the situation probably won't be as bad as I thought. At least I_ _know how to swim doggy-style._

hg

"Although our liege lord is away on business, this city still requires managing, so we'll just assign each person their position first. If Prince is dissatisfied with the arrangement when he returns, we can reshuffle the positions." Ugly Wolf looked at all the people below him. _Although we don't know where Prince has run off to, we still have to get_ _everyone settled in first! I only hope that nobody will resent the arrangements. _He heaveda sigh at that thought. _Really, where on earth has Prince vanished to?_

"Let's do that then," Nan Gong Zui said calmly.

"As I am unfamiliar with where all of your expertise lies, I will first assign positions to those whose abilities I am familiar with. Team leaders, please inform me if I miss anyone out." Ugly Wolf began to list out names seriously. "Nan Gong Zui, Broken Sword, Wicked, and I will be in the military department, Yu Lian in the finance department. Gui and Lolidragon will be in the construction department for city planning and military

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infrastructure – such as laying traps around the city – respectively. Lolidragon will also serve in the foreign affairs department, together with Doll."

Nan Gong Zui smiled slightly. "I think I can only take charge of training the troops. I usually leave the task of coming up with military policies and battle strategies to White Bird; she is an expert at that."

Madame White Bird raised her eyebrows and remarked, "A person who can lead troops into battle and a person with the talent to map out strategies and command battles from afar are often not one and the same. I suggest that the military department be further divided into two sections, one for coming up with strategies and another for commanding troops – that is to say, having two different types of positions: generals and military advisors. This will make things clearer for everyone."

Ugly Wolf considered it for a moment, and then replied, "What you say makes sense; we'll do it that way then. Nan Gong Zui, Broken Sword, and Wicked shall each be one of the three Generals, while Madame White Bird and I will act as the Left and Right Advisor respectively. Is there any other question regarding the military department?"

Seeing that no one else had any opinions on the matter, Ugly Wolf went on to the next issue. "As for the finance department, I really have no idea who else has expertise in this area aside from Yu Lian from my team, so may I ask if the other teams have experts in this field?"

"My team recommends Rose," said Broken Sword, and everyone in Rose Team grinned at Rose as he added, "Rose isn't any ordinary expert in this field; she's practically the goddess of financial management!"

"I wish to join the finance department. I'm not an ordinary expert at minding money either," Ice Phoenix said with a confident smile while the members of The Righteous Blades nodded their heads wildly in agreement.

Ugly Wolf nodded his head happily. "That's great, Yu Lian won't have to run finance department all by herself then."

"Next, apart from Gui and Lolidragon who have been assigned to the construction department, I hope that all the thieves can aid Lolidragon in setting up traps. After all, this city is simply too big, and it'll be impossible to rely on Lolidragon alone for this." Ugly Wolf looked at the thieves who were present, and both Playboy Lord and Kong Kong nodded.

"Is there anyone here who is familiar with city planning or overseeing the construction process?" Ugly Wolf asked, frowning.

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Fairsky pouted for a moment and then answered reluctantly, "I am, but I don't want to work with _him_." She glared at Gui fiercely.

"You should not mix your private affairs with work, Fairsky," said Broken Sword sternly.

"I'm sorry," said Fairsky with a stricken look. "Then I shall join the city planning section and do my best to help Gui out."

"All that's left is the foreign affairs department then. Is there anyone who wants to help Doll and Lolidragon?" Ugly Wolf asked.

Lolidragon said with a smile, "I recommend Feng Wu Qing."

Feng Wu Qing retorted, "Hmph. Why should I join the foreign affairs department? Especially if you're in it."

"Aiyah, is it possible that the great hero Feng Wu Qing is unable to distinguish his private affairs from work? Does he intend to waste his skill with language and let mold grow on it instead?" Lolidragon asked caustically. "Or is he afraid that his achievements will lose to mine, and so decided that he might as well not join?"

Feng Wu Qing gnashed his teeth with hatred. "Me? Lose to you? I will most certainly join the foreign affairs department, and then you can see for yourself who is the true expert at diplomacy."

_This round, victory goes to Lolidragon! _thought all the people present.

"Then we shall follow this arrangement for now!" Ugly Wolf finished up the personnel chart with satisfaction. "Next, we need to discuss the matter of The Righteous Blades. Although the city is currently being protected by the game admin, we will need to shoulder that responsibility on our own soon. As everyone knows, there are countless players eyeing our city for their own, so we must swiftly increase the number of players in our forces and decide on the method to manage them."

Ugly Wolf looked directly at Nan Gong Zui, meeting his gaze squarely. "I will say it straight. A city cannot have two lieges, and it seems that the entirety of our military defense depends on The Righteous Blades. Nan Gong3, are you certain that you are willing to let your own group serve Prince, that you are willing to be Prince's subordinate?"

Nan Gong Zui looked at Ugly Wolf, resolution clear in his eyes, and he said clearly, "If Prince were here, I could kneel down and swear my fealty to him in front of everyone from The Righteous Blades.

3** Nan Gong: **This is not a typo. "Nan Gong" is Zui's last name.

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"I am not truly a good leader. I have known from the very beginning that I do not possess the aura of true ruler," Nan Gong Zui explained slowly. "Instead of letting The Righteous Blades remain an ordinary group beneath my leadership, I would much rather find a better leader than me to lead them. And now, I've found one."

"That fellow, Prince… I don't know why, but I always think that the sight of him smiling gives people a very comfortable sort of feeling," Broken Sword said with a grin. "I really want to see him standing on the city walls, laughing with that wild, arrogant laugh of his."

Legolas replied coolly, "Really? I always felt that that fellow, Prince, is something of an idiot…so long as you're a friend, he will trust you unhesitatingly, and will even be willing to throw his life away for you." As Legolas finished speaking, however, there was a slight smile on his face.

"His blade dance is a true feast for both the heart and the eyes," Kong Kong said, shaking his head with an admiring sigh.

Feng Wu Qing said awkwardly, "Although there was some unpleasantness between us earlier, his fighting prowess is really pretty impressive."

"All right, all right, everyone, please don't continue singing Prince's praises anymore. Otherwise, even if he isn't here, I think his backside will still stick up with conceit," Lolidragon hurriedly interrupted their praising. _Sigh!_ Her head ached as she thought, _If_ _Prince doesn't show up with an image that lives up to their expectations when he returns, there will be big trouble._

Ugly Wolf too didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Anyway, let's get the development of Infinite City well under way before Prince comes back."

"No problem!" They were all filled with confidence, ready to prove themselves in front of their proud, mighty, and steadfast liege lord…

hg

I knelt on all fours on the floor, scrubbing, scrubbing, and scrubbing the floor.

_Uwaaaaaaah…._

"How was I supposed to know that the ticket for the ship would be so expensive, actually costing five thousand crystal and three gold coins? I only had five thousand crystal, three gold, and ten copper coins, how was I to know that I wouldn't have enough for dinner?

Actually making me, the only player on this ship, scrub the floor as payment, they're simply too heartless," I muttered to myself as I scrubbed the floor. "Sigh, Meatbun, why is it that you don't have arms? Otherwise you could be helping me with scrubbing the floor."

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Meatbun, which had been sitting obediently on top of my head from since the beginning, could not understand what I was muttering about at all, and so could only keep making the same reply, saying, "Yes, Mama."

I scrubbed, I scrubbed… _Wait a second. No money? The return ticket has to be_ _purchased right? This. Is. BAD!_

My body turned weak as jelly. _Five thousand crystal coins! That's the amount that I've_ _saved up from the time I started playing the game until now. I did give some of my money to the team, but it'll still take a lot of time to earn five thousand crystal coins… What am I to do? Then that basically means that I won't be able to go back for a very long time. Plus, I can't message my friends; they'll probably be worried about me._

"Hey, we've arrived at the Eastern Continent," Sailor-dàgēshouted.

I looked at Sailor-dàgēdazedlyē,isthere."Dàgany other way to obtain a ship ticket other than by buying it?"

"No!"

Dazedly, I was shooed off the ship. Dazedly, I stood in the unfamiliar port. Only the smitten gazes directed my way were familiar. _Looks like this face of mine is also pretty_ _popular here on the Eastern Continent; don't tell me I should sell my body to earn money?_

"Gururu…" growled my stomach. _I'm so hungry. I want to eat,_ I thought. Hugging my stomach, I remembered that I didn't have a single copper coin on me and immediately my entire body went weak as jelly again… _Looks like I'll starve to death before even getting_ _around to selling my body for money!_

Unable to endure the insistent grumbling of my stomach any longer, I made up my mind. "Time to go hunting!" I exclaimed, but…_which way is it to the forest…?_

After a moment's thought, I figured that any place that has trees should be a forest. By then I was so hungry that I had almost become a corpse, so it was with impatience that I rushed towards the forest. As expected, there I found my adorable little wolves…

hg

"Meatbun, I don't have meat buns for you to eat right now, so just try and eat some wolf meat!" I stuffed wolf meat down Meatbun's tiny mouth even as I greedily devoured some myself.

Tears welled up in Meatbun's eyes as it reluctantly chewed the wolf meat. "Tastes bad, Mama."

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"Really? I think it's delicious!" _Anything will taste good when you on the verge of_ _starving to death, _I thought. I swallowed the last piece of the tough wolf meatcontentedly and then lay down on the grass on the lake bank, rubbing my stomach comfortably.

_How on earth am I going to contact my teammates? _I felt troubled._ It's a pity that Lolidragon isn't here to answer my questions; only now do I realize that she's actually very useful… _"So I finally have to rely on myself?" I remarked to the air sadly.

I watched the clouds in the skies as they scudded by, feeling somewhat stoned, somewhat lonely, somewhat lost. Closing my eyes, I muttered, "I don't like the feeling of being separated from everyone else."

My eyes flew open. I jumped to my feet and roared at the sky, "I WANT TO GO BACK!"

"Are we taking the ship now, Mama?" Meatbun asked happily.

"…Yep, we'll be able to take the ship once I've earned the last of that five thousand crystal coins," I replied. _First, I should go and kill mobs for cash. As for selling my_ _body…we'll talk about that again when I really have no other choice!_

_I'll fight stronger mobs, _I thought._ That way I'll earn money faster. _I checked the contentsof my pouch. Seeing that there were still a few health potions inside, my mind was set at ease and I began to make my way deeper into the forest. As my surroundings grew darker and darker, I cautiously rested my left hand on the hilt of my _dao_ so that I could draw it at a moment's notice.

_There's movement in the trees! _I slowed my footsteps to a halt. Looking at the clearing infront of me, I could see that the silhouettes of a number of monsters. A smile crept onto my face and I drew my Black Dao. _Looks like I'll be able to return to my team soon._

hg

Day Two…

I sundered two mobs with one swipe of my blade and then sheathed my _dao_. "This is monster number…?"

"This is the five hundred and fifth one," Meatbun answered dutifully.

I exhaled. "How many gold coins do we have?"

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Meatbun turned its white and chubby body around and, with some effort, burrowed into the pouch. After a while, that white and chubby body wriggled out. "One hundred and thirty five gold coin-coin, Mama."

"Hmm, I've gotten used to the types of mobs they have here on the Eastern Continent, plus I also have enough money to buy health potions and mana potions, so I should be able to venture further in." I looked at the precipitous valley in the distance and wondered, _Should I go there to look for higher level mobs? Higher level mobs have a_ _higher chance of dropping rare items. If I can get several rare items, I might even be able to head back immediately._

"Right! Get ready, Meatbun. After you use _Aroma Release_, we might encounter a boss!" I was in high spirits.

"Meatbun-bun is ready!" Meatbun's tiny face was filled with childlike determination. _It's_ _so adorable!_

After I placed Meatbun on top of my head, I began to make my way towards the unknown valley. As I walked, my surroundings grew darker, and there would be gusts of chilly, sinister wind from time to time… _So cold,_ I thought. My teeth were chattering and I had no choice but to dig out a long-disused cloak from my pouch and put it on. When I felt warmer, I resumed walking toward my destination.

"_Heeelp_…" There suddenly came a cry for help. I froze for a moment and then began sprinting over to rescue that person.

When I arrived on the scene, I saw a girl being chased by around five or six Flaming Skeletons…. _Odd, why does this scene look kind of familiar?_ I stopped to think. _Don't_ _tell me this is yet another necromancer who's been frightened by her own skeletal minions?_

"Hang in there, Jing! I'll save you once I drink some potions." The male voice came from behind the girl.

The girl wailed, "Hurry up, Yun, I'm going to die!"

_Jing? Yun? Why do these two names sound kind of familiar? _I sank back into mythoughts once again…

Just then, the girl seemed to have caught sight of me. "Help, please help us kill these skeletons!" she cried.

_That face belongs to Lü Jing…my best friend in real life— My god, Yun? Don't tell me it's Gu Yun Fei? _I lifted my head to look at the guy behind her._ No mistake about it! It really is Yun, _I thought, rooted to the spot with astonishment._ So Jing and Yun were on_

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_the Eastern Continent, and we met here by sheer coincidence; looks like my "good fortune" is not the run-of-the-mill sort._

"I beg you, could you save me, please?" Jing's eyes were glistening with unshed tears as she rushed towards me like a damsel in distress.

"Oh…" I replied somewhat dazedly. I grabbed Jing and pulled her behind me. Drawing Black Dao, I ducked and with a low slash, hacked both feet off a skeleton. Against the next one, I simply sundered it into two, and then separated the first skeleton's skull from its body with a reverse slash… _Against mobs like Flaming Skeletons, I've long since been_ _drilled by Doll to the point where I'm practically fighting out of reflex, and can make short work of a single skeleton. _Before Yun even arrived at a run to help out, I hadalready dispatched the five Flaming Skeletons with great ease.

"Holy…you're really strong," Yun said, gaping at me.

_Should I say something in reply? Will they figure out that I'm Feng Lan? _I felt a littlehesitant.

"You really are extremely strong, unlike the two of us, who are really weak…" There was a sorrowful look on Jing's face, and she even heaved a sigh.

_You can save that act of fragility – which you use to lead people to their deaths with no intention of paying with your own life – for someone else, Jing! Against me, your best friend Feng Lan, that move is completely ineffective!_

I chuckled to myself inwardly. _About my best friend, Jing, I know her too well. Jing may_ _look like a delicate, pitiful Lin Dai Yu__4__ on the surface, but…in reality, she's actually a peerless Taekwondo expert._

4** Lin Dai Yu: **A famous female character in Chinese literature, Lin Dai Yu (林黛玉prn. lín dài yù) is oneof the main characters in the novel Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong Lou Meng). She is the epitome of the damsel in distress – beautiful, fragile, easily heartbroken, and ultimately, dead.

In the story, Dai Yu and her older cousin, Jia Bao Yu, the young master of the Jia house, fall in love. However, Dai Yu was not well-liked by members of the house as she came from a relatively impoverished branch of the family. She was also easily depressed, or sorrowful – for instance, she collected fallen flower petals and buried them, then asked, "Today, I buried these flowers. When I die, who will bury me?"

Jia Bao Yu and Lin Dai Yu's relationship was complicated by the fact that Bao Yu was being match- made to another cousin, Xue Bao Chai, who was comparatively more lively and sensible than Dai Yu. Bao Chai's family was also wealthy, thus Bao Yu's family favoured his match with her.

At the end of the story, Jia Bao Yu married Xue Bao Chai, but this was not by choice – he was deceived into believing that he was marrying Lin Dai Yu (since the bride's face is covered by a red veil till the night

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Yun too, sighed softly. "It's entirely my fault. I can't even protect you as a friend because my level's too low."

"Don't say that, Yun. I'm already very grateful that you're willing to help me level," Jing said, looking at Yun with "gratitude". "Sigh, I really wish that an expert player would be willing to help us with our training."

"It is unfortunate, but how could it be possible that an expert player would be willing to help total strangers like us?" Yun said with a downcast expression.

Once again Jing looked at me bashfully. "We are most grateful to you for saving our lives, _Expert_-dàgē.I am called Lü Jing, and this is my _friend_ Yun Feiē. May we ask Dàg for his name?"

I could feel a tingling sensation in my scalp as I was being cajoled by Jing. Whenever Jing cajoles somebody, that person will inevitably suffer an unspeakably horrible fate.

After I failed to replyēisfor a while, Jing's eyes misted with tears. "Could it be that Dàg unwilling to tell even his name to Jing?"

_What should I do? _I thought, panicked_. Should I tell them that I'm Prince? But Yun seems to know a lot about Prince; he probably found out that Prince is on the Central Continent before I did. How will I explain to them the reason for my appearance on the Eastern Continent, especially when I don't even know the reason myself?!_

"Jing,ēis siu**n**cewillinDàg to tell us his name, it's clear that he has no interest in small fries like us, ēsoanymore,"let'snot makesaidYunthingsindignantdifficu**l** Dàg

_Then quit__ē__"…calling me "Dàg_ I thought, exasperated.

"But… Sigh!ēwhoIthoughtisapowerfulwe'vefinallyfighter,foundaman Dàgof his words, andēand Irighteouswill…" Theperson,blushandwhichthen hadDàg

mantled Jing's cheeks and the worshipful expression on her face suddenly gave way to incomparable disappointment,ēlooks and her voice sounded choked. "Since… Since Dàg down on Jing so, then…then…"

"Don't be disappointēdidn'tm**e**and, . I'mmustsureb **that** heDàghas

something pressing to attend to, otherwise how could he possibly bear to leave us

of the marriage). In the end, it is revealed that Lin Dai Yu had passed away from illness. Upon learning the truth, Jia Bao Yu decided to become a monk.

For more information, refer to Wikipedia: wiki/Lin_Daiyu.

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behind…especially such an adorable beauty like you!" consoled Yun. Next to him, Jing continued to maintain her pose as a delicate and weak young woman.

_*Sweat* I finally understand what they're trying to achieve, _I thought._ So they're trying to use Jing's beauty to lure this "Expert-dàg__ē__"into training the two of them!_

_As we are best friends, in principle, I should help them in their training. However, I'm in a rather unusual situation right now. Not only am I worried that they'll find out that I'm Feng Lan, I'm also worried that they'll figure out that I'm Prince. How am I supposed to help them in such a situation? _I heaved a helpless sigh.

"Whyē?"doJingyou asked,sigh,Dàgconcern in her voice.

I looked into Jing's eyes, which were filled with concern, and thought, _Although I really_ _can't tell if she's truly concerned about me or just faking it, I still feel a little moved… Oh forget it; I'll just help them out! After all, I've not shown them any concern ever since we started playing _Second Life_, and they've never complained either. If I continue to refuse to help them, I'm afraid I'll really have a guilty conscience._

Having made up my mind, I coughed a couple of times. Feigning the attitude of an Expert-dàgē,I said, "Ask not my name, meddle not in my business; follow me as you will!"

Listening intently, I could hear Yun muttering to himself, saying, "Wah… He really is a pro!"

As I walked, I suddenly remembered, _How am I supposed to lead them when I still don't_ _know their classes and levels?_

"Your levels? Classes?" I threw the two questions at the two people who were following me closely.

Yun introducedē,Iamhimscalledlf enthusiasticalYunFei.I'm**l**y,evel"Dàgforty

-five,

and I'm a human Barrier Master."5

"Xiăomèi's 6 name is Lü Jing. I'm level thirty, and I'm a human Exorcist," Jing replied shyly.7

5 **Barrier Master: **Possibly a reference to the manga_Kekkaishi_. Note that_kekkaishi_means "barriermaster".

6 **Xi****ă****omèi: **This means "little sister". Though this is usually used to refer to females younger than oneself,it can be used to refer to oneself in a cutesy or humble sort of way.

7 **An exorcist: **Technically, the word should be translated as "a Taoist", but only because exorcisms of thissort are usually carried out by Taoists in fiction. Modern Taoists are not always exorcists, however, so in this case the specific (exorcist) is more accurate.

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_Exorcist? Barrier Master? What sort of classes are those? Why have I never heard of them before? _My footsteps slowed to a halt, and scratching my face, I had no choice butto admit my ignorance and ask, "Please explain your classes to me."

Yun grinned at meēprobablyashereplied,won't"Barrier Masters are pretty rare, so Dàg

be familiar with the class! As the name suggests, a Barrier Master's main job is to create barriers. The barriers have a multitude of uses; for instance, the most basic barrier is the _Flat Barrier_, which can block an attack from beyond. Some barriers can even reflectattacks, such as the _Mirror Shot_ ability. Alternatively, I can create a three-dimensional barrier, inflicting all kinds of status conditions on players or mobs inside the barrier. For instance, I can cast _Weakness Barrier_, which will cause their attacks to deal less damage, or I can use _Slow Barrier_ to cause mobs to move slower."

I nodded; his class is kind of like Gui's in the sense that they're both support classes. "Offensive abilities?"

"Barrier Masters don't have any offensive abilities," said Yun, still grinning at me.

_No offensive abilities? _I felt stunned for a long while._ No wonder Yun leveled up so slowly; you can't train alone if you don't have offensive abilities! That's odd, he can't train by himself? Then Yun must have a team! But I've never heard him mention it before… _I frowned. "Don't you need to return to your team?"

"I don't have a team." Yun laughed, embarrassed, and explained, "Most players don't really understand the Barrier Master class. And since they hear that my ability revolves around creating protective barriers, they would rather find themselves a mage. In addition, my level isn't high, so there are limits to the effectiveness of my barriers, which is why I still haven't found a team till now."

_No wonder Yun, who is such a training freak, is still only at level forty-five, _I realized._ I really can't begin to guess how much time it took him to train all the way to level forty-five. _A heavy feeling grew in my chest as soon as I thought of how I, his best friend,never even thought of helping him. _It's time that I do my best to help Yun out,_ I thought.

"Dàgēshould be more familiar with the Exorcist class," Jing said with a smile. "Exorcists mainly use _Fu__8_ to cast different kinds of spells."

8** Fu: **As Prince notes in the next line, exorcists use bells to exorcise in most Chinese dramas. However,_fu_s,which are usually special paper with characters written on them with an ink brush, are used usually to render a zombie immobile. This is how is the scene in Chinese period drama horror movies usually unfolds…

Zombie hops (in Chinese movies, they don't shamble, they hop) into the scene. Exorcist chants or makes some weird motion and the _fu_ paper flies from his hand and sticks itself to the zombie's forehead.

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_Exorcist? I thought an exorcist would be using a bell to command zombies… From Jing's explanation, it doesn't seem too different from a mage… _I continued walking with myhead full of questions. However, I knew enough now that I understood that Jing could cast spells and that Yun's was a support-type class, so I stopped asking them questions, and began to think hard instead. _What would be the best type of mob for us to train on?_ _This is bad, I'm not that familiar with the mobs here on the Eastern Continent. Which type of mob exactly should we fight?_

All of sudden, Yun'sē, smile became particularly fawning. "Dàg mightăodì Xi 9 be so

bold as to suggest a good place to train?"

I stopped in my tracks. Yun's suggestion had just solved my dilemma. "Say it."

"We can train on Lesser Demons. They yield high experience and have high drop rates for treasures. Plus, there are a number of quests involving them. They're great for leveling, getting gear, and earning money!" Yun said excitedly, and then embarrassment crept acrossēprobhisf**a**cebly. "Buthasnoa proneedplayerformoneylikeDàg."

_It might be true that I'm not lacking money, but I'm lacking a ship ticket that costs five thousand crystal coins._

"I really wonder when we will finally have enough money. Why is the ship ticket to the Central Continent so expensive?!" Jing said with a weary sigh.

I was astonished. _How does Jing know that I need money for the ship ticket?_

Yun and Jingē,actuallybothlookedwe'reembarrassedtryingtosave."Dàgupenough

money to take the ship to the Central Continent. We intend to look for our friends there," explained Yun.

_Ah, so I misunderstood them. Looks like Yun and Jing really plan on going to visit Professor Min Gui Wen and Prince…to visit me?_

"There's no need to go; I'm already here for both of you to see," I couldn't resist muttering to myself.

"What?" Jing, who had sharp hearing, asked, puzzled.

I hurriedly cleared my throat. "Nothing."

Zombie stops moving (and sometimes combusts). Exorcist rings the bell. The spirit leaves. If the person possessed is still alive, he/she will wake up.

9** Xi****ă****odì: **This means "little brother". Though this is usually used to refer to males younger than oneself, itcan be used to refer to oneself in a cutesy or humble sort of way.

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"Oh?" Jing shot me a dubious look.

"Let's go and kill some Lesser Demons then!" I said, hastily changing the topic. "Let's get the quests first."

"Okay,ē,"YunDàgreplied me cheerfully, but…as Yun's best friend, even with the hood

of my cloak obstructing my gaze, I can still tell that there's something wrong with that overly-brilliant smile on his face. _I have a bad feeling about this… I'm not going to die by_ _my best friends' hands, am I?_

hg

I stood quietly outside the White Tiger City's Adventurers' Guild, waiting for the two people who had brought me to this city to be done with obtaining their

quests. Fortunately, there was a huge map of the Eastern Continent hanging outside the Adventurers' Guild, so I could finally see for myself the geography of the continent currently under my feet. _I think it makes no difference if I see the map or not, though,_ I thought. _After all, I can lose my way all the way to Star City when I'm really trying to go_ _to Moon City, so how can I possibly hope that a map alone would allow me to go sightseeing on the Eastern Continent freely?_

I raised my head and took a casual look at the map. _The Eastern Continent, as the name_ _implies, is a continent to the east of the Central Continent. There are four admin-controlled cities here, and they are located in the four cardinal directions: to the east, Green Dragon; west, White Tiger; south, Red Phoenix; north, Black Tortoise. The continent really has an Eastern feel to it. It's no wonder even the classes are extremely Eastern as well; even the food is Chinese!_

Beneath the hood of my cloak, I was busily munching the _xiaolongtangbao__10_ that I'd just bought. _I'll buy some_ wontons _in chili oil__11_ _later,_ I decided.

10**_ Xiaolongtangbao_****:**_Xiaolongbao_s are sometimes known also as soup dumplings. They have translucentflour skins as opposed to fluffy skins like meat buns or _mantou_s, and they are usually small enough to fit into a Chinese soup spoon. The filling is usually a mix of minced pork, chopped spring onions, garlic, seasoned with various condiments, and then mixed with soup stock, after which it is frozen and takes on a gelatinous form. When steamed, the fillings melts and the _xiaolongbao_ will become filled with soup. Fancier variants may even include crab meat and roe. For more information on the normal _xiaolongbao_, please refer to this Wikipedia article: wiki/Xiaolongbao.

What Prince is eating here is a variant of the soup dumpling, called the _Xiaolongtangbao_. It is a bit different from the usual _xiaolongbao_ in that there is greater emphasis on the quality of the soup. (That's why the name has an extra "_tang_" – "tàng" is "soup" in Chinese!) We've dug around the internet looking for a couple of fairly simple recipes for the foodies out there and found two decent ones.

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This one has an English translation next to the Chinese recipe on the site. Ray has also kindly translated another version into English for the foodies (with much agony, it seems). The translated recipe is here below, but you should still take a look at the site if you're interested in pictures of the _xiaolongtangbao_. The recipe is as follows:

When making the Xiao Long Tang Bao, there are four important steps.

One of the Xiao Long Tang Bao's biggest specialties is that it is delicious with lots of soup, and the method of the making the pork skin is the key to having fillings with plenty of soup.

For those of you need a measurement converter, here's one ( from/kg/to/lb).

Ingredients: 500g of raw pig's skin, 500g of pork, 20g (or a large bunch) of spring onions/scallions (10g used for pig's skin, 10g for onion and ginger juice), 35g of ginger (15g for pig's skin, 20g for juice), 15ml of rice wine, 250g of flour, salt, MSG, pepper, sugar, soy sauce, lard, sesame oil

The first step: Making the frozen pork skin

Add cold water to the pig's skin in a pot and put over a high heat for 2 minutes. Remove the fatty meat on the skin and pluck away the fur. Put 1500ml of water in a sufficiently deep pot, and put 500g of raw pig's skin, 10g of spring onion/scallions, 15g of ginger, 15ml of rice wine, and add salt, MSG and pepper in suitable amounts. Cook over low heat for 90 minutes, until the meat is very, very soft and easily pulled off the skin. Remove and chop the pig's skin.Put it back into the pot to cook for a short while.Leave the pork's skin in a large, broad bowl to cool off and solidify. You may put it into the fridge (but not the freezer) after it has cooled off sufficiently. (Eri: To those who don't know their way around the kitchen, refrain from putting a hot or even rather warm object in you fridge until it's cooled to about room temperature.) Remove the pork skin from the bowl once it has cooled off and solidified. (Eri: You should be able to remove it by upending the bowl.)

The second step: Making the fillings.

Shred the frozen meat using a shredder. (See this picture.) Put into a large bowl.Add 500g of pork, 7g of salt, 5g of MSG, 15g of sugar, 15ml of soy sauce and mix.Add in 200ml of onion and ginger juice (see third step) and mix again. Mix it in the same direction forcefully, and finally add in the sesame oil.Add in the frozen pig's skin. Note that the volume of the fillings made in this step and the volume of the frozen pig's skin should be about the same. (Eri: Hence, if you've reduced the amount of pig's skin or filling, then you must reduce the amount for the other as well.) Finally, add lard and mix everything.

The third step: Making the onion and ginger juice

Cut 10g of spring onions, and 20g of ginger into pieces. Add 200ml of water and put everything into the blender, or use your hands to squeeze. (Eri: A mortar and pestle works too, but only if you have the patience to work in batches. Using your hands to squeeze ginger is even harder.)

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"Dàgē,we've obtained the quests," Yun's bright voice rang out.

_Ehhh! I won't be able to buy my _wontons_ in chili oil, damn it!_

"ToēforthankhelpingēallowDàgus,YunwillFeiDàgand Lü Jing to treat him to a

meal?" Yun asked, his face shining with sincerity. As for me, of course I would be happy to be treated… _Ah, my_ wontons _in chili oil, I'm coming!_

Filter off the pulp and you will be left with the onion and ginger juice.

For the outer skin that is thin, and does not burst when full of fillings, it is made by adding cold water to all-purpose flour and kneading it.

The last step: Making the dough

Add 250g of flour to 120ml of cold water to form a lump. Leave it for 10 minutes. Knead it continually for a while, and then cut it into small portions each weighing about 10g. Roll it into a round disc such that it's thick in the centre and thin at the sides. Put fillings inside and wrap it.Fold it into shape. (Usually, 14 folds is the minimum. 20 folds is ideal.) Leave it for 10 minutes. (See picture for how to fold the flour skin.)Put cold water in the steamer and steam them for 5-6 minutes. (Eri: The author of this recipe used 9 minutes.)Take it out and serve.

Reminder: The _xialongtangbao_ tastes best with ginger strips and dark vinegar.

11** Wontons in chili oil: **As the name suggests, this is basically wontons in chilli oil (NOT Tabasco).Because this dish is very easy to make, we shall provide you with a translation of the recipe. Here is a video ( . ?movieid=374) demonstrating how to prepare the dish to boot.

Ingredients: Wontons, oyster sauce, soy sauce, refined white sugar, white or dark vinegar, white pepper, garlic, spring onions/chives, chili oil

Set water to boil in a pan. Once it boils, add your wontons (premade or whatever) into the water. It should be ready in about 1-1.5 minutes. (Eri: To those who have never dealt with wontons, do not overcook them. If you see that there are air pockets bubbling up beneath the dough wrap near where the fillings are, it's time to rescue your wonton from the hot water. Failure to save them will result in soggy wontons that will fall apart easily.) Mix 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of refined white sugar (less if you don't like it sweet) and 1 teaspoon of white/dark vinegar. Add a little white pepper. Mix the wonton with the sauce, sprinkle finely chopped garlic and spring onions/chives on it, and then pour the desired amount of chili oil over it.

The crux of the dish is the chilli oil. You can get this in most Asian supermarkets. The dish originated from the Sichuan province of China, which is not surprising because the chili oil is a staple of Sichuan dishes. Warning: To those who have never tried this kind of chili oil before, it's way hotter than Tabasco or normal chili.

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hg

Along the way…

"Dàgē,isit alright with you if we dine at Oriental House?"

12

"Dàgē,isit really impossible for you to tell

us your name? What if we get separated

along the way?"

"Dàgē,your cloak is really stylish. I'm guessing that you must have a really fit body as well?ăodìCan'thaveyoujustletoneXi glimpse?"

"Dàgē,mayăodì beXi so bold as to ask you what your race i s? Since you are such a strong warrior, I think you must be from the human race, right? Or are you a beastman? But you're not that powerfully-built, so I don't think you are one."

"We've almostēeatenreachedatOrientalOrientalHouseHousb**e**for;has Dàg e? If you

haven't,ē's thenbase IcampguessprobablyDàg isn't White Tiger City huh?"

From the beginning till the end of our walk, I hadn't so much as uttered a word.

"We've reachedē,"said Jing,OrientalsmilingHouse,happilyDàg as she pointed to a

red, traditional building. "The food and wine at this restaurant are all pretty good, especially the wine. Their _Clear Tranquility_ wine in particular is famous in White Tiger City!ē,whyDàgdon't you order a few main courses to fill up your stomach first, an d then order some light dishes to go with the _Clear Tranquility_."

"Right, that's right,ēăodìXi onemustseldomhaveacomes across such a good Dàg goodēdrinktoday,"withsaidDàgYun, laughing heartily.

_Drink? What should I do if I wake up and find myself on the Western Continent the next time?_

As soon as I received the menu, I hastily ordered my _wontons_ in chili oil_,_ in addition to a lot of other delicious-sounding food. Finally, I put down the menu reluctantly and waited for my mouthwatering dishes to be served.

"That's all, and bring us two bottles of _Clear Tranquility,_" Yun told the waiter.

I watched, with eyes full of anticipation, as the dishes were served one by one. _Although I_ _still haven't seen my adorable _wontons_ in chili oil yet, it's not a bad idea to tuck into the_

12** Oriental House: **This is written as Zhong Hua Lou (中ōngprnhuá.zhlóu) in Chinese. Many

restaurants and inns in China in the past (and even now) have the " " character in them, which basically means a building with more than one storey.

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_other dishes first, _I thought. My hand rose, the chopsticks plunged, and a fragrant bite offood was delivered into my salivating mouth. _It's a good thing I'm shielded by my cloak,_ _otherwise my "Expert-Dàg__ē__"image would be comple tely ruined_.

Yun picked up my wine cup and began to pour just about the entire huge bottle of _Clear_ _Tranquility _intoēmy,shallcupwe."Dàghave a drink first?"

I couldn't be bothered to answer him. _With such delicious food before me, who cares_ _about best friends? _I stretched my claws towards the dish of silver thread rolls13oncemore…

From the top of my head came the sound of Meatbun's child-like voice. "Mama, Meatbun-bun wants to eat-eat too."

Baffled, Jing and Yun peered left and right, searching for the source of the voice. I froze; I'd nearly forgotten about Meatbun's existence entirely. _Looks like Meatbun fell asleep_ _on top of my head, that's why it was so quiet all this while! _I snatched a silver thread roll_, _snatched Meatbun from my head and placed it on my lap, and then stuffed the entire roll

– which was larger than Meatbun – into Meatbun's mouth. Finally, I stuffed Meatbun back into the pouch. _It's finally quiet,_ I thought, and heaved a relieved sigh.

_Of course, the entire operation was carried out beneath the cover of my cloak. Cloak, oh cloak, you really are an indispensable tool for secretly feeding pets and maintaining one's image!_

"That's odd, I thought I heard a child's voice just now?" Jing remarked, frowning.

I lowered my head and engrossed myself with eating upon hearing that.

Seeing me tuck in, Jing and Yun stopped bothering me and picked up their chopsticks to begin eating as well.

"Isn't this Xiao Jing?" A somewhat irritating voice came floating to my ear. _Which_ _person is it who has no eyes to see that he's bothering me in the middle of my meal? _Inarrowed my eyes and raised my head to look…

_My god, this is such a classic, such a classic fop! _He was a little similar to Fan, with allthat shining, flashy golden armor, but he had none of Fan's elegance or divine harshness. What made his appearance still more ridiculous was that jewel-encrusted helmet on his head and that red cloak embroidered with dragons he was wearing. There was only one word to describe him, and that was…vulgar!

13** Silver thread rolls: **It's like a bun, but what you do is cut the dough into long strips, kind of likenoodles, and then wrap them into a bun shape before baking. Go /fp1f83 to see what it looks like.

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_It's my first time seeing someone so vulgar that heaven and earth would be shocked and the demons themselves would weep. I doubt that I'd have such a comical effect even if I were to wear gold bars for clothes! It's a pity because this person's looks can still be considered quite handsome, but thanks to that outfit, he just feels intolerably vulgar, sigh!_

I lowered my head and continued to dig in. _If I keep looking at him, I'm afraid my_ _eyesight and taste will both be damaged beyond repair._

There was a sour expression on Jing's face as she looked at the vulgar dandy. Yun too, was not like his usual self as he continued to eat silently with a frosty look on his face.

"Xiao Jing, why didn't you say a word if you were eating here at Oriental House? I trust those bastard waiters didn't ask you, the lady boss,14 to pay right? If they did, I'll have to reprimand them," said the fop, and the crowd behind him laughed half-heartedly.

_Lady boss? Since when did Jing open this restaurant? Why haven't I heard her mention this? _I wondered as I munched on a chicken's foot.15

"Huang Wei, don't you dare go too far with your words! Who do you think you're calling 'lady boss'?" Jing slammed the table and stood up sharply, enraged.

_Huang Wei?__16__ Not a bad name, but on this person, it sounds… _I continued munching onmy _Taro Pie_.17

"Of course it's you, Xiao Jing. This Oriental House is mine, and you are my beloved wife, so of course you're the lady boss!" Huang Wei leered at Jing's beautiful face.

Yun finally had enough. "Jing isn't your wife, so quit spouting your nonsense. It's obvious that you're just a huge pervert who keeps pestering Jing." His voice clearly showed that he was trying to control his rage as he spoke.

Huang Wei's cheeky smile was gone in a flash, replaced by a look of contempt, although to me, it looked more like the expression of a person who had just stepped in dog poo.

14**Lady boss: **Usually the word here means "lady boss", but an alternative way to interpret it is "boss'swife".

15**Chicken's foot: **Most of you have never eaten chicken's feet, so we need yet another culinaryexplanation here. Chicken's feet are used in Chinese cooking quite frequently. They make really good soup stock, for one (extraordinary as it may seem to some of you), and they can also be used to make light dishes, such as dimsum. how_2221703_ an example of a dimsum recipe involving chicken's feet, while . is a picture of a completed dish (not of the recipe, though).

16 **Huang Wei: **Huang Wei's name is written as "皇威" (prnēi).. "Huang"huángw means royal, or an

emperor, while "Wei" means mighty, impressive, even aggressive.

17** Taro pie: **As the name suggests, it's made of taro. It doesn't look like a Western sort of pie though, andthough I couldn't find a more "rugged" version, the pies don't always look as pretty as the one we have food/2004-09/01/xinsrc_ . The ones I see usually look like miniature bricks.

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"So, a piece of garbage like you still dares to stick to Jing? I told you before that I'll kill you every time I see you. Did you not understand or do you enjoy being killed?"

_Eh? The dish that the waiter is carrying to us now, isn't that my favorite _wontons_ in chili oil? _I swallowed my saliva and stared fiercely at that delicious-smelling, enchantingly reddish of _wontons_ in chili oil_,_ my heart aching. _As for whatever's going on nearby? I have_ _no idea, my stomach's doing the thinking now._

"So what? Even if you plan to kill me, Jing will still stay by my side, and not yours!" Yun smiled at him fearlessly.

The look on Huang Wei's face suddenly changed, and he roared, enraged, "Damn you, don't get too ahead of yourself! Just you wait; I will thrash you just like this dish." With his right hand, Huang Wei snatched the dish from the waiter, smashing it on the ground and then stomping on the dish and its contents with his foot.

I watched as the _wontons_ in chili oil_,_ which had almost been delivered to me, was suddenly snatched by a hand from the waiter before my very eyes, after which the vividly crimson _wontons_ slid from mid air and landed onto the ground amid the shards of the broken plate. On top of that, a damnable foot stepped onto it and even grinded itself into the mess; and so my _wontons_ lay there, oozing to death, their goodness and beauty forever lost… As the shock was simply too overwhelming, I found myself sitting dazedly at the scene, thinking, _My_ wontons _in chili oil_…_are gone?_

"Hmph, don'tē,"thinksaid thatYun,I'mlookingeasy toat bully,me I have a Dàg confidently.

"Aē? DàgHahaha, so what? " Huang Wei looked scornfully at me. He beckoned with his hand and ăimmediatelyodìshisbackthe rubbedfiveor theirsixXipalms and clenched

their fists, clearlyăodìs,itc**h** 't."I wedo have a lot of Xi see how many blows canētakeyourăodìs?"fromDàgmy Xi

Jing and Yun were both extremely pale, and Jing said coldly, "I forbid you to harm the two of them, Huang Wei."

"Fine, then become my wife obediently, and then, hehe…" Huang Wei began to laugh brazenly.

Suddenly, I jumped, landing on the table lightly on both feet, and then leaped toward Huang Wei, drawing my Black Dao in midair. Light danced off my blade, and I landed behind Huang Wei.

"Shameless!" I said coldly.

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_As you must know, every grain on a dish is the result of hard labor. It isn't a simple thing to make a dish of _wontons_ in chili oil_,_ so how can he waste food like this? Especially when that food is mine! Even if the heavens do not punish a person like him, I will!_

All the people present were taken aback, wondering, _What on earth just happened?_ Just then, Huang Wei's neck suddenly slid to the side. First, a trickle of blood began to seep down his neck, then – as the crowd watched, wide-eyed – an entire fountain of blood began to spurt into to air, and Huang Wei's entire head was propelled by the flow of blood away from his body. It rolled a few times on the floor, and then he turned into a pillar of white light and left, leaving behind only a puddle of fresh blood on the floor.

"How is it possible?" Yun murmured. "Huang Wei was wearing a helmet and full body armor, how can it be so easy to separate his head from his body?"

I looked with a heavy heart at the corpses of the _wontons_ on the floor, feeling extremely pissed off. _After so much anticipation, only for my hopes to be dashed in the end, it really_ _MAKES. ME. PISSED. OFF! _I leveled myăodìsBlack Dao at the Huang Wei's five Xi

and, in an extremely cold and harsh tone that I rarely use, I said, "Ten seconds. Be gone, or die!"

TheăodìsXifroze. They looked at me, clearly reluctant to leave but al so afraid to come

forward. None of them dared to move.

"Hmph!" I snorted coldly. Lightly pushing off against the ground with both feet, I skimmed across theăodì,floorand swiftlythen until I stood in front of the nearest Xi

executed my famous technique: _Nine-headed Dragon Slash!_ Laced with flames, the ten consecutive slashes scored beautiful lines of crimson in the air at lightning speed. As the final blow, I brought my weapon down heavily onto the enemy, cleaving him in two.

Then I slowly rose to my feet and sheathed my blade before turning back to my seat. As I turned,ăodìthatturnedunluckyinto Xiapillar of white light and left.

From the beginning until the end of that display, no one had moved. It was only after I returned to my seat that the rest of ăodìstheXifnally began to flee for their lives. I

picked up my chopsticks with satisfaction and went back to attacking my food.

After a long while, Jing and Yun finally recovered their senses. They returned to their seats nervously, but did not continue with their meal and only stared at me, wide-eyed.

After another long while,ē I put down my chopsticks and said sternly, "Yun, Jing, Dàg has something to ask of the two of you."

Yun gulped, whileē?"Jing'st expression was one of alarm. "What is it, Dàg hey said in unison.

"Can I order another serving of _wontons_ in chili oil?"

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"…"

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**Chapter 5: Demon King Kenshin **

_Real life…_

I took off the game helmet, feeling kind of drained. _To think that I actually became Jing_ _and__ē__…Yun's Dàg If they ever find out the truth, I will die a horrible death._

I got up and began to prepare breakfast, feeling deeply troubled. It had been six, nearly seven days and I still had no way of contacting any of my Odd Squad teammates. _Sigh!_ _Truth be told, there's actually many ways to solve the problem. Telling my brother would be the easiest way and yet, ironically enough, I just can't tell him…_

_Briiing… Briiing…_

_Who could be calling at such an early hour? _I answered the phone, puzzled. "Hello?"

"Xiao Lan? Are you alright?!" Zhuo-gēge's anxious voice sounded over the receiver.

"I'm fine. This is great, I can finally contact someone!" I was overjoyed. I had clean forgotten that I could contact Zhuo-gēge.

"Xiao Lan, where on earth have you run off to?" It was clear from his tone that Zhuo-gēge was relieved to hear from me.

"I… I'm on the Eastern Continent…" My voice grew tinier with each word.

"The Eastern Continent?" Zhuo-gēge was stunned. "What are you doing over there?"

"I have no idea either. I woke up and found myself there after drinking with Nan Gong Zui!" I said woefully. "Also, we can't send PMs to players on different continents, so I couldn't contact you guys at all."

_Is it just me or does Zhuo-g__ē__ge sound as though he is trying to suppress his anger? _"Youwent drinking with Nan Gong Zui and drank until you lost consciousness? You're a girl, how could you not know how to protect yourself?!"

"Ehhh… But I'm a guy in-game!" I scratched my face. _Nan Gong Zui and Kong Kong_ _wouldn't do anything to me, a guy, right? Besides, is it possible to be XXed in a game? Hmmm… That's a question worth mentioning to Lolidragon._

"It still isn't right. You are a girl after all," Zhuo-gēge insisted stubbornly.

"Oh… Well, I won't do it again. I don't like to drink anyway!" _That's how it is, right? I_ _remember that the wine was unpleasant, but how did I get so drunk? How odd!_

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Zhuo-gēge's tone relaxed. "It's almost time for you to come back to the Central

Continent. You should stop playing on the Eastern Continent. Everyone's waiting for you in Infinite City, especially Nan Gong Zui – he's brought along an entire adventurers' group. They're looking forward to meeting you."

"But I can't go back; I don't have enough money for the ship fare," I told Zhuo-gēge pitifully.

"How much do you need?"

"Five thousand crystal coins."

"…I'll ask Lolidragon tonight when I log on to see if we can find a way to transfer money to you," Zhuo-gēge said, sounding troubled. "Though, Infinite City is a bit strapped for cash. I wonder if Yu Lian would be willing to spare the money?"

"Oh… In that case, I'll just earn it by myself." I felt a bit embarrassed. _I haven't done_ _anything as the liege lord yet and already I'm being a hindrance._

"I'll talk to them about it. For now, you should take on some high-level quests. With your skill, you should be able to complete several B-level quests18 on your own. The rewards for B-level quests range from several hundred to several thousand gold coins," Zhuo-

gēge suggested, and then added worriedly, "But they may be quite d ifficult, so make sure that they're not too dangerous before you take them on!"

"Alright, I got it."

"Sis, where's my breakfast?" Yang Ming's discontented voice sounded from behind me.

Startled, I quickly said, "Zhuo-gēge, we'll stop here for now. Bye bye! "

As soon as I hung up, I turned to faced Yang Ming. After making sure that his face only held dissatisfaction and not a hint of suspicion, I relaxed.

"I'll make breakfast now."

hg

_Online…_

18** B-level quest**: The Adventurers' Guild offers all sorts of quests for players to complete. The rewardsdiffer from quest to quest, depending on the level of difficulty. From high to low, the difficulty levels for quests are: X, S, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

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With a somber expression, Wicked entered Odd Squad's current temporary meeting place

— the prison. Just as he had expected, the members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor were lazing on the ground, sleeping, or stuffing their faces with food… Not one of them looked even the slightest bit like a highest-ranking commander.

In a heavy voice, Wicked announced, "I have important news for Odd Squad."

Ugly Wolf reluctantly let go of Yu Lian, who had been in his arms, gave Gui – who was buried under sheaves of designs – a kick, fished Doll out of her snacks and shook Lolidragon – who was drooling in her sleep – awake. "What important news?"

"I know where Prince is," Wicked replied. The look he shot Gui held a hint of a challenge, and he watched with satisfaction as Gui paled.

"Where did that fellow run off to?" Lolidragon grumbled. "We're working our asses off here, while he, the liege lord, is happily fooling around out there."

"He's on the Eastern Continent," Wicked said calmly.

All eyes widened among the members of Odd Squad, while Dark Emperor's members – who had been making a din to one side – fell silent. Within a moment, the prison was so quiet that even the crackling of Fire Phoenix's flames could be heard clearly.

Finally, Gui asked, his tone a mix of concern and anxiety, "Why is he on the Eastern Continent? Why doesn't he come back?"

"He doesn't know how he got there either, possibly because he was drunk. As for why he hasn't come back, it's because…"

"I believe I know the reason," Lolidragon said exasperatedly. "The ship ticket to the Eastern Continent costs five thousand crystal coins, and the return ticket costs another five thousand crystal coins. Prince probably only had enough money on him for a ticket to the Eastern Continent, if I recall correctly."

"What? Five thousand crystal coins?" Yu Lian's smile was so frosty that the members of both teams could not help but observe a moment of silence for him.

Wicked too averted his gaze from Yu Lian's terrifying smile and looked at Lolidragon instead. "Is there a way to send Prince money, Lolidragon?"

Lolidragon broke out in a cold sweat and quickly looked away from Yu Lian's smile, which had grown frostier than ever, replying stiffly, "It is usually possible for a player to transfer money to another player, but if a player is on another continent, then it's impossible to send them a private message, much less transfer funds."

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"What? Then what about Prince?" Gui turned pale as a ghost as he imagined Prince wandering about on a faraway continent, without a cent to his name, suffering from the cold and hunger, dressed in rags, and finally, ending up as a corpse on some street…

hg

_White Tiger City, Eastern Continent_…

Prince: "Mmm, _wontons_ in chili oil… Delicious!" I said, munching on the breakfast which Yun and Jing were respectfully treating me to.

hg

"We'll just have to ask Prince to earn the money for the ticket on his own," Lolidragon said with a shrug, and then she crawled back to her cage to sleep without a second thought.

"Hmm…" Ugly Wolf scratched the fur on his head. "Since that fellow's absence doesn't affect Infinite City much right now, plus the Righteous Blades have long since settled into our city and can't just quit anymore, it shouldn't make much of a difference if Prince doesn't return right away."

Yu Lian smiled. "Not a penny for him!"

"Doll misses Prince-gēge a lot…" D oll said, and then furrowed her brow when she caught sight of her snacks out of the corner of her eye. "…But Prince-gēge would snatch Doll's snacks to eat, so forget it." Doll crawled back into her pile of snacks and began to eat.

"Wait, Prince is all alone over there, with no friends and not a cent to his name! We have to go and save him!" Gui shouted at his irresponsible teammates, his face white as a sheet.

"YOU are not going anywhere, so just get back to drawing designs obediently," everyone retorted in unison.

Wicked looked at them helplessly, thinking, _Looks like Xiao Lan won't be returning for_ _the time being… _But that wasn't a bad thing at all, he realized. Gui wouldn't be able tosee Prince.

On the other hand, he – Wicked – would still be able to talk to Xiao Lan over the phone.

_Excellent! _thought Wicked, his lips quirking into a smile.

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hg

My arms were folded across my chest as I studied the monster I would have to fight soon

— a lesser demon.

The lesser demon resembled the "_oni_" from Japanese folklore, with its hideous face, sharp teeth bared in a snarl, short horns on its head, and a somewhat short katana19 in its hands. They lived in chilly, deep, and eerie caverns. If Jing and Yun hadn't led the way, I probably wouldn't have been able to navigate my way through this maze-like cave. _I'd_ _better be careful not to be separated from them, or I'll suffer a fate more horrific than accidentally ending up on the Eastern Continent._

After not moving for several "long" minutes, Yun couldn't keep silent for any longer and asked,ēwhen"Dàgare we going to begin fighting? If we don't hurry and get the demon

horns, we won't be able to finish the quest!"

I felt a tad frustrated. _I don't know much about the monster, and the people by my side_ _aren't my usual teammates from Odd Squad. We don't even have a priest, so if I rush in carelessly, I might just join the ranks of the demons myself… _Nonetheless, I had to getstarted. I could only pray silently that this type of mob wasn't too strong. "Yun, Jing, stand further back."

After I gave the order to Jing and Yun… I mean, instructed them on what to do, I looked around carefully and found a lone lesser demon. Moving lightly on my feet, I stealthily crept up behind it, and then savagely stabbed through its back at its heart. Unfortunately, the lesser demon's agility was unexpectedly high and it turned around, causing my blade to only pierce its shoulder. A green, sticky fluid – probably its blood – spurted out. Enraged, the injured demon brandished its short katana, and the sharp point of the blade came stabbing toward me. I leaned backward and the katana whistled past my waist, but an idea darted through my head, and I turned the motion into a backward somersault, kicking the demon and sending it sprawling backward. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I sprang toward the demon, slashing my weapon at it and severing its entire right arm.

The demon howled. Though it had lost its right arm and its weapon, it still tried to bite me. I wrapped my left hand about its throat tightly and stabbed Black Dao right through its heart with my right hand. Just as I was about to heave a sigh of relief, however, the demon actually bit my left hand. I winced with pain, thinking, _Don't tell me the lesser_ _demon's weakness isn't its heart?_

"Dàgē,cut off its head, you have to cut off its head!" Yun roared frantically.

19** A somewhat short katana**: Our translators suggested that this might be a_kodachi_, but Yu Wo didn'tspecify, so we're stuck with "katana".

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_So that's how it is_. In the instant I understood, the demon no longer had a head on itsneck. I quickly let go of the corpse, which was spurting blood everywhere, so as to avoid turning into a tank of green oil.

"Dàgēistrulyē'sa heroicmanofdisplayăodì .Dàghasdeeply touched Xi

backwardē's somersaultistrulypeerless;ofDàgelegant, yet unyielding as steel. Sigh! Xiăodì can only bă**o**dìw ē**t**rot**o**yourublecutoffDàggreatness… However, could Xi

the demon'săodìmighthorns,besoablethattoXicomplete the quest?"

_What the heck? If you want me to slice off the horns just say so! Spouting so much rubbish, you're making my skin break out in goosebumps. _Still, the horn needed to be cutoff, so my blade rose and fell, and I handed the small horns to Yun.

Having a rough idea of how strong the lesser demon was, I realized that I could probably handle them quite easily and my anxiety dissipated. I began to come up with a plan to help Yun and Jing level up and, after some thinking, I led Jing and Yun to a crevice in the cave wall and asked them to stand inside. "I'll be in charge of luring the demons here. After that, Jing, I won't let the demons harm you, so don't worry and just cast your spells. Yun, set up a _Slow Barrier_."

I gazed into the depths of the cave, closed my eyes, and breathed in deeply. Then I opened my eyes and smiled slightly. _Lesser demons, here I come._

To begin with, I lured a single demon and exchanged blows with it with great ease. It was then that Jing pulled out a piece of _fu_ paper. I stole a backward glance and saw her draw several strokes on the paper with her fingers before throwing the paper over, crying out, "Flames, true and thrice-concealed, go!"

Unexpectedly, the paper flew straight toward the demon. Seeing that the demon intended to dodge, I launched into a flurry of blows, forcing it to stay in place. Finally, the paper reached the demon and suddenly turned into three white flames, enveloping the demon. It howled in pain and reacted by lunging toward Jing, but unfortunately for it, a kick from me sent it sprawling back to its original spot.

"Flames, true and thrice-concealed, go!" Seeing that the flames on the demon were about to go out, Jing once again sent out another piece of _fu_ paper.

This time, I watched in satisfaction as the flames began to reduce the demon to ash…

"AHHHHH!"ē,theYundemon'ssuddenlyhorns!"wailed. "Dàg

Hearing that, I smoothly sliced off the demon's horns and watched as the demon turned to ashes. _Looks like I can lure more of them,_ I thought decisively.

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Thus, the number of demons increased from one to two and ultimately three, after which I decided that was enough, as any more would leave me with insufficient space to fight. In this fashion, I would engage the demons, focusing on honing my defense. While I initially had many openings in my defense and couldn't react quickly enough, I soon grew proficient to the point where my defense was watertight. I grew more and more familiar with this method of fighting, which was completely different from the aggressive fighting style I had used all this time. _It is pretty good training for me… still, if only the_ _mobs were stronger, _I thought in dissatisfaction.

After luring more than ten groups of mobs, I heaved a long sigh and said mildly, "Let's take a break."

Guilt washed over Jing's face. "I'm reallyē.Jingsorry,completelyēDàg forgot that Dàg needs to rest."

"It's okay," I said and sat down, recovering a bit of my energy.

"Wow, we've each gained a level, and we have enough demon horns to complete the mission," Yun said, his eyes sparkling.

I wasn't really keen on fighting any more of these lesser demons. I had nothing to gain from fighting them, and though my main objective was to help Yun and Jing, it would be advantageous to them as well if we fought higher-level mobs. With that thought in mind, I asked, "Are there any stronger mobs that we can fight?"

Jing's and Yun's eyesē,whyshone brightly, and Yun quickly replied, "Of course, Dàg

don't we take on demon maidens? A demon maiden's horns are worth more than a lesser demon's."

"The monster's features are…?" I asked.

Directing this question to Yun, the gamer, was the right thing to do, as he immediately replied with enthusiasm and confidence, saying, "Demon maidens are generally similar to lesser demons, except their levels are higher. Their weak point is their heads, just like lesser demons, but demon maidens use their sharp and long claws as weapons, and they move faster thanē'sspeed, ,won't withhave Dàg

problems once you're familiar with their style of attacking."

I nodded. "Let's take them on, then."

Standing up, I stretched and said, "Lead the way."

The demon maiden had long, flowing hair, pale green skin, and wore a dress like the type ladies used to wear in ancient China. Its hands ended in extremely long nails, their edges glinting dangerously. I darted forward and we began to fight.

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Yun, the zealous gamer, was right; the demon maiden was indeed more challenging than the lesser demon. Its perception was considerably sharper than that of a lesser demon, making it tough for me to strike her weak spot, her head. Moreover, it was extremely fast, and I had to focus on dodging – with great difficulty – initially. Unfortunately for it…

I smiled. The demon maiden's attacking style was limited to stabbing. I searched for an opportunity, and when the demon maiden once again stretched out a hand, thinking to leave holes in my body, I stopped moving, and then savagely hacked off its hand the moment it touched me. A demon maiden with one hand missing was nothing to be afraid of, so I used the same method to get rid of its other hand and to finish it off… although I wasn't as successful the second time I tried and a "small" hole appeared on my body.

Without making a sound, I secretly took a swig from a bottle of health potion, and then returned to my companions' side as if nothing had happened.

Yun's eyesēiswerereallyfilledēwouldstrong!withIworshipknewthat."Dàg

definitely have no difficulty with it. We'll wait here for you to lure the monsters over, Dàgē."

"Alright," I replied. _Looks like I can train on stronger mobs now,_ I thought, and happily went off to lure some demon maidens.

hg

"Dàgēisreally strong! In just three days, Lü Jing has leveled up five times and I've

leveled up twice as well. Fighting higher-level mobs really speeds things up! What shall we fightē?"Yunnext,saidDàgcheerily as he brought over a plate of _wontons_ in chili oil.

I frowned, but still accepted the plate of _wontons._ Inwardly I thought, _I should really start_ _to earn some money and prepare to return_,_ although Zhuo-g__ē__ge had passed me Wolf - dàg__ē__'smessage, saying that things at Infinite City were going along fine without me _.

So I simply said, "I can't stay here much longer."

Yun and ē,Jingyou'relook**e**avindpanicked. "Dàg g?"

"No, I need to make money. I need to earn five thousand crystal coins," I replied after swallowing a _wonton_.

"Makeēneedsmoney?money?What, ButDàgyou didn't ask us to split our reward

money from the quests earlier with you!" Yun paused suddenly, and then frowned slightly. "Why didn't you ask us to split the reward with you if you're in need of money, Dàgē?"

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I remained silent. _With Yun__ē__",__ē__""Dàgc**all**ingdaymelong,"Dàghow could I_ _possibly even ask to split the money?_

"Dàgē,although we don't h ave five thousand crystal coins, please take this for now!" Jing took out a bag of coins and pushed it toward me.

I sighed. _It's almost time for them to get new equipment, so how could I possibly take the_ _money from them now? _"No need, I'll make my own money."

"But,ēareDàgyou really going to leave us?" Yun's expression was one of dismay,

clearly unwilling to part. "We don't know your name, or even what you look like. If we part now, we'dē!" probably never meet again, Dàg

_We will meet again, but it will be quite some time before Jing and Yun manage to gather ten thousand crystal coins and come to Infinite City to find me. I wish I could help them earn the money for the ship fare, but my teammates in Odd Squad are waiting for me! Is there really no way out of this dilemma?_

As though she'd gatheredē,IsawanupAher courage for something, Jing said, "Dàg - level mission some time earlier. The reward money is substantial, and it doesn't seem to be very difficult, we just have to retrieve the demon king's hair tie. Since the demon king, lesser demon, and demon maiden are all similar types of mobs, it shouldn't be a problem forē. Besides,Dàg even if we can't beat it, we can just grab the hair tie and escape."

_It does sound like a pretty good proposition, _I thought._ If I can take the ship back to the Central Continent with Jing and Yun, then I'll at least have someone to chat with and wouldn't have to be bored to death like I was on the trip here. _"Alright then, let's get thatquest."

"Dàgē'sthe best!" Yun happily cheered.

hg

With Jing and Yun leading the way, I once again returned to the Demon Cave.

"Dàgē,we might have to spend some time searching, since the demon king often wanders around the areas further inside the cave. It'll probably be difficult to find him," Yun said worriedly.

"Okay. Let's begin searching then."

Jing, Yun, and I made our way into the depths of the cave and quickly reached the spot where we'd trained at recently. There, I stopped and fought a few lesser demons and demon maidens in order to work the kinks out of my muscles. We then proceeded deeper into the cave to an area where we'd never been before. As before, I would engage the

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lesser demons and demon maidens that we encountered along the way and then let Jing and Yun get some practice.

After walking for some time, I beckoned for Jing and Yun to stop and take a short break, as well as to leave offerings to the Temple of the Five Internal Organs… that is, to eat. I chomped on a _shaobing youtiao__20_ and drained a bottle of soy milk…

"Dàgē,why do you treat us so well?" Yun remarked as he ate.

_Do you even need to ask? Obviously it's because we're best friends! _Since I couldn't verywell say those words, I could only keep up my "big brother" façade and ask, "What did you just call me?"

"Dàgē…" Yun trailedēreallyoff,andis then he chortled with laughter. "Dàg straightforwardē'?". Just because we call you 'Dàg

"Just for that, don't you think it's not really worth it?" Jing looked at me with…

_Conflicting emotions in her eyes? I must be mistaken. _"Aren't you worried that helping uswould just turn out to be a waste of time, and that after you've helped us, we might just go our own way and forget all about you?"

I simply answered, "I don't do things that I will regret. Once I've decided to do something, I won't regret it."

Jing and Yun didn't say anything else. _Why has the atmosphere suddenly turned heavy?_ I wondered. _Did I say something wrong? Ah, forget it; I'll just eat my_ youtiao.

"Ah…" Jing suddenly cried out. I turned around, startled, just in time to see Jing crash against the wall. I caught sight of the culprit out of the corner of my eye, and instantly I leaped forward and knocked Yun aside.

A katana came stabbing at my chest. I flipped through the air and as soon as I landed on the ground, I somersaulted backward to Jing and Yun's side. Grimacing in pain, I clenched my wounded left hand, blood spilling from between my fingers. I did not dare to take out a health potion, however, because I knew that as soon as I moved to do so, the

20**_ Shaobing youtiao_**: A_shaobing youtiao_is a combination of two popular Chinese snacks or breakfastfood. A _shaobing_ ( wiki/Shaobing) is a baked flatbread, often topped with sesame, and can contain a variety of stuffing (or none at all). A _youtiao_ ( wiki/Youtiao) is, as mentioned before in V1C4, a length of fried dough that's quite fluffy inside. A _shaobing youtiao_ is basically a _shaobing_ that has _youtiao_ stuffing. It sometimes resembles a sandwich, while at other times it looks more like a turnover.

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person standing across from me with the frosty, piercing gaze – Himura Kenshin21 – would definitely take the opportunity to attack.

_That's right! The mob across from me with that head of red hair, the cross-shaped scar, and that rurouni outfit is DEFINITELY the _battousai_.__22__ This is rather unexpected; looks like the _Nine-headed Dragon Strike_ that I had plagiarized has finally met its owner. He won't sue me for plagiarizing, right? _I broke out in cold sweat.

Yun helped Jing to sit up, and shouted,ēhe's"Dàgthedemon king, be careful!"

_What? The _battousai_ is the demon king? Don't tell me that the demon maiden I killed earlier was Kaoru?__23_

Hmm… Forget it, if I go on, nobody would get what I'm talking about. The important thing now is I deeply feel that the mob in front of me would be a very, very tough adversary. From how he sent Jing flying without me sensing it and how he subsequently managed to injure me even though I was moving at top speed, it was clear that his speed was certainly not below mine… _And he might even be faster than me,_ I thought with a sinking feeling, since speed was my greatest asset.

The atmosphere was extremely tense, but there was no sign that the _battousai_ intended to move. Instead, he stood where he was and the two of us exchanged stare for stare until at last, he opened his mouth and said, "Elf, why have you entered my territory, knowing that the Demon Cave does not welcome you?"

It took me some effort to conceal my shock. _He actually knows that I'm an elf? Is he a_ _mob with artificial intelligence? This, this is my first time meeting one… Hold on a second! A mob with artificial intelligence? Then he must be a boss mob at least… _Igulped. _That can't be, right?_

If my Odd Squad teammates were here, I would probably have exclaimed proudly, "Come on then, you monster with a brain!" Reality is cruel, however, and I didn't even have a healer, so my pride immediately turned into good humor. _Gaaah, I'm so pissed_ _off! Why am I so unlucky lately, so much such that even when I'm just trying to earn some money, I would end up bumping into a boss mob with artificial intelligence?_

"Elf, what exactly have you come here for?" The _battousai_ suddenly looked at me with curiosity. "Elves rarely appear on the Eastern Continent; this is in fact my first time seeing an elf."

21**Himura Kenshin**: The title protagonist of the manga_Rurouni Kenshin_. See Wikipedia( wiki/Himura_Kenshin) for more details. Note that "_rurouni_" approximately translates as "wanderer".

22**_Battousai_**: According to Wikipedia, this was a title given to Kenshin in the manga_Rurouni Kenshin_inrecognition of his skill as a practitioner of _Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryuu_, which utilizes superhumanly-fast _battoujutsu _(sword-drawing) techniques. The title literally means "master of sword-drawing".

23**Kaoru**: Kaoru was Kenshin's companion and later on, his wife in_Rurouni Kenshin_.

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_So that's why he didn't kill me right away, _I thought.

Jing and Yunē?"finally reacted, exclaiming, "Elf? Dàg

"I came to borrow something from you." I forced myself to say it. After all, the chances of defeating him in combat and the chances of borrowing the hair tie off him were about the same… that is, almost none.

"The hair tie?" The _battousai_ actually pointed at his hair tie with a smile. "Many people have fought me for this ragged hair tie. Just what use does it have?"

_So you mean many people have failed? Just how strong exactly is this artificially intelligent mob? _I thought. My hands and legs felt like jelly. "Uh, someone asked me toget it."

"Who?" There was finally a serious expression on the _battousai_'s face.

_How should I know? _"Errr, his, her name is Kaoru!" I fibbed.

"Kaoru?" The _battousai_ actually looked astonished. "It's her? I see."

_…Is this for real? What's going on now? _I was kind of stunned._ I can't possibly be this lucky. So this quest doesn't need us to defeat this artificially intelligent mob? Could the game designer actually be a loyal fan of Rurouni Kenshin like me?_

"Tell me, did Kaoru say anything?" The _battousai_ looked at me levelly.

_Say what? This quest has a prequel quest? Oh crap, _I thought desperately._ I'll just give it a random shot! _"She wanted me to tell you… to tell you that she'll wait for you forever."

The _battousai's_ expression became gloomy. "That silly girl," he said, and he undid his hair tie.

"Tell her not to wait for me, for I can no longer turn back." With a melancholic smile on his face, he handed the hair tie to the wide-eyed, can't-believe-my-luck me.

I lowered my head and looked at the old, bloodstained hair tie in my hand, and then looked at Kenshin, whose expression was one of sorrow, as though something had broken within him. The phrase "artificial intelligence" vanished from my mind, and suddenly all I saw was a forlorn swordsman who was trapped and unable to reunite with his beloved person, who also happened to be my favorite character, Kenshin, as well. So I asked, "Why? Why can't you turn back? Why do you remain here as the demon king and not return to Kaoru's side?"

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Kenshin looked at me for a long moment, then finally sighed. "You do not need to know. Just relay my message to Kaoru."

There were still things that I wanted to ask, but Kenshin leaped backward and swiftly disappeared up the cavern wall.

With a heavy heart, I thought to myself, _He's just an artificially intelligent mob, he's just_ _an artificially intelligent mob… _Still, the guilt refused to go away, for his hair tie andmessage would never reach Kaoru, and the culprit would be me.

Just then, Yun helpedē!Sothat'sJing howtoherthefeet and said, "That's great, Dàg

quest's supposed to be finished. Now we can go back and claim our reward."

"No, I want to find Kaoru," I replied, gripping the hair tie tightly as I made up my mind. _I_ _won't regret it._

"But,ē…"DàgJing paled.

I held up a hand. _There's no room for discussion, because I know that if I don't do it, I_ _will regret it all my life, whereas if I do it, no matter what the result may be, I will have no regrets._

Jing and Yun fellēsilenthasdeciandedin tothe end, Yun said, "Very well, since Dàg do so, we shall look for Kaoru together."

I nodded and gave the hair tie to Yun. After that, the three of us walked together silently, and I couldn't stop thinking about Kenshin's behavior earlier. _Do artificially intelligent_ _mobs have feelings? It's impossible right? _I shook my head, feeling a little silly…_ Then what about Meatbun? _I caressed my pouch absently as I thought,_ Does Meatbun have feelings? It calls me "Mama", cries when I disappear, and seems delighted when I pat it. Does it have no feelings? _I could not, would not bring myself to say that it didn't haveany.

"Dàgē,quick, take a look, there's something down there!" exclaimed Yun, who was kneeling in front of me, next to a cliff.

Puzzled, I walked over to where Yun was and peered down the edge of the cliff. "It's just pitch black?"

I felt someone grab me and looked down in bewilderment, only to see Yun grabbing my ankles. Before I could ask what he was doing, I felt a powerful force hit me in the back. With Yun hanging onto my ankles, I couldn't do anything but pitch forward, both legs in the air… Finally, as I began to fall, I managed to turn around, and saw the conflicting emotions in Jing's and Yun's eyes.

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hg

Yun closed his eyes as he murmured, "Why? Why didn't you want to claim the reward, Dàgē?Why did you have to hand me the hair tie? Why did you trust us so much?"

"Thisēwilltime,surelyDàgregret it!" Jing said with a pained smile.

hg

My mind was blank as I fell, but slowly a thought surfaced in my head: _This cliff is really_ _tall, so I should die instantly, and not end up lying half-dead on the ground._

_SMACK!_

My splayed-out body hit the surface of the water. _Damn it… It hurts,_ I thought, my face contorting with the pain. I grimaced and inadvertently swallowed several mouthfuls of icy water. It was so cold that I began to shiver, but I set aside the cold and tried to swim to the surface, only to find that my waterlogged cloak was weighing me down. With great difficulty, I freed myself from the cloak and fought to get to the surface, but my vision was steadily becoming blurrier and blurrier. _Waaah, to think that I would get to_ _experience so many different ways of dying while playing a game…_

Suddenly, just as I was on the verge of death, I discovered that someone had grabbed me by the waist and was hauling me upward. _Have Jing and Yun come to save me? Is that it?_

I opened my eyes immediately and stared dumbly at a man who was… _kissing me?_ After freezing up for a few seconds, I hurriedly pushed him away.

"Kenshin?!" I was startled to see that the person in front of me was Kenshin, whom we'd just parted from.

"Are you feeling better?" Although they were words of concern, Kenshin's voice was emotionless as he spoke.

I asked dazedly, "You were doing CPR on me?"

"Yes."

I tilted my head to one side and thought, _That can't count as my first kiss then… No wait,_ _my first kiss has already been given to my cousin, waaaaah! What the heck, my first kiss was given to my cousin, and my second kiss was given to an NPC? Sigh! My kisses have all been such disastrous encounters…_

"You've been betrayed by your companions?" Kenshin got to his feet.

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"Seems like it," I replied with a heavy heart. _I didn't expect that Jing and Yun would_ _actually hurt me. They didn't know it was me, but still, it's wrong to harm others! Although I can understand their desire to get to the Central Continent more quickly…_

"You regret it then; you regret trusting them." The look in Kenshin's eyes was incomparably frosty.

I got to my feet as well and scratched my face. "Nope, I don't regret it. No matter what, I would've helped them. It's a good thing that they don't know my name and appearance. This way, the next time we meet, at least they won't feel guilty. Letting the person known asē""Dàgvanish just like this might not be a bad ending."

Kenshin looked me in the eyes, and finally let out a sigh. "I don't understand what you're thinking."

"Hmmm, the matter is rather complicated."

"I need you to meet someone," said Kenshin, clearly feeling torn over something.

"Oh? Why?" I thought curiously, _Who could it be? It can't be Kaoru, right?_

"It's a quest. A hidden quest," Kenshin said, looking at me sorrowfully. "And I can't go against it."

I looked at Kenshin in astonishment. _Surely this isn't something that an NPC should be_ _saying? _I gulped._ Don't tell me… don't tell me he really has developed feelings? _I blurtedout, "Are you an NPC or not?"

"I'm an NPC… I think so?" Kenshin looked at me, and his eyes held both pain and uncertainty.

_*Sweat* Perhaps that's no longer the case; perhaps he's really developed feelings and self-awareness. I have never seen an NPC reveal such sorrow or agony in their expressions. _"You have your own will then?"

There was a moment of silence, and then Kenshin replied impassively, "I do not know. It's just that one day, while I was fighting a player, I suddenly felt that something was very odd. I didn't know what I was doing, but it felt like I should be looking for someone, looking for Kaoru… But from the conversations between players, I gradually understood that things weren't the way I thought they were. I am an NPC, and it took me a very long time to understand what "NPC" truly meant. Ever since that moment, I no longer know what I am."

"You are Kenshin," I blurted out. "Do you really want to find Kaoru? Perhaps we can look for her together?"

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"I already know that I will only find Kaoru's grave. That is how the script was written. I will never be able to see her," Kenshin replied with a pained smile.

"So what if I do manage to see her? Did things really happen between us? Did we really live together before? After which, I was challenged to a fight by the Demonic Dark God and imprisoned here upon my defeat, while Kaoru became trapped in Snow Village, such that the two of us can never meet. Originally, my greatest wish was to see Kaoru, but afterwards I slowly realized that everything was just a lie."

_A lie? _I'd never thought of it that way, never realized that the arrangement we humansimposed upon the NPCs could be this cruel.

"Nevertheless, I have to comply with the system's hidden quest and bring you to see that person. However, I hope… I hope that you won't hurt him. Can you do that, elf?" Kenshin looked at me almost beseechingly.

I gave him a brilliant smile. "Call me Prince. Don't worry, Kenshin's friend is my friend."

"So, what's his name?" I asked as I peered around curiously at the pure white tunnel. From the vibe that Kenshin gave me, I'd expected that we would be walking through a dragon's palace or some divine immortal's sanctuary…

"He was originally called Lantis Ilanyushenlin, but he wants me to call him Sunshine," Kenshin replied as he led the way.

_Lantis Ilanyushenlin? Which retarded game designer came up with such a retarded name? I bet he picked alphabets at random and pieced them together to form a name._

"Sunshine sounds much better. Is this person a guy?"

"He is, for the most part."

_Eh? Then what about the remaining part?_

"We're here." Kenshin abruptly turned around and I suddenly noticed that before me was a pure white door with a ruby set in its middle. _How many ship tickets can be purchased_ _with this ruby, I wonder? _I thought, drooling in secret and resisting the urge to climb upand try to yank it off.

"I hope you won't hurt him. Although the quest requires you to fight him, you don't have to attack as Sunshine is no longer controlled by the quest."

"Oh, I understand," I replied with a nod as I cheerfully thought, _It's a good thing I don't_ _have to fight. I can't even defeat Kenshin, let alone do this insanely difficult quest. (Aside from having to know about Kenshin and Kaoru and answer Kenshin's question correctly,_

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_one must also have nothing better to do than fall off a cliff. If this quest isn't insane, then what is?)_

At that point, I still hadn't realized in the slightest just how grave the implications of an NPC that isn't controlled by the quest parameters were!

Kenshin pushed open the gigantic door, and a gentle ray of golden light shone through the gap in the doorway. As I raised a hand to shield my eyes from the light, I thought I saw a silhouette within. I followed Kenshin into the room.

"Sunshine, this is Prince, the elf who came upon the hidden quest," Kenshin said, his lips curving into a smile.

"Oh? Really?" The human figure, which had been originally lounging on a divan, approached me.

I gradually began to make out the details of the human figure and promptly received a shock. _A dark elf?_ His skin was as dark as a dark elf's, but instead of silver hair, he had long, silvery-purple hair, which he tied up into a ponytail. He had a pair of emerald green eyes, and he wore a two-piece outfit. On his lower body he wore a skirt that trailed down onto the floor, and there were no shoes on his feet, which were only wrapped with pieces of cloth.

I gaped. _Are you kidding me? Didn't Kenshin say that there are few elves on the Eastern_ _Continent? Why is a dark elf part of the hidden quest then? Hmmm, _I thought, and then Isuddenly saw that his ears were just like a normal human's. _Just what exactly is going on_ _here?_

"Hello, Prince. I'm Sunshine," Sunshine said, and then bowed elegantly.

I looked at him, frowning, trying to figure out what the game designer was thinking… _An_ _Arabic prince? _I suddenly realized._ Isn't this outfit and skin color Arabic? So that's how it is, the game designer was trying to come up with an Arabic design. _Understandingdawned upon me. _He's not a dark elf, he's AN ARAB._

"Prince?" Sunshine was peering at me curiously.

I snapped back to reality and happily greeted my new friend. This was my first time meeting an Arab, even though he was an NPC. "Hello, I'm very pleased to meet you, Sunshine."

There was a slender smile on both Sunshine's and Kenshin's faces, and Sunshine began to ask me questions about the outside world eagerly.

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As I wasn't familiar with the Eastern Continent, I could only tell them how I came to be on the Eastern Continent, and then I began to describe to them everything about the Central Continent, including my beloved Odd Squad teammates and our not-sure-if-it's-been-completed Infinite City.

"I really want to visit the Central Continent," Sunshine said with a slight frown. "I would like to see the outside world, to see real sunshine."

_Sunshine? I see, is that why you named yourself Sunshine? Because you yearn to see the real sunshine… _I made up my mind. "You guys can come with me and accompany meback to the Central Continent. I won't reveal your identities, and you can just pretend to be normal players. There won't be a problem."

"Seriously? You're willing to bring us with you?" A smile blossomed on Sunshine's face.

"Yep." I smiled as well, but just then I suddenly thought of something. "But even without me, you guys can leave, right? Why haven't you done so?"

Kenshin gave a bitter smile. "It's useless; I've tried. If the hidden quest hasn't been triggered, then when I leave the Demon Cave the system will forcibly teleport me back here. Sunshine can't even step out of this palace."

"Then can you leave now?"

"No," Sunshine replied, his brow furrowing, and he sighed. "You have to fulfill Kenshin's wish first."

I turned to look at Kenshin. "Your wish? You sure have a lot of wishes."

"That's because the system dictates it to be so…" Kenshin replied tiredly. "The hidden mission goes like this. You have to tell me your quest-giver – Kaoru's – name before I can give you the hair tie. After receiving the hair tie, you must not bring it to the Adventurers' Guild, but instead, bring it to Kaoru, who is gravely ill. Kaoru will beg you to bring me to see her, and you will return to the Demon Cave and tell me the news, that Kaoru is near death. I will then go with you to look for Kaoru, but upon seeing her grave, you will then accompany me to look for my enemy and have my revenge. Upon accomplishing all that, I will become your humanoid pet."

_So that's how it is, but really, how many people would know that that's the method to obtain the hair tie? And after getting it, they'll have to give up on the enormous reward and instead give the hair tie, which was so difficult to obtain, to another NPC? And they'll even have to agree to bring Kenshin to meet Kaoru, and most ridiculous of all, they'll have to help an NPC get his revenge? _Cold sweat dripped off my forehead as Isilently paid my respects to the ancestors of whichever game designer it was who came up with this insane quest. "No wonder no one has completed this quest before."

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"Yes, and Sunshine's quest is even more difficult," Kenshin continued emotionlessly. "After obtaining me, you must fall off this cliff. I will then rescue you and bring you to meet Sunshine, after which, when asked, you must say Sunshine's full name or he will attack and kill you. In so doing, you will never be able to attempt this quest again."

"Lantis Ilanyushenlin? Even if I were to keep guessing until Armageddon arrives, I would never be able to come up with that name," I said weakly.

"You have to complete another quest, only then would you come across my name by coincidence. I think it's carved upon a slab of stone containing a prophecy, on the world's highest mountain, Azure Peak." There was a glint in Sunshine's eyes, and there was a note of dissatisfaction in his voice as he said, "But I don't like that name."

"Is this quest not meant to be completed? I mean, just how many coincidences would you need to do it?" I deeply suspected that if not for the fact that Kenshin and Sunshine had developed self-awareness, until the day _Second Life_ shuts down, nobody would be able to accomplish this quest.

Kenshin grimaced slightly. "I think they didn't intend for anyone to complete it. Until now, no player has managed to defeat me. If I became somebody's humanoid pet, I would probably be worth a lot."

_Th-that would be true, _I thought, gulping._ If I have Kenshin, I would have nothing to be afraid of. Even Lolidragon wouldn't be able to bully me anymore. _"What about you,Sunshine? Would you become a humanoid pet as well?"

Sunshine continued to smile charmingly. "Yes, I would. After you finish the quest, I would be able to leave this place."

"Yaaaaay! Not only have I gained two friends, but they're super powerful friends!" I was practically bouncing around the room with joy.

"Friends?" Kenshin and Sunshine grinned. They had picked the right person after all.

"You have to finish all the quests, however, or you'll raise the system's suspicion," Kenshin interrupted my cheering.

"Don't worry. With you around, how could I fail to complete the quest?" I replied, without an ounce of fear.

Kenshin took over the reins of the discussion and continued to explain what we had to do. "In that case, let's look for Kaoru's grave first. It should be in Snow Village, which is in the northernmost area. We'll look for the Demonic Dark God after that to carry out revenge, and then receive the prophets' quest and look for the three prophets, who have scattered throughout the land. Each prophet will give us a fragment of a map. After

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piecing them together, we'll go to the world's highest mountain, Azure Peak, and get the Stone of Prophecy, then hand the stone to the prophets. The prophets will give you this prophecy: The demon awaits his lover; his lover too, awaits him in pain. Only in the most silent and deepest of places can hope be found."

"What sort of weird prophecy is that…" I wondered, _Whoever gets that prophecy will_ _probably throw up blood, right? After climbing up a tall mountain with such difficulty, only to get a weird prophecy…_

Sunshine explained, "It's basically hinting that you have to first accomplish the demon king – Kenshin's – wish and then jump off a cliff; only then can you meet me."

_If somebody can actually figure that out, he should just go and buy a lottery ticket. He'll definitely win the grand prize! _I thought, and the corner of my mouth twitched.

"Alright, it doesn't sound that hard. I'll bring Kenshin to look for Kaoru. Wait for the good news, Sunshine!" I assured Sunshine confidently, thinking, _With Kenshin around,_ _what's so scary about the Demonic Dark God? All I have to do is look for a few people, climb a mountain, and then I'll gain Kenshin and Sunshine as my companions. With this much to gain, I'd be a fool not to do it._

"Right. I shall await your return," Sunshine replied, looking at me trustingly.

My will to fight blazing now, I grabbed Kenshin and said, "Let's go, Kenshin. Let's finish this quest quickly, then we can come back and fetch Sunshine, and then return to the Central Continent."

I waved goodbye at Sunshine and then left through the enormous white door, towing Kenshin behind me.

"Good luck, Prince. May Allah bless you," Sunshine said as we left.

Still towing Kenshin along, we returned to the Demon Cave. With Kenshin around, it was a breeze to get out. I looked at the sky, which I hadn't seen for some time, and stretched my limbs comfortably. When I was done stretching, I discovered that Kenshin was looking at his surroundings with a dazed expression. I couldn't help but snicker, since it was so rare to see him looking this bewildered, and Kenshin immediately composed himself, though he still looked slightly embarrassed.

I suddenly remembered something. "By the way, you probably shouldn't walk around dressed like that, since many people might notice that you look a lot like the _battousai_!"

_Although not everyone likes to read ancient comics like I do, hmmm… except for that bored game designer._

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"Is that so? Wouldn't it be fine if we just tell them that I'm your pet?" Kenshin replied, unconcerned.

I looked at him unhappily. "But you're not my pet. You're my friend."

Kenshin returned my gaze. Though his face was still expressionless, I could see the mirth in his eyes. "Then what should we do?"

"Hold on," I said. I grabbed my pouch and began rummaging through it. Finally, I pulled out my newbie equipment, which I'd kept as memorabilia. _It's a good thing I didn't sell_ _them, _I thought. "Wear these! And let down your hair; that way you won't look so muchlike the _battousai._"

Kenshin took the clothes from me and began stripping off his _rurouni_ outfit right then and there… _Uhhh, should I turn away?_ My gaze drifted upward. I would steal a couple of curious glances every now and then, but… _I swear, aside from his not-so-broad_ _shoulders, lean arms, his six-pack, and two slender legs, I really didn't see anything!_

When I saw that he was done changing… I mean, after Kenshin told me that he was done changing, I tore a strip off his old clothes and then tied it around his forehead like a headband.

_Very good, _I thought as I looked at him in satisfaction._ After putting on the newbie outfit, he looks like a teenager. This way, he looks no different from other players; in fact, he looks like a new player._

"Can I continue to call you Kenshin? I don't think it should be a problem."

"Mm."

"Let's go, then. We don't want to keep Sunshine waiting for long." _So, off we go to find_ _Kaoru's grave. _Of course, I hadn't forgotten to put on my opera mask.

"By the way, it sounds like Snow Village is a very cold place. Is it?" I asked worriedly.

"I don't know. Never been there," Kenshin replied simply.

"Are you scared of the cold?" I was curious.

"I don't know. Probably not," Kenshin replied, raising an eyebrow, as though he didn't think that he could be scared of the cold.

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**Chapter 6: The Demonic Dark God **

_Not afraid of the cold? Then who the heck is the person desperately clinging to me for warmth right now? _My teeth chattered as I staggered onward, having great difficulty ineven lifting my feet, not to mention having to haul along someone who was desperately clinging onto me, with a face pale as a sheet and lips turning blue from the cold – Kenshin.

As soon as Kenshin and I teleported from White Tiger City to the Black Tortoise City in the north, we felt an obvious drop in the temperature, so I bought two fur cloaks and we began to hurry toward Snow Village. As we walked, I gradually came to comprehend just how onerous my fate was. _Why? Why? Why is there a BLIZZARD?_

_Holy crap, it really is damn cold! _Even though I had put on or wrapped about my facepretty much everything from my pouch that could be worn, I continued to feel so cold that I found myself thinking, _If I were to spit, my saliva would hit the ground as a block_ _of ice; if I were to exhale from my mouth, the moisture in my breath would instantly hit my face as ice._

Next to me, Kenshin was even worse off. We had only just started making our way to Snow Village when he began to shiver non-stop. His condition didn't improve even after putting on his original _rurouni_ outfit, and in the end he was practically sticking onto me for warmth. _Looks like in the face of extreme cold, even the strongest swordsman will_ _fall!_

"Ken…shin, a- are we there yet…?" I croaked out with great difficulty.

"Al…most th-there."

Kenshin's face was turning blue from the cold. _…Hey, can you at least open your eyes_ _and actually take a look?_

Surrounded by heavy snow and raging winds in the middle of that blizzard, all I could see was an expanse of white in front of me. There was only my compass for directions as we made our way onward, and the hope that God, Buddha, and Allah would grant us their protection, seeing how I'm working so hard to save a person…I mean, an NPC.

"Ahhh!" My foot caught on something and I tripped, falling face down in the snow with my arms and legs outstretched, and that bastard Kenshin was stacked steadily on top of me.

"Ken. Shin! If you don't get up this second, I will throw you back into the Demon Cave to spend an eternity with Sunshine."

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"…" Kenshin's expression was cold as he reluctantly got off his "fireplace".

Without someone's weight pressing me down, I could finally get back on my feet slowly. In my heart, I thought plaintively, _Even if I am not being earnestly religious_ – _praying to_ _God on one hand, Buddha on the other, and even referring to the Quran on the side _–_ it's just because I think that the more I pray, the more protection there will be! Did You all have to punish me like this, and even make me trip when there's nothing to trip over in this ocean of snow?_

Kenshin looked at the ground with a frown and said, "You seemed to have tripped on a rock."

I hurriedly turned to look. _Odd, that arch-shaped rock seemed to resemble…a tombstone?_ _I actually stepped on a tombstone? Oh god, mister ghost, I didn't mean to step on the front door to your house, so please don't come looking for me for revenge at night… No, wait, that's not right, _I thought._ This is the game world; if we die, don't we get revived? Who on earth would need a tombstone… A tombstone?_

"Kaoru's grave?!" I exclaimed.

"Let's clear off the snow from the tombstone," I said as I pulled out my Black Dao to use as a shovel and began shoveling away the snow.

It required a lot of effort to work in the middle of a blizzard, but nonetheless the two of us shoveled away the snow zealously. However, each time I cleared away a shovelful of snow, yet another load of snow would fall. Even after laboring on it for half a day, Kenshin and I still couldn't see the words on the tombstone. As time trickled by, the look in Kenshin's eyes grew more and more frantic and hopeless. Seeing his agony, I continued to dig with renewed vigor, but it was all in vain.

In the end, I was exhausted, having no more strength to continue digging. I could only watch as Kenshin continued to dig like a man possessed, and the more I watched, the more miserable I became. _Even though Kenshin knows that the past is just a fiction_ _dictated by the system and has never really taken place, can he still not forget about Kaoru?_

As Kenshin continued to shovel away the snow that could never be fully cleared, his movements became more and more frenzied and erratic. His well-kept hair was already a mess, but still the snow continued to fall…

"Kaoru…" Kenshin cast aside his sword and wailed towards the heavens. His face was streaked with tears.

The snow stopped.

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As the clouds slowly dispersed, a ray of light shone down from between the clouds and illuminated Kaoru's tomb. In the small area where it shone, the snow began to melt.

"Here lies Kaoru, who will wait for her beloved husband forever."

Kenshin staggered toward the tombstones and suddenly dropped onto his knees. "Kaoru…"

I got to my feet and went to stand behind Kenshin silently, gazing at the tombstone together with him. Even though I already knew that this was how things would turn out, nonetheless I still felt an indescribable sorrow at the moment of truth. Rather than say that I grieved for Kaoru, who had passed away, it should be said that I grieved for Kenshin, who could not free himself of the fate that the system had laid in store for him.

"Should I not have come? If I didn't come, Kaoru would be able to live indefinitely," Kenshin shouted as he pounded the floor with his fists.

"Instead of waiting in anguish indefinitely, maybe she preferred to lie in her grave, waiting with the knowledge that you would come to see her," I said slowly. "Just like you, who preferred to come and find her, despite knowing that you could only see her grave."

Kenshin snapped out of his stupor and smiled bitterly. "Perhaps you're right."

"Let's go and get your revenge then. Even though your enmity isn't real, turn your sorrow into your motivation to fight, turn your agony into the energy to wield your sword, and fight to your heart's content. Go, and vent your emotions," I said, my eyes blazing with battle lust.

Kenshin's eyes, too, blazed. "Let's go." With that, he turned and, without even a backward glance, began to lead the way. The cold was forgotten.

_As I thought, he's someone who likes to fight too, _I thought, smiling._ I've found someone who shares my interest._

hg

"Kenshin, where is the Demonic Dark God? The blizzard might have stopped, but I'm very tired. If it's too far, can we go tomorrow instead?" I gave Kenshin my most pleading, helpless, and weary look. Unfortunately, Kenshin was clearly very different from Gui.

"It's in that cave halfway up the mountain. Come on," Kenshin said heartlessly, urging me to hasten even as he pointed at a cave entrance that was kind of far, but not quite _that_ far away.

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"Okay, okay…"

I wanted very much to grumble as I climbed up the snowy mountain behind Kenshin. As the cave drew closer, the unease in my heart grew greater and greater, as the terrifyingly enormous statue in front of the cave entrance became clearer and clearer. Aside from that, I also noticed that the cave entrance was so big that you could stuff five of me – stacked vertically – into the cave. _Five of me… That's almost nine meters, I think?_ I gulped at that thought. _That can't be, right? It's probably that just the cave's a tad oversized; it's_ _impossible that there's a monster that big, right?_

"Kenshin, do you know what the Demonic Dark God looks like?" I asked in a shaking voice.

Kenshin did not spare a backward glance, and merely replied as we hurried along, "From the image that the system gave me, it's colossal and heavily-built, wears a black robe, has a single horn on its head, and carries the incomparably huge Demonic Sword of Darkness."

"It sounds really terrifying!" _That description contained words like "huge" and "heavily-built". Plus there's that enormous cave entrance, _I thought, and suddenly felt that gettingKenshin and Sunshine might not be such a simple task after all…

"We're here," said Kenshin as he stopped abruptly.

"Are we going in now? First let me see if I can find something that we can use as markers, so that we won't get lost inside the cave…" I hurriedly began rummaging around in my pouch.

Kenshin, however, stood right in the middle of the cave entrance and suddenly bellowed, "Demonic Dark God, I, Kenshin, have come to claim the debt owed to me."

I froze and stared into the impenetrable darkness of the cave alongside Kenshin, but there was only silence, as though even the wind and snow did not dare to make a single sound. Burdened with an intense feeling of uneasiness, I immediately drew out Black Dao. The steely ringing made by my sword as it left its sheath seemed especially loud in the silence.

A small stone suddenly fell from the roof of the cave…after which, the ground began to shake violently, and a fierce gust of wind actually came from the depths of the cave, and I could barely keep standing. The interior of the cave, which was originally dark, was now shrouded in an eerie green glow.

I knew that the battle was about to commence and that the opponent for this battle would possibly be the strongest I had ever encountered. With a resolute heart, I went over and stood next to Kenshin and gazed at the cave entrance with a haughty look in my eyes.

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At long last, the Demonic Dark God appeared.

With a heavy heart, I opened my mouth to ask, "Kenshin, strength and size may not be directly proportionate to one another, but do you think it's possible that the Demonic Dark God might not even notice us, but just accidentally kill us by stepping on us?"

Kenshin looked up at the Demonic Dark God in front of us without a word.

_My god, it really lifted its leg, _I thought, and hastily scrambled further away, draggingKenshin along. _You've got to be kidding me, who on earth can even fight against this_ _monster that has to stoop just to get out of a nine-meter-high cave?_

"No, I _will_ avenge Kaoru," Kenshin said, wresting free of my hold and charging toward the Demonic Dark God unhesitatingly.

I watched as Kenshin charged toward the Demonic Dark God, and had no other choice but to run after him with a forced smile and furrowed brow. As I ran, I shouted, "Be careful, Kenshin! Don't confront it head on."

Kenshin seemed to have turned a deaf ear upon what I had said and instead rushed at the Demonic Dark God without so much as a word. As he neared the demon god, he jumped directly onto its kneecap, and then with a step on its muscle, he leapt into the air until he was directly in front of the demon god's face, drawing his sword in that second. Just as it seemed he was about to slash the demon god's face, its enormous hand came hurtling toward Kenshin's side. Kenshin had no choice but to leap backward, dodging the giant slap that might have otherwise cost him his life.

"Kenshin, I'll distract him. Go attack him from behind," I shouted as I swung my _dao_ down onto the Demonic Dark God's foot.

CLANG! _There was actually a sound of metal clashing when the sword and foot met?_ I lowered my head to take a look and gulped, not daring to believe that I couldn't even nick the demon god's skin. _Let's try again,_ I thought, and swung my sword down heavily again… _CLANG!_

"To think that my Black Dao can't even do any damage to the demon god, it looks like I need further training." I felt deeply frustrated. There I stood with my Black Dao in one hand, crestfallen, as several dead leaves were lifted into the air by a breeze…

"Prince, quick! Dodge it!" I heard Kenshin bellow.

I looked up and saw the so-called Demonic Sword of Darkness hurtling toward me with all the momentum of an airplane plummeting to the ground. I darted to one side with lightning speed, however, the airplane…the demon sword once again came slashing at me. _My god, I'm so small, but he can still slash at me horizontally? Isn't this_

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_unreasonable? Which retarded programmer… _I splayed out on the ground in a ratherpathetic manner, narrowly evading that demon sword.

I rapidly clambered to my feet and immediately took to my heels, trying to flee…I mean, trying to distract the demon god, so as to give Kenshin the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. As I fled for my life, I wanted very much to cry; I could sense the earth trembling with each step the demon god took. The airplane demon sword would also swing at my butt from time to time… _I wonder, will I be stepped on and reduced to offal, or will I be_ _diced and turned into meat paste?_

"Kenshin, hurry up with your sneak attack! If I'm turned into meat paste or offal, I guarantee that I will return to the Demon Cave and haunt you as a ghost!" I yelled desperately.

"I tried to cut him already, it didn't work," Kenshin replied, incensed.

"What?!" The color drained from my face. _Do the heavens want me dead this badly? But_ _I don't want to die such a gory death, _I thought, and shouted, "Kenshin, which way's thecliff?"

Upon hearing my words, Kenshin's dejection vanished and he rallied himself. "Turn left! Turn left, and it'll be straight ahead."

_Turn left? _For the first time in my life, I found turning left to be an extremely difficultaction to execute. "Kenshin, I can't turn left!" _I will be turned into meat paste if I do…_

"Demon god, your enemy is me!" Kenshin's enraged roar sounded from behind, and as soon as the words left his mouth, the Demonic Dark God that had been hot on my heels actually turned around and went for Kenshin instead.

Seeing Kenshin make a beeline for the cliff, I immediately ran after him. As I ran, I thought, _How on earth are we going to make the demon god fall off the cliff? Trip it? It_ _would probably step on me and turn me into a pancake and still not even register my presence!_

"Kenshin, how do you intend to make it fall off the cliff obediently?" Unable to get my thoughts straightened out, I could only open my mouth and yell desperately at Kenshin, who was in front of me.

"Prince, help me lure it to the precipice, as close to the edge as possible." After suddenly saying that, Kenshin stopped running and simply began to dodge the demon god's airplane sword, waiting for me to "take the next shift".

"Can I refuse?" I asked, tears brimming in my eyes.

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"No," Kenshin replied coldly.

_Waaah… _I braced myself for whatever was coming and leapt at the demon god, slashingdown at its kneecap mid-leap. As before, there was a loud "clang". I turned and began sprinting frantically toward the cliff, and all I prayed for was for Kenshin to actually _have_ a plan.

With the demon god hot on my heels, as the time spent on evading it grew longer and longer, I began to feel rather worn out. On several occasions, I only managed to dodge the blade narrowly, and was even cut multiple times by the fierce wind that followed in the wake of each swing of the giant blade. Combining the fatigue with the pain, I began to feel like I could keel over any time. Still, I forced myself to hang in there. _Sunshine's_ _still waiting for me to complete the quest, and I have to bring him back with me to the Central Continent!_

_Give up? I don't know those words!_

Upon finally reaching the precipice, I nearly burst into tears. _To think a cliff, the same_ _geographical structure that I have fallen off twice, would actually now save my life! Fate is truly unpredictable._

_No matter, _I thought. Now that the cliff was right in front of me, I yelled frantically atKenshin, "Kenshin, I'm at the cliff! If you have a trick up your sleeve then hurry up and do it, otherwise I'm about to go free falling with the demon god!"

Kenshin merely followed behind us, and the calm expression on his face seemed to hint at the calm before a storm. His right hand had long since been placed on his sword hilt.

_Timing! He's waiting for the perfect time to finish off his most hated enemy._

_Hmm, looks like I'm three centimeters away from a fate involving falling off a cliff… _Iturned my head and looked at the immense expanse of empty air beyond the precipice, and then turned to look at the enormous demon god. _That's odd! Why am I always being_ _forced to choose between falling to my death and being stomped to death? Could we try something new next time? _As I traded stares helplessly with the demon god, I spied fromthe corner of my eye a human figure leaping to a height that was about level with the demon god's head… _Although he did make use of several nearby trees, Kenshin's jump_ _power is still incredibly amazing_, I mentally noted, impressed.

"_Air Shattering Strike_!" Kenshin bellowed in an incomparably powerful voice and unsheathed his sword at lightning speed, slashing toward the back of the demon god's head… _This looks like it's a move based on the sword-drawing technique?__24_ I thought,

24** Sword-drawing technique: **Kenshin fans may be more familiar with the Japanese term for this –"_battoujutsu"_. As the name implies, the types of moves based on this technique often involves (to varying degrees) the drawing of the sword, such as using the movement to build up momentum for the actual attack. See Wikipedia ( wiki/Batt%C5%8Djutsu) for more information.

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and saw the gust of air following in the sword's wake press down the demon god's hair, followed by a resounding "CLANG!". Although I didn't know if the demon god was injured or not, I could see at least that Kenshin's strength was sufficient to cause the demon god to fall forward.

_Looks like it's just a matter of time before it falls off the cliff, _I thought, once againimpressed by Kenshin… _But why has the sky suddenly gone dark?_ I raised my head to take a look, and found myself gaping, wide-eyed, at the behemoth…the Demonic Dark God that was toppling over onto me!

_Dear heavens, you should really lose some weight, demon god! With a body mass like that, I can't even find a place to escape to… My god! _With a tear-streaked face, Imentally bemoaned my fate as I fell off a cliff for the third time…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, clenching my eyes shut tightly as I braced myself for the excruciating pain of hitting the ground. "AHHHHH…"

"Can you shut up?" Kenshin's cold voice suddenly came from above me.

"Ahhhhh…?" I raised my head and Kenshin's face came into view. I froze, and saw that Kenshin held in his hands the ends of a red length of cloth which was tightly wrapped about my waist, and…that Kenshin's pants had slipped to his knees as his belt was missing.

"Kenshin, is a loincloth comfortable?" I asked seriously. _It's something I've been_ _wondering about ever since my last "accidental" peek._

"What's a loincloth?" Kenshin asked with a frown.

"That's the cloth you're wearing right now to cover your important area."

Kenshin lowered his head to look at the cloth, evidently puzzled. "Don't you wear this?"

"No, I don't, I wear boxers," I denied solemnly. _I most definitely do not wear loincloths._

"What's the difference?"

"Hmmm, I would love to discuss with you the differences between loincloths and boxers, but…" I trailed off, frowning. "You know, it's really not very…sanitary to be discussing the matter of underwear while dangling in mid-air, and besides, I'm not really used to not having both feet firmly planted on the ground."

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I rolled my eyes. "As such, could you kindly pull me up first? I promise that I will clearly list out every type of underwear available to you, and then explain each of them in detail, okay?"

I climbed over the edge of the cliff and sat down on the ground, not quite daring to believe that I'd managed to avoid dying by falling off a cliff yet again.

System notice: Prince has received a human-type pet. Please give your pet a name.

"Kenshin," I said lazily.

Pet owner: Prince | Pet name: Kenshin | Level: 100 | Health: 10,000 | Mana: 1,500

Attributes – Strength: 300 | Physique: 150 | Agility: 150 | Intelligence: 50 | Willpower: 50 | Wisdom: 0

Techniques: Sword Drawing Technique / Continual Strike / Air Shattering Strike / Dragon Flight of Heaven / Void Piercer / Light Movement / Aerial Leap / Instant Ignition25

Special notes: Quest pet, unable to level up, unable to learn new techniques

"Even if we set aside the fact that you're level 100, your stats are simply too terrifying. No wonder you're so strong," I said, looking at his stats with envy.

"It's a shame that you can't level up, though. The system is quite a cheapskate; I put in so much effort to get you," I couldn't resist grumbling under my breath.

Kenshin shot me a cold look and said mildly, "Running a few steps can also be considered a lot of effort?"

Hearing his words, I immediately jumped to my feet and retorted, "What do you mean, 'running a few steps'? I'll have you know that I came all the way from the Central Continent, and had to help Jing and Yun level up for so many days before I could be pushed off a cliff by them. In addition, I had to brave a blizzard to get to Snow Village, and I even tripped and fell… Hey, Kenshin, don't go yet, I'm not done talking! What's with that cold stare? Don't you realize that I'm your owner? Hey, don't you ignore me!"

hg

"What are we supposed to do next?" Kenshin and I had teleported to the White Tiger City

25** Kenshin's techniques: **Note that Kenshin here only has a few of his moves from_Rurouni Kenshin_suchas _Dragon Flight of Heaven_ (also known as _Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki_). Most of the other moves are not from the _Rurouni Kenshin_ universe.

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in the west. _Just what exactly are we supposed to do to free Sunshine, who's still stuck in_ _the Demon Cave? I really can't remember._

"We have to go to the Adventurers' Guild and receive the prophets' quest."

"Right." I understood.

After that, I eagerly stepped into the Adventurers' Guild. I wanted to finish the quest quickly and then bring the strong Kenshin and elegant Sunshine back with me to the Central Continent. _Sigh, I really miss everyone in Odd Squad._

After receiving the quest, I looked at the piece of paper in my hands and felt rather dizzy.

_What is this? Why is it that, on the map given to me by the Adventurers' Guild, the location of the three great prophets are pretty much just three points that would form a giant triangle when connected on the entire Eastern Continent? Wouldn't they be really hard to locate, even if I actually had a sense of direction?_

_Never mind, _I thought, and suddenly got back my nerve._ There's still Kenshin here with me. What am I scared of? _"Hey, Kenshin, it should be a piece of cake for you to locatethe three great prophets, right?"

Kenshin slowly turned to look at me, his expression stoic as ever. "I don't know the location of anything aside from Kaoru's Snow Village!"

_…Looks like this quest's difficulty might very well increase by three levels because of two people who have absolutely no sense of direction, _I thought, heaving a sigh, and resignedmyself to staring at the map. _Let's start with the nearest! This nearest point seems to be_ _in the lower left corner; looks like it's in White Tiger City._

"No matter, we'll just keep heading left and down," I said, and began to walk forward briskly.

"Prince." Kenshin, who had been following silently all this while, suddenly called out my name.

I continued to walk and only glanced back at him. "What?"

"You still haven't explained to me about underwear," Kenshin replied with a dead serious expression.

"Hmmm, underwear…" _I only know that there are low-rise ones, ones with girdles, lacy_ _ones, thongs… I wonder if guys have other types of underwear aside from boxers and briefs? Waaah, how would I know anyway? I can't possibly recommend lace underwear to Kenshin, can I? Oh shit, I really kind of want to do so. Kenshin wearing lace underwear… Heh! Hmmm, it might be worth a try._

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"Never mind," Kenshin said abruptly.

I felt crestfallen. I looked at Kenshin with shining eyes and pleaded, "Why? I really want to discuss it with you. Let me tell you about it, _pleeease_?"

Kenshin fired another cold look my way. "For some reason, I simply didn't want to know after seeing your smile."

"…" I scratched my face. _So it was my smile that gave it away. Next time I must_ _remember not to smile. Mission "Get Kenshin to Wear Lace Underwear" – failed… Such a pity._

"Is this the sea?" Kenshin suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at the sea dumbly, as though he had never seen such a sight before. On his face was a complicated mix of delight and awe.

As for me, my feelings toward the sea weren't half as pleasant. The memory of being trapped on the ocean, bored to the point of talking to Meatbun, and even forced to work as a deckswabber and clean off seagulls' droppings in order to pay for my meals…is really not something I want to remember.

"Can we get closer to look at it?" Kenshin asked hesitantly, even awkwardly.

I flashed a pearly smile at him. "Of course."

On the surface, Kenshin was calm as ever, but his footsteps quickened noticeably. I grinned and followed him. _To think that the stoic Kenshin would actually feel shy!_

Kenshin stopped before the sky-blue expanse of water, and I walked up silently to stand next to him. After a moment, I said, "It's very beautiful, isn't it? Wait till we rescue Sunshine and go to the Central Continent! You two will definitely see many more beautiful scenes like this."

"Mm." A ghost of a smile appeared on Kenshin's face at last.

I glanced around at our surroundings. _Why does this place feel rather familiar?_ I looked to the left and an extremely familiar-looking ship came into my view, as well as an extremely familiar-looking harbor… _We've actually ended up at the harbor?_ I whipped out the map and checked it again, only to discover that I'd strayed by about forty-five degrees or so. _What a disaster!_ I thought. _If I can't even reach the nearest point on the_ _map, then how on earth am I going to find all three great prophets?_

"Sigh, I can't find the way," I said, frowning.

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Kenshin tore his gaze away from the sea and suggested, "There are a lot of people over there. Shall we ask them for directions?"

"A lot of people?" I turned and saw that there really was a quite a crowd. _It seems like_ _they're all watching something? Interesting, _I thought, and enthusiastically draggedKenshin along toward the crowd. "Come on, let's check out the commotion."

"Commotion? Is it even more beautiful than the sea?"

"Err… It depends on your taste."

_This is really quite a lot of people…plus, it looks like the atmosphere is pretty tense? _Ilooked at the crowd that had gathered, most of whom were clenching their fists and cracking their knuckles, with livid expressions on their face, and some had even drawn their weapons. _What's going on?_ I peered left and right, desperate to see just what was going on at the center of the crowd.

"Local mob boss Huang Wei," blurted out the person next to me all of a sudden, and his voice was even shaking.

"Huang Wei?" _That name sure sounds familiar._

"Lü Jing, are you going to be my wife or not? I'm telling you, I've already posted my people at all the rebirth points. If you say no, I will definitely kill this kid over and over until he hits level one again," said a familiar voice – the kind that begs to be thrashed – from the middle of the crowd.

As soon as I heard it, my face darkened. _Huang Wei, you lowlife; you actually dare to_ _pick on my best friends again and even try to force Jing to marry you? You obviously underestimated me._

I shoved aside the gradually retreating crowd in front of me and immediately saw Jing, whose face was white as a sheet, and Yun, who was being held down by several other players. Rage boiled in my veins, and I said in an incomparably frosty voice, "If she'll marry you, I'll swallow my _dao_ whole."

All eyes fell uponēisme,anandelf alrightYunexclaimed agitatedly, saying, "Elf? Dàg .

Is thatē?" you, Dàg

I smiled. "Aside from me, which other elf would be sightseeing here on the Eastern

Continent?"

"Dàgē…" There was a complicated look on Jing's pale face as she cried out to me

hesitantly.

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I shifted my attention to Huang Wei, who was as shiny and as unbelievably crass as before, and spoke in an icily calm voice that belied my fury. "Huang Wei, right? Looks like the lesson I gave you the last time around wasn't enough."

"You…!" Huang Wei's face contorted with anger and, to a lesser extent, terror. "God damn it, don't think that I'm really scared of you. Last time you snuck up on me, but it won't be that easy this time. Boys, get him! Whoever kills him will be heavily rewarded," Huang Wei roared.

"The fight's started, Kenshin," I remarked to Kenshin, who was next to me, with a faint smile. I was feeling rather eager. _I had to endure so much frustration in the fight with the_ _demon god. How can I pass up on this opportunity now that I've finally met someone whom I can bully?!_

Kenshin's face was expressionless as he gave a curt nod.

I drew Black Dao, and smiled coldly as I looked at Huang Wei, who had retreated behind his henchmen, thinking, _You think that I can't get to you just because you're hiding at the_ _back? _Kenshin and I darted forward simultaneously, completely unconcerned by thepresence of eight thugs in front of us. We moved at lightning speed between their blades, my Black Dao and Kenshin's sword were so fast that all that could be seen of them was a black shadow and silver gleam respectively, followed by blood spurting everywhere…

I leaped and darted about nonstop, feeling refreshed, not seeing the eight thugs as threats at all. _Heck, last time I dared to challenge them on my own, and this time I have a level_ _100 terror, Kenshin, by my side. It might be quite an insult to some, but to me, this fight is really just a game to get rid of my itch to fight._

I left the last two guys to Kenshin to deal with and sauntered toward Huang Wei with a bland smile. "Huang Wei, listen to me carefully. Don't ever let me catch you bullying these twoē. Otherwise,peoplewhonocallmattermeDàghow much trash you bring with

you, to me, they will still just be flies buzzing around."

"As for you, I will definitely kill you without fail." With a flick of my weapon, I knocked that flashy but utterly useless gold sword from Huang Wei's hand and sent it skidding far away.

_Nine-headed Dragon Strike!_

I threw back my head and laughed wildly as I watched streaks of white light shoot into the sky. After a long while, I stopped laughing and a sudden realization hit me upon catching sight of Kenshin, who had finished off the remaining two thugs a while ago.

_Hmmm… I'd just used Kenshin's move right before him, hadn't I? But…Kenshin's techniques didn't include the _Nine-headed Dragon Strike,_ so it should be fine, right? *sweat*_

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"Are you guys alright?" I looked worriedly at Yun and Jing. Fortunately, aside from their pale faces, the two of them looked unharmed.

"Dàgē…" Yun walked up to me, regret evident on his face. Stan ding in front of me, he

sudden droppedē." onto his knees. "I'm sorry, Dàg

I looked at him, bug-eyed, thinking, _Yun, this fellow who hates to lose face, is actually_ _kneeling before me in front of this crowd?_

"Dàgē,we've deceived you so many times. Why do y ou still help us?" Jing asked as she

came up to me, hesitation written all over her face.

I shrugged. "I said it before, I don't do things that I will regret, and once I've decided to do something, I won't regret it. I've already decided to help the two of you, and so I'll help you till the end."

"Dàgē,"Yun and Jing said in unison, and the two seemed to have made up their mind about something. "We beg of you, please let us stay by your side."

"Huh?" I frowned. "The two of you should have enough money to go to the Central Continent now. Don't bother about me and go there first. I still have some business to take care of here."

Their faces suddenlyē,areturnedyou pasty, and Yun asked in a trembling voice, "Dàg unwilling to let us stay by your side? I can swear that we will never betray you again."

"It's not like that…" My brow creased with thought as I wondered, _Should I let them_ _follow me? _I couldn't decide._ It _would_ be good to have them along, especially since Yun's and Jing's sense of direction is definitely way better than mine…but if they come along, I will have to explain to them about Kenshin and Sunshine._

"Demon king?" Jing suddenly exclaimed softly as she stared at Kenshin dumbly.

Yun too, turned to look at Kenshin, an incredulous expression on his face.

I paled slightly, and hastily said, "Don't say anything first, just follow me."

hg

Jing and Yun led Kenshin and me to a restaurant and charged into a random booth. The two of them promptly sat down and two pairs of eyes began staring intently at Kenshin's expressionless face. Amused, I deliberately picked up the menu slowly and leisurely ordered dish after dish, as though I hadn't noticed their agitation… _Heh! I'm about to die_ _from stifling my laughter. To think that I can tease them like this in-game; usually they're the ones who team up to pick on me._

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"For the last dish, we'll have…" _What should I order?_

"_Wontons_ in chiliē?"oil,Yunright,said Dàgwith a che eky grin. "I've fallen in love with

_wontons _in chiliē'soiltaste inwellfood.Dàgis the best!"

I raised my eyebrows. _I must admit that when it comes to food, I'm definitely the_ _connoisseur of our group. After all, aren't I the one who always decides where to eat and what to order every time we eat out? _"Then_ wontons _in chili oil it is."

As soon as the waiter left the booth, Jing and Yun immediately fixed their eyes on Kenshin again, clearly determined to get to the bottom of the truth.

I sighed, and said sternly, "Jing, Yun, what I'm about to tell you two now is something very important. I want the two of you to promise never to tell anyone, and never to mention the matter again."

Jing and Yun exchangedē,Iam a resolute look, and Yun said firmly, "Dàg willing to swear that ēfromwithoutthisē ,usI willDàgnottoobey Dàg

speak of the matter, the two of us will not so much as breathe a word about it."

"IfēisDàgstill skeptical, then there's no need to even explain the ma tter to us. We won't

object," Jing said as well.

I looked at Kenshin inquiringly. After all, it was his business. I had no right to decide for him.

"Tell them. I have no desire for them to treat me like any other NPC," Kenshin replied coolly.

Jing and Yun stared at him blankly for three seconds, and then Yun stammered, "You…you've attained self-awareness? Can it be true? This kind of thing that only happens in sci-fi novels is actually happening?"

"That's precisely how it is." I scratched my face, thinking, _So Yun's actually smarter_ _than I thought he was. He actually managed to figure out the truth just like that._

"Kenshin's not the only one. There's another one called Sunshine. I'm currently trying to figure out a way to rescue him as well."

"There's another one?" Yun and Jing were stunned.

"Yeah. I have to finish another quest, only then can I get Sunshine out of the Demon Cave." I frowned. "There's something I need your help with, though. I'm not too good at reading the map provided for the quest…"

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"Let me take a look." As expected of Jing, she'd gotten over the shock pretty quickly and calmly asked for the map.

I took out the extremely confusing map and passed it to her. Jing stared at the map, frowning, and then took out a protractor… _How professional,_ I thought in admiration. _No_ _wonder they never get lost. I should learn from them, but first, how do you use a protractor?_

"Head twenty degrees east-south-east from the harbor and travel for approximately fifteen kilometers," Jing pronounced as she stowed away her protractor.

"Oh…" I replied indifferently as I chewed on my food. _After all, with them to lead the_ _way – since Jing and Yun already said that they would follow me – I wouldn't have to bother with this "east-south-east" or whatever._

I picked up a meat bun from the table and stared at it mutely for a while. _I haven't fed_ _Meatbun for a few days now, right? _I thought, breaking out in cold sweat._ CRAP! _Notcaring if Jing and Yun were still present, I hurriedly reached into my pouch and fished out Meatbun…

"Mamaaaaa!" Meatbun's eyes were visibly swollen from crying, but as soon as it saw me, its face seemed to light up with joy. "Meatbun-bun missed Mama so badly, Meatbun-bun's tum-tum is also very hungry-hungry!"

I couldn't even begin to express the heartache and regret I felt. _To think that I'd actually_ _forgotten to feed it… _I hurriedly fed Meatbun the edible meat bun in my hand. As I fed it,I apologized, saying, "I'm really sorry, Meatbun, I really forgot. It's my fault for making you hungry for so long."

"Mmmph, mmmph!" Meatbun's mouth was completely stuffed with food, but it continued to look at me with happiness shining in its eyes.

Seeing that Meatbun was eating happily, I felt relieved and once again raised my chopsticks, ready to fill my own stomach…only to see three pairs of eyes looking on, stunned.

"A meat bun with eyes…" Yun said, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"A talking meat bun…" Jing gulped.

"…" Kenshin said nothing.

I chuckled. "This is my pet. It's called Meatbun. Meatbun, say hello to everyone."

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Meatbun swallowed the large meat bun in its mouth and hopped onto the table, saying, "Hello, everyone-one! Meatbun-bun's name is Meatbun. Meatbun-bun is Mama's pet."

"Mama?" Three pairs of eyes turned to look at me inquisitively.

"Meatbun's not too good at distinguishing gender and always likes to call me 'Mama'," I replied, sweating furiously. _This is a complete lie. There's probably nobody in this world_ _as good at distinguishing gender as Meatbun…_

"Dàgē'spets are really special," Yun said with a helpless smile.

_Hmmm, let me think. My first pet's a meat bun with eyes, the second's Kenshin, a manga character who's attained self-awareness, and after rescuing Sunshine, won't my third pet be an Arabic prince who's gained self-awareness? They certainly are very special… *sweat*!_

hg

"So you like to eat meat buns, Meatbun-bun? That's really unusual," Yun said to Meatbun, which was "sitting" on his shoulder.

"Meat buns, yummy!" Meatbun replied, bouncing on its perch delightedly.

"Meat buns are pretty tasty. When did you start to speak?"

"After fighting with fire birdie."

"What's a fire birdie?"

"It's Gui-gui's pet."

"And what is a 'gui-gui'?"

"Gui-gui is…" Meatbun tilted its big head to one side in thought. "A thing like Mama."

"Oh…another elf warrior," Yun remarked, suddenly seeing the light. "Then…"

"…" _No comment._

Along the way to the first prophet, two of us humans – Jing and myself – and an NPC listened speechlessly to the nonsensical conversation between another human and a meat bun. _Looks like Yun and Meatbun clicked together quite easily. Neither of them can stop_ _talking – so they'd just keep talking to one another!_

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"Jing, how much further is it?" I asked exasperatedly. _If I keep listening to the two of_ _them chatter on, I'm afraid I will really end up with neurasthenia!_

Jing held the map in her left hand and a compass in her right. "It should be around here, Dàgē."

"Let's search around here, then."

_Thwack! _My foot met some resistance mid-step._ Was there some obstacle? _I wondered,and looked down… _I actually kicked an elderly beggar's bowl and sent it flying five_ _meters away? _I gaped._ My god, what have I done? _I hurriedly picked up the bowl andapologized profusely, saying, "I'm really sorry, uncle. Here is your bowl."

Seeing there wasn't much of a reaction from the elderly beggar, I thought for a brief moment and then reached into my pouch and fished out several gold coins and placed them in his bowl. "Uncle, these gold coins are for you. I'm really sorry for knocking over your bowl."

With the matter settled, I was just about to continue walking when I saw Jing and Yun staring at me in astonishment. "What is it?" I felt my face. _Nope, my mask is still in_ _place! So what are they staring at me for?_

"Nothing,ē'sattitudeit'sjusttowards…Dàg NPCs is r eally unusual," Yun replied in a

tone of surprise.

Jing took a deep breath and said, "No wonder Kenshin and Sunshine chose you to take on their quest."

"…" Kenshin's impassive face suddenly twitched. _*Sweat* If I recall correctly, the_ _reason why they chose me seemed to have to do with the fact that no one else has fallen off that cliff before…_

Still, I had to keep up my appearance, and so I coughed twice and in a falsely stern tone, said, "Since when did Kenshin have a quest for me to take on? What are you two babbling about?"

The two of themē.Weimmediatelydidn'tsayanythingpanicked.". "Sorry, Dàg

I nodded and said in a relaxed tone, "Let's hurry and locate the prophet."

"Yes,ē." Dàg

A weak voice came from where the elderly beggar was kneeling on the ground, saying, "Why do you seek the prophet?"

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We turned to look at him. "We wish to learn about the prophecy inscribed upon the peak of the Azure Mountain," I replied hesitantly.

The beggar sighed faintly and got to his feet slowly. "Looks like I can't hide forever! I am one of the three great prophets."

"Ah?" All of us were dumbfounded. _Is he for real? Is it so tough to be a prophet that he_ _has to resort to begging in order to eat?_

"Young man, seeing that you're a good person, I won't make things hard for you. I was originally going to ask you to do something in order to prove that you are a righteous man," said the prophet with a benign smile. "Now, I shall hand this piece of the map of the Azure Mountain to you unconditionally."

I accepted the map piece from him, feeling a bit stunned. _We got the first fragment this_ _easily?_

"Excuse me, mister prophet, but what were you going to ask us to do initially?" Jing asked curiously.

"Challenge the Fierce Tigers' stronghold on Tiger Mountain and kill their three leaders," the prophet replied lightly.

Jing's and Yun's jaws were hanging open in a most inelegant fashion. "The Fierce Tigers' stronghold… That's an area no less dangerous than the Demon Cave, and we would have to kill the three bosses?"

After a long while, Yun finally managed to close his mouth. He turned to look me reverentlyē,Ireallyndăodìsaid,amwillin"Dà from

your example, and have a noble heart which does not deign to serve as a healer of the masses."

_Hey, can you not abuse proverbs like that? Healer of the masses indeed! And to think that you're majoring in Chinese literature like me, _I thought, scratching my face._ Still, it's truly unexpected that such a small action would actually save us so much trouble. Just as well; this way, the time until I get to see everyone in Odd Squad again will be even shorter._

I turned toward the elderly prophet-beggar. "Thank you for the map piece, uncle prophet. We'll be on our way now to look for the second prophet."

The prophet smiled. "Such a polite fellow. Then let me give you yet another hint. The northern prophet often appears at that place with chickens, ducks, fish, meat, green vegetables, and carrots." After saying that, he knelt down once again and resumed being a beggar.

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"The wet market?" I mused, scratching my face. _The designs for the prophets sure are_ _weird. Here I thought they would all be hiding like hermits in the mountains or other secluded places with only birds and beasts for company. _"Then let's go to the NorthernTortoise City to look for the northern prophet!"

"Yes,ē."JingDàgand Yun looked at me more worshipfully than ever.

"Looks like this quest will be easier than I thought." _Right?_ I thought confidently.

_Members of Odd Squad, I'll be coming home soon!_

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**Chapter 7: The Battle Begins **

"Yu Lian, are we still lacking a lot of money?" Ugly Wolf asked. He looked at his wife – whose brows had been locked in a permanent furrow for the past few days – with some distress.

"A lot, a lot." The furrow between Yu Lian's eyebrows deepened as she discussed the financial accounts with Ice Phoenix. Both of them looked very pale.

"This isn't working. We won't last for much longer, not unless we come up with other ways of earning money soon," said Ice Phoenix. She threw down a stack of documents and began massaging her temples.

"But we've already sent all the people who could be spared out to earn money. In another two weeks, the game admin will be withdrawing all the NPC guards, and then the members of the Righteous Blades who are out earning money will definitely have to return to protect Infinite City. At that time, our finances will be in an even worse state," Yu Lian said, troubled.

"But won't there be players visiting and spending money in our city at that time?" Ugly Wolf asked.

"No, the city would only just be starting out, so we definitely won't be breaking even for some time. We don't have enough people to work as shopkeepers, peacekeepers, or soldiers either, therefore we must continue to expand our staff… Just these expenses alone are shocking enough, not to mention the fact that we have to continue the construction of the city. The hundred thousand or so crystal coins that we have right now won't be enough for our purposes," analyzed Phoenix.

Ugly Wolf tilted his head to one side as he mulled the information over. "Gui's blueprint of the city is almost done. Shall we send him to the other three cities to perform on the streets for tips?"

"Mm!" Yu Lian noted down the new method of increasing the city's income with a serious look on her face.

"So how much money did you manage to swindle out of other players, Lolidragon?" Ugly Wolf asked Lolidragon, who was lounging nearby.

"The hundred thousand crystal coins I got from swindling others have been used up a long time ago," Lolidragon replied. She rolled her eyes at Ugly Wolf. "I'm already a wanted fugitive. My appearance and methods are pretty much common knowledge throughout Sun, Moon, and Star Cities by now. It's impossible to con them anymore."

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"What a pity…"

"If Prince was here, he could tag along with Gui to perform on the streets," Lolidragon raised her eyebrows. "His voice is _really_ good, and with that face of his, he would definitely earn a lot."

"Does Prince sing very well?" Phoenix immersed herself in her imagination…

"Then when Prince is back, we'll send him off to perform on the streets. With his abilities, if he takes the task assigned to him seriously and earns money, and if we sell a few small treasures, we should be able to earn all the money back!" Yu Lian calculated.

"The problem is, will that guy take the task assigned to him seriously?" Lolidragon disagreed.

_…That is another big problem!_

"We're in trouble," Nan Gong Zui said as he slowly walked in, his face somber.

"Can you not use such a shocking opening line? We all know that we're in trouble with things the way they are," Lolidragon said, rolling her eyes at Nan Gong Zui.

Nan Gong Zui ignored Lolidragon. There was a trace of anger in his voice as he explained, "Fan is recruiting soldiers. They'll be invading Infinite City once the NPC guards are gone."

"Fan?" Upon hearing her ex-lover's name, Phoenix's eyebrows furrowed, and a complicated feeling welled up in her heart.

"One disaster after another." Yu Lian's expression darkened. "Now we'll have to recruit more soldiers as well."

"Prince isn't back yet?" Nan Gong Zui asked calmly.

"Uhhh, about that…" The members of Odd Squad began to stammer.

Nan Gong Zui turned to face Ice Phoenix. In a kind but firm voice, he said, "Phoenix, leave the room for a moment. There are some things which I have to discuss with the members of Odd Squad."

Although she was reluctant to leave, Phoenix knew better than to argue. In a small voice she said "okay" and then obediently left the room.

Nan Gong Zui watched as Phoenix closed the door, and then turned around to face the members of Odd Squad.

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"What exactly happened to Prince? Tell me."

There was a long silence in the room…

"I am aware that although Prince is remarkably strong and values his friends and honor greatly, he is also scatter-brained, a little silly, plus he has no sense of direction." Nan Gong Zui said steadily.

"You should've told us earlier!" Everyone else breathed a relieved sigh.

"So you already knew about Prince's true personality; you should've told us earlier, we were worried half to death!" Lolidragon patted her chest, having yet to recover from her fright.

"Where exactly is Prince?" Nan Gong Zui asked again patiently.

"He's on the Eastern Continent," Ugly Wolf replied without hesitation now that there was no need to conceal the truth.

Nan Gong Zui frowned uncomprehendingly. "What is he doing there?"

"The result of his lack of a sense of direction and drinking." Lolidragon's expression darkened.

"…" Even though he was already aware of Prince's true personality, Nan Gong Zui couldn't help being stunned for a moment. "When will he be back?"

"We don't know," Lolidragon answered honestly.

"You guys don't seem to care much about Prince." Nan Gong Zui said mildly, but dissatisfaction was evident in his tone.

"It's not that we don't care, it's just that we don't want to imprison him yet," Lolidragon replied calmly.

Nan Gong Zui gave her an uncomprehending look.

"You will understand in the time to come," Yu Lian added with a smile.

Just then, Gui entered the room. The very first phrase to leave his mouth was "Bad news."

He received several glares in response.

"What happened this time?" Lolidragon asked lazily.

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"Wicked said that Prince might have to delay his return," said Gui, clearly tormented by the news.

"Just what _is_ that guy doing?" A vein popped on Lolidragon's forehead.

Wicked, who had entered the room after Gui, was frowning. "He refused to say, but it seems to be of great importance. He said that he will hurry back as soon as possible."

"As soon as possible? The enemy's almost knocking on our door, yet our liege lord is still wandering around on the Eastern Continent?" Lolidragon stood up abruptly. "No, Wicked, tell him that he must board the ship within three days, no matter what he's doing. How are we supposed to fight this war when our liege lord isn't even around?"

"I will relay your message," Wicked said with a nod, but after a moment's thought, he added, "But I cannot predict what he will do."

"That guy can't even predict his own actions, so how could you?" Lolidragon replied, massaging her temples. In a weary tone, she continued, "We can only hope that he will return before Fan reaches the city. After all, Prince is still the heart of Infinite City."

hg

"Hahaha!" I laughed to myself, thinking, _The map fragments sure were a piece of cake to_ _collect. All I had to do was answer a few questions of the northern prophet in the wet market, and then win against the eastern prophet in a game of _Sic Bo26_ at the gambling den, and the three map fragments were all mine. This quest is so easy!_

"How is it possible that somebody can actually differentiate twenty different kinds of vegetables and ten different kinds of fish meat from one another? And even spell out the names?" Yun asked disbelievingly. All the fish meat had looked exactly the same to him, and they even tasted alike.

"How can somebody manage to win ten games in a row of _Sic Bo_?" Cold sweat dripped down Jing's forehead. Dumb luck couldn't even begin to cover it.

"Kenshin, this map is too difficult to assemble. Help me piece it together and then pass it to Jing," I said after trying in vain for while to piece together the three map fragments and tossed them to Kenshin to deal with.

26** Sic Bo: **A gambling game originating from ancient China. Basically, you roll three dice and then bet onthe total outcome. There are a number of bets you can place, but the two most common bets are "big" (that the sum of the dice is greater than ten and less than eighteen) and "small" (that the sum of the dice is greater than three and less than eleven) See Wikipedia ( wiki/Sic_bo) for more information.

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_Yet this person can't even piece together three pieces of a map… _Jing and Yun thought,staring dumbfounded at their companion. _Isn't this a bit too far-fetched?_

Kenshin caught the map pieces and tossed them onto the table. Just when he was about to begin piecing them together…

"Wow, Kenshin, you've already pieced them together. That's quick," I said, staring at the completed map that was laid out on the table, and hastily beckoned Jing over. "Jing, quick, take a look and see where this is."

"…" Kenshin looked at the already completed map and frowned, not saying a word.

"I can roughly tell where the location is," Jing said thoughtfully.

"That's good, let's set off then." My brow creased with thought. According to Zhuo-gēge, I had only about three days left to complete my quest and pick up Sunshine. I had to hurry.

"It's so tall." Standing at the foot of Azure Peak, which was so tall that its peaks were lost in the clouds, I had a dark premonition in my heart… _With our skill, climbing a mountain_ _shouldn't be a very difficult thing to do. Right? I hope so…_

I turned to Jing and Yun. "Since you two aren't warriors, it might be rather difficult for you to scale this mountain, so just set up a camp here and wait for Kenshin and me to return."

"Yes,ē."JingDàgand Yun nodded.

"Let's go, Kenshin." Kenshin too, gave me a nod, and I lifted a leg, ready to climb this mountain, but just then… I suddenly turned around and said to Yun, "Hey, return Meatbun to me."

Shock, disappointment, anguish, and reluctance appeared on Yun's face, and he bit back tears as he handed Meatbun back to me. "Meatbun-bun, you must return quickly, otherwise I will be very bored."

"Meatbun-bun will return quickly. Don't cry-cry, Yun-yun." Meatbun's eyes too, were filled with tears.

The atmosphere was that of a sorrowful parting. In this fashion, a human and a bun gazed at each other heartbreakingly, as though they were a couple who were being forced to separate. From time to time, they would even throw me pleading looks, as if they were begging me – the heartless murderer who was brutally separating two lovers – to show mercy and let them off… _To hell with you!_ I gave Yun a smack on the head.

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"Let's go, Meatbun." Two veins popped on my forehead as I turned and left.

"Yes, Mama." Meatbun hopped after me, its eyes filled with happiness, leaving behind a plaintive Yun who kept shooting resentful looks at me.

"Right, let's start climbing." I gazed up at Azure Peak, and what I saw was not the cloud banks, but the faces of my teammates in Odd Squad.

hg

"How much longer?" Nan Gong Zui asked Kong Kong and Lolidragon calmly.

"They'll definitely be here in half a day." Kong Kong replied angrily.

"Fan brought around seven hundred people. Warriors make up around two thirds of the force; the rest are mostly mages and priests. They're very high on offense power. It's going to be hard," analyzed Lolidragon.

Nan Gong Zui's thought went to Infinite City's defense force, which had around two hundred warriors, fifty archers, fifty mages, twenty priests, and twenty thieves… and thought that if not for the fact that his opponent was Fan, whom he detested the most, he

– Zui – would probably have surrendered right away.

Nan Gong Zui sighed softly. No matter what, he had to defend Infinite City for Prince. After all, the Righteous Blades had poured in so much of their heart and soul into building the city. "White Bird, here, chair the meeting."

White Bird too, was frowning slightly. The situation did bode ill, but as they say, it's easy to defend a city and hard to lay siege. She believed that so long as they planned carefully, capturing Infinite City would definitely be no easy task.

"All groups, report on your situation."

"The eastern, western, and southern gates have been walled up and they definitely can't be opened. Aside from the northern gate, the only other way Fan's forces could enter Infinite City is by scaling the city walls, but we've prepared and placed hot oil on them. What I fear is that we won't have enough oil for Fan's forces…" Gui's brow furrowed deeply with thought. "We've only finished the gates recently… Sigh, the cost for reopening the three gates and reconstruction alone when this war is over will be sufficiently alarming."

In contrast to her usual willful self, Fairsky wore a pair of glasses with a black frame and held in her right hand a scroll of information, which was so long that it trailed along on the ground. In her left hand she held an abacus and she analyzed meticulously, "Fortunately, we've allocated an adequate amount of money to the construction of the

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city's foundations. The city walls will definitely hold out. With a force of five hundred, it would take… about a month, fifteen days, three hours and forty-six minutes to break through the wall, but since this is a game, I seriously doubt that anyone can sleep for an entire month with the game helmet on without complications. Also, the city gate is extremely strong. Even taking into account magical attacks, it can last for at least several days."

Yu Lian sighed and massaged her temples. "Where are we going to get the money for the three gates from?! Sigh, Phoenix, you guys report on your status. I need to get a cup of tea to calm my nerves."

Phoenix hastened to speak. "Due to a severe lack of archers, every warrior has been equipped with a mid-level crossbow and arrows. Although their damage would be nothing compared to real archers', they should be able to make up for it with their strength and maim or kill the enemy from atop the city walls… even though this increases the burdens of the finance department." Phoenix too, felt faint when she finished her report.

"What about supplies and ammunitions?" White Bird asked thoughtfully. Regardless of the state of their finances, they had to have supplies and ammunitions. Without even just that much, there would be no way for them to win the battle outnumbered as they were.

"We've followed the list given by the military department and made the necessary purchases." When they'd first received the list – which was as long and as horrifying as the cloth used to bind old grannies' feet in ancient China – Phoenix and Yu Lian had just stopped short of huddling together and weeping. However, they were forced by the harsh reality (or rather, White Bird's despotic rule) and could only force Lolidragon to head out and con more people yet again…

"How about the mages?"

In a gentle yet firm tone, Rose said, "I've already let the mages know that their main duty is to maintain the defensive barrier and prevent Fan's mages from destroying the city gates, but I think we may not have enough mages compared to Fan's forces. However, I can guarantee that all our mages are top-notch."

"Even if they have to drink mana potions like water, they must hang in there," White Bird said fiercely.

Both Rose and Phoenix sighed, but still they answered, "Understood."

"Do we have any reinforcements, foreign affairs department?" White Bird asked, although she knew better than to hope for any help from that quarter.

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Feng Wu Qing shook his head with a sigh as he fanned himself. "It's not so easy to find reinforcements. Right now, Infinite City has nothing to offer, so how many people would be willing to come to our aid?"

A vein popped on Lolidragon's forehead. "You jerk, were you just fooling around outside the city while I was being pressed into hard labor by the finance department? You couldn't find even a single reinforcement?"

Feng Wu Qing replied coldly, "Hard labor? More like serving as a fox spirit!"27

"You!" Just as Lolidragon was about to throttle Feng Wu Qing, Ugly Wolf grabbed her by the collar, so she was unable to strangle Wu Qing to death.

Feng Wu Qing's cold expression thawed as he grinned slightly. "I didn't find much by way of reinforcement, just a hundred and twenty warriors, thirty mages, and then some priests!" _It's a pity Sis refused to help; otherwise I would definitely have the help of yet_ _another brother-in-law. She's such a selfish sister to refuse to just help defend a city._

Lolidragon's mouth immediately formed an "O" shape. She leveled a trembling finger at Feng Wu Qing and said, "You… you… Where did you manage to find that many players?"

Feng Wu Qing rubbed his nose and then admitted, "My parents also play this game, plus my mom's a writer, so she summoned her loyal readers to help out."

"Lazy fellow," Lolidragon replied disdainfully.

"You…"

"How did the trap-setting go?" White Bird ignored the bickering duo and turned to ask the thief Kong Kong.

Kong Kong nodded and said, "I've already gathered all the thieves beforehand and we've laid countless traps around Infinite City, only leaving a few narrow routes past them. Hmph, if that playboy Fan dares to draw close to Infinite City, I guarantee that he will either be blown to bits or buried alive."

"Next is the most important group – our military department," said White Bird as she turned to look at Nan gong Zui, Wicked, Broken Sword, and Ugly Wolf.

27** Fox spirit: **While fox spirits do appear in a number of oriental mythologies, the fox spirits of Chinesemythology are rather unique. For one, they often adopt human appearances – to be precise, they often appear as beautiful young women and, occasionally, beautiful young men. In many myths, the fox spirits utilize their good looks to seduce or bewitch humans. This is possibly a contributing factor to the impression that fox spirits (in Chinese mythology) are often evil and unscrupulous. See Wikipedia ( wiki/Huli_jing) for more information.

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"The Righteous Blades have been training hard ever since we arrived in the Infinite City. Although the members who joined later are not as skilled or as united as the original members of the group, they've made tremendous improvement this past month. Their average level is fifty or so, which is pretty good," Nan Gong Zui reported dutifully.

Ugly Wolf said confidently, "I've placed the extra men that Wu Qing recruited on top of the northern gate. Even if the gate is breached, these hundred players can hold out until others come to reinforce them. The remaining players will be positioned upon the city wall and defend it using magic and ranged attacks with their bows, thus slowing the enemy's advance. Together with fifty selected strong players, Odd Squad and Dark Emperor will defend the central tower."

Broken Sword looked at Legolas, and the latter nodded. "Legolas and I have already made sure that the warriors have learned basic archery skills. Although their accuracy and strength cannot compare with actual archers, they'll have no trouble with bending a bow and shooting arrows."

"I have already divided the players into smaller teams, taking into consideration how well they work together as well as other factors. I believe this will prove very useful during melee combat," Wicked reported on his progress with a serious expression.

Seeing that all the departments were done with their reports, White Bird began to explain the strategy for the upcoming battle. "First and foremost, I want to say that during the battle, Infinite City's rebirth point will be shut down to prevent enemies from resurrecting inside our walls, which would be very dangerous to us. Although shutting down our rebirth point will also prevent _our_ players from getting back in, this is a necessary move. Does everyone understand?"

All the people present nodded.

White Bird continued with her explanation. "There's another thing everyone has to note: We are the defenders, so our most important duty is to defend the city center. No matter what, we must protect the central tower and the Infinite City gemstone, as once it's shattered Infinite City will no longer belong to us. I believe everyone understands the severity of this matter, so we must defend the gemstone to the death."

(Author's note: All player-owned cities will have a central tower. Within it is the city's gemstone. Usually, the central tower cannot be entered, but during a siege, players can shatter the gemstone by force. Whoever shatters the gemstone will take over the city as its liege lord, and the original ruler will lose his/her control over the city.)

"Defend the gemstone to the death!" everybody roared.

Finally, White Bird couldn't resist raising a question which Zui had forbidden her from asking. "Will the liege lord be returning?"

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Everybody looked at the members of Odd Squad, who turned to look at Wicked in unison. Wicked merely said, "I don't know."

White Bird's voice was filled with suppressed frustration as she said, "It's one thing if the liege lord doesn't show his face for an entire month, but to actually be absent when somebody's laying siege to the city? Isn't that too much?"

"Prince will be back, he definitely will." Lolidragon gave White Bird a firm look.

White Bird too, looked steadily at Lolidragon. "Let's hope so."

_Let's hope so… _Although Lolidragon's gaze did not waver, her back was wet with sweat.

_May the heavens protect Prince from getting lost again!_

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"There must be around a thousand players in this crowd." Even the calm and fearless Madame White Bird could not help turning pale at the sight of the alarmingly large force formed up neatly in ranks and dressed and armed with superior equipment and weapons that glimmered under the sun. In addition, there was a giant siege engine and nearly ten scaling ladders… If the shock was any bigger, she would probably have just jumped off the city wall straightaway.

Their faces were all pale, but Nan Gong Zui said coolly, "We have to hang in there. I don't wish to disappoint Prince."

Wicked raised his eyebrows. "I will never let disappointment show in his eyes."

"A disappointed look does not suit Prince," Gui said coldly.

Nan Gong Zui walked to a place where everyone could see him and then drew his sword abruptly. The ringing of cold steel calmed down the agitated defenders. After surveying them once with his eyes, Nan Gong Zui roared emphatically, "For our Infinite City, we shall fight to the death!"

"TO THE DEATH!" the warriors roared, echoing his words.

Nan Gong Zui stared at Fan, who was also staring at him from far away, and muttered, "Come on then, Fan. Let's finish this."

"Archers, nock your bows and wait behind the arrowslit for the signal. Get ready for the first volley of arrows," ordered Legolas, who was the commander of the archers.

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"Warriors, move the cauldron of oil into place and then attack using your bows first! Once someone begins to scale the walls, pour the hot oil on them immediately. Also, protect the archers and the mages well," ordered Wicked swiftly and composedly.

"Mages, put up the barrier!" Yu Lian and the other mages immediately took their positions well behind the city walls, combining their power to cast a protective barrier large enough to envelop the entire Infinite City.

The battle was about to begin at any moment!

"Prince, I will bring you down from your position as the lord of Infinite City." Although Fan was still smiling gently, those who were familiar with him could tell that there was an icy look and a deep thirst for vengeance blazing in his eyes.

"All men, prepare to attack. Infinite City will be ours!" Fan ordered as his forces advanced upon Infinite City, like a celestial general leading his immortal soldiers into battle.

"Quick, hurry! Pour the hot oil to stop them from climbing up," Wicked bellowed frantically as he moved among the defenders. "Yu Lian, hurry and get the mages to help destroy the scaling ladders."

Yu Lian hurriedly replied, "Right. Phoenix, stay here and take command of those maintaining the barrier. Team one, and you, Ming Huang, follow me."

"God damn it, the difference in numbers is just too big." _To think that Fan actually had_ _so many men skilled at dismantling traps; those traps were placed for nothing, _Nan GongZui thought, swearing silently to himself as he looked at the densely-packed horde of enemy players – like a colony of ants – attacking the city walls. He could only forcibly suppress the rising panic in his chest and ask everyone else, in a steady tone, to remain calm, and then desperately fire arrow after arrow, hoping that he could take down a few more enemy players… Occasionally, he would raise his head and gaze into the distance as though he could see Fan's face – impassive but for the trace of a smile that seemed to say that the city was already his.

"Zui, they're about to breach the city gates," Ugly Wolf said, struggling not to panic.

"What?!" Nan Gong Zui exclaimed. "Didn't the mages get rid of the enemies in front of the city gates?"

"They did. Maybe it's because the enemy has too many mages… I don't get why the city gates were destroyed so quickly either; perhaps Gui and Fairsky estimated wrongly?" Ugly Wolf frowned. "In any case, we should redirect some of the players to defend the city gates now."

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"The defenders are already having a hard time fending off the players scaling the walls. There's no way we can redirect anybody to guarding the gates," Nan Gong Zui replied, panicking inwardly. Or should they get those defending the central tower to defend the gates instead? But no, the central tower was simply too important. There was no way they could decrease the number of players guarding it… but it would also be a disaster if the city gates were breached.

Ugly Wolf watched with empathy as Nan Gong Zui's expression grew more and more troubled. After all, he too, couldn't think of a solution, which was why he came to ask Zui, hoping that a miracle would appear, that he could think of a solution. "Zui… is there a way?"

"…" Nan Gong Zui stared at the sky and could not suppress a sigh. "If I had another month's time or twice the funds, Infinite City's forces and defense wouldn't be in such a sorry state."

Ugly Wolf scratched the fur on his head upon hearing that. "Hopefully that fellow Prince will hurry back in time."

Nan Gong Zui smiled bitterly. "Even if Prince returns, we will only have one more defender. What difference would it make?"

"I don't know," Ugly Wolf replied as he scratched his face, "But… Prince himself is a synonym for a miracle."

Nan Gong Zui frowned uncomprehending and gave Ugly Wolf a questioning look.

Ugly Wolf smiled. "Didn't you come to Infinite City because of Prince's miracles as well?"

Nan Gong Zui smiled as he shook his head. "Sigh, we can't hope for a miracle this time."

Wicked approached them from one side, and he seemed oddly calm in the midst of the chaos of war. "We've run out of oil, we're losing the city wall, and the city gates are almost completely breached. I suggest we retreat and defend the central tower."

Wicked and Ugly Wolf both looked at Nan Gong Zui questioningly.

With a heavy heart, Nan Gong Zui commanded, "All troops, retreat to the central tower!"

Upon receiving the order, all the various teams began to make their way reluctantly to the central tower. At this point, the benefit of training in smaller groups became clearly visible as team members smoothly assumed their respective roles in the team. Shielded and protected by the warriors, the archers and mages continued to attack the enemy even as they retreated, and even managed to take down quite a number of enemy players.

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Moreover, the teams could cover for one another and provide support for other teams that were having a hard time. In this fashion, the soldiers of Infinite City fought and retreated to the plaza in front of the central tower, putting up a final stand against those enemy players who had come to take over Infinite City.

"Archers, volley!" Nan Gong Zui had already lost count of the number of times he had given the command to fire. The streaks of white light in the skies were practically like fireworks, yet the number of enemy players didn't seem to diminish at all. _A thousand_ _men? I'm afraid it's more than that_, he thought, troubled.

"You should just surrender, Nan Gong Zui. If you do, I might just consider giving you a small position." The benevolent smile on Fan's face held a trace of rage.

"Hmph!" Nan Gong Zui merely sneered. Although Fan's troops greatly outnumbered Infinite City's, he was still the invader. All those cauldrons of hot oil would definitely have cost him countless men. Besides, the members of the Righteous Blades had all received extensive training in large-scale fighting, so the situation wasn't necessarily in Fan's favor. With that thought, Nan Gong Zui's spirits lifted.

"So you choose the hard way," Fan said coldly. "Kill him!"

Just as suspicion entered his mind, Nan Gong Zui was suddenly sent sprawling to the ground. His shoulder went numb for a moment, and then flared with pain. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the one who'd pushed him down was Lolidragon, while Madame White Bird was looking incredulously at a panicky Phoenix. Nan Gong Zui sighed. "Phoenix, you…"

"Phoenix, what are you doing?" White Bird demanded, staring at her own sister in disbelief. Phoenix actually tried to kill Nan Gong Zui? And she was clearly listening to Fan's order; hadn't she already transferred her affections to Prince?

"I…" Although she'd panicked when she saw that Nan Gong Zui was still alive, her spirits lifted after she took a look at Fan, and once again, she fired a bolt of magic at Nan Gong Zui…

"Do you take me for a corpse?" Lolidragon coolly sent Phoenix sprawling with a kick, and then calmly pinned the latter to the ground.

Nan Gong Zui got to his feet without a word, his heart gripped in ice. He'd always sincerely treated Phoenix as his godsister, forgiving her mistakes time after time, protecting her, worrying that she would feel guilty, feel upset… yet the result was still like this.

"Zui…" White Bird looked guiltily at the dispirited Nan Gong Zui, and then at her sister, whose face was almost buried in the ground. She could only sigh yet again. Why did this

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sister of hers always have to choose to sacrifice everything else for her love? To even become a spy…

"You sabotaged the city gates, didn't you?" Although it was phrased as a question, Gui's tone was one of certainty. He knew that there could not have been a mistake in his calculations, so someone must have sabotaged them; otherwise, they would never have been breached so quickly.

Upon hearing Gui's question, as all those present turned to look in sudden realization and anguish at Phoenix, the latter buried her face even more deeply into the ground.

Everybody had worked hard, pouring in their efforts to defend the city, and yet there was a spy, and it was actually somebody so close to them. At that thought, the defenders of Infinite City grew disheartened. Fan seized the opportunity and began the attack. It seemed that the defense of Infinite City was in a critical situation, as cracks appeared in the defense surrounding the central tower. Nan Gong Zui and his team were in particularly low spirits, wracked with guilt and uncertainty…

Uncharacteristically enough, Fan led the charge, and the defenders of Infinite City were actually so dispirited that the enemy managed to charge right up to Zui.

"Nan Gong Zui, in the end, you've lost," Fan said lightly, a satisfied smile on his face.

Nan Gong Zui looked at Fan bleakly and said in a hoarse voice, "I can take whatever revenge you throw my way; just let Phoenix off!"

Fan broke into maniacal laughter. "Let Phoenix off? Hahaha, she doesn't want me to let her off! As for _you_, Nan Gong Zui, I definitely will—"

"Wahhh! Whoever's down there, make way!" A piteous cry from above could suddenly be heard. Why did the voice sound rather familiar?

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_WHAM!_

_Damn it, if I'd known, I wouldn't have stood up as I pleased. So when they tell you to "sit on an airplane"__28__, you should really sit and not "stand on an airplane"; the same holds true for flying carpets! I want to cry; my entire body feels like it's about to break… _Ilooked up into the sky at the crowd sitting on the flying carpet. Kenshin and Sunshine were idly sipping their tea, while Jing and Yun were staring dumbly at me, who had fallen off the plane… I mean, the carpet.

28** Sit on an airplane: **Just to clarify, this is the Chinese way of saying "take an airplane". We're notreferring to the act of sitting on airplane, but the act of taking the airplane as a mode of transportation.

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_Oh, by the way, I should mention that such a uniquely Arabic object as a flying carpet is obviously a treasure belonging to Sunshine. It's all thanks to that carpet that I could come back so quickly to Infinite City._

My entire body ached as I stood up slowly, only to see everyone from Infinite City staring at me. I said slowly, "Whew, good thing the ground was soft; I almost fell to my death."

Everyone stared at me blankly, and then suddenly shifted their gaze to my feet. After a moment of confusion, I too, looked down at my feet… _Oh, so I crushed a human cushion_ _to death. Doesn't this human cushion look rather familiar? _I yanked the cushion dude'shead backward by the hair in order to see his face. _Fan?_ I thought, scratching my head.

_So it's him. Whew, my conscience can finally be at ease, then. Crushing this sort of person to death isn't worth agonizing over._

"Prince!" Fan snarled, glaring at me as he spat a mouthful of blood.

"It's you again!" I interjected quickly. "I'm sick of that opening line; can't you change it to something else?

"Don't glare at me like that. It's not like I know why I'm always making things hell for you. Maybe it's our fate?" I cocked my head to one side, thinking, _Is it just me, or am I_ _always subduing Fan? Maybe it's because he's called "rice"__29__, so he's destined to be cooked by me? _"Oh yeah, what are you doing in Infinite City anyway? Sight-seeing? Thecity's open to the public already?" I asked uncertainly.

"…" Everyone continued to stare at me wordlessly.

Lolidragon rolled her eyes and bellowed irritably, "He came to attack the city!"

"Our idiotic liege lord has finally found his way home," Ming Huang – who could never say anything useful – shouted idly.

"Ohhh!" My eyes narrowed. _He dares to attack our city? What nerve!_ I immediately threw a punch at Fan and sent him sprawling. Seeing that he was about to reach into his pouch for a health potion, I raised my eyebrows and then stomped on the back of his hand with one foot.

"You cowardly bastard; fight me one-on-one if you've got the balls!" Fan yelled desperately, seeing that he might be killed any time.

I gave him a bloodthirsty smile and then said nonchalantly, "One-on-one? Sure, just wait till I've cleaned up your friends."

29** He's called "rice": **No, Fan's name doesn't mean "rice", it's just that "rice" is also pronounced as "fan".

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I looked at Fan's forces and then suddenly remembered what Zhuo-gēge had told me over the phone, about how Lolidragon wanted me to put on the façade of the Blood Elf when I got back… _Sigh! I'm not too keen on the idea, but since when have I been able to disobey_ _Lolidragon? I'm resigned to my fate… _So I drew my Black Dao and ran my tongue overthe blade lightly, without forgetting to smile slightly. "So many people for me to kill, that's great!"

I watched the enemy with satisfaction, seeing that some of them had widened their eyes, while others gulped… _Hey, you, over there, is there need to wet your pants? Am I really_ _that terrifying? I'm only twenty and in the prime of my youth, not to mention lovely and charming…_

"Prince, the atmosphere over here on our side – among the defenders of Infinite City – isn't too good. You should do something about it first," Lolidragon told me over a PM suddenly, interrupting my moment of narcissism. Since she rarely uses such a serious tone, something major must have happened.

"What happened?"

"Phoenix didn't really fall in love with you, only pretended to do so. Her aim was to serve as a spy in Infinite City. She sabotaged the city gates and nearly killed Nan Gong Zui," Lolidragon said heavily. "Prince, if you can, try and make Fan look bad by beating him up some more. Perhaps this way, Phoenix might really transfer her affections to you."

I broke out in cold sweat. _Phoenix… your luck with the opposite sex is about as "good"_ _as mine; you have to fall for either a dastardly playboy or me, a transvestite? _Still, as Isaid, there was simply no way I could disobey Lolidragon's orders.

I looked at Nan Gong Zui. As expected, he looked as though he had lost all will to live, which seriously pissed me off. I stomped on both of Fan's hands a couple of times to prevent him from secretly taking a drink from his health potions, and then marched up to Nan Gong Zui and, ignoring the astonished looks on everyone's faces, I gave him a punch. Completely caught off guard, Nan Gong Zui hit the ground hard as a result and stared at me blankly.

I raised an eyebrow. "I'll settle the business with your sister later, so just kill these guys and vent your hatred together with me first!"

Nan Gong Zui got to his feet with a forced smile, thinking, _What can Prince do when it's_ _a matter of a person's feelings? _However, he was more than happy to vent his hatred bykilling Fan's soldiers. "Right."

"Hey, up there, are you guys done with your tea? Coming down yet? The fighting's about to start!" I said casually.

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The flying carpet drifted down slowly. Sunshine, Jing, and Yun retreated to the rear while Kenshin, Zui, Broken Sword, Wicked, and I, being warriors, stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the front. With a smile, I said, "Game, start!"

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**Extra Chapter: Companions for Eternity **

"Thisēwilltime,surelyDàgregret it, right?" Lü Jing smiled bitterly.

"We hinted at it to him before," Yun Fei retorted half-heartedly.

"Yeah, we did hint at it, but he still chose to believe in us…" Lü Jing suddenly turned to yell into theē,whyabyssarebeyondyousuct**h**eancliff,idiot?!""Dàg

Yun Fei, too, couldn't hold his feelings in any longer and yelled angrily into the pitch-black darkness beneath. "You're a complete idiot! You didn't even realize that we'd set everything up right from the start. We'd noticed you fighting mobs on your own for a few days, saw that you were a strong player and wanted you to power-level us, so we deliberately aggroed the Flaming Skeletons and got them to chase after us. How could you not have figured it out? How could you not have realized that it's impossible that Jing, who only knows _True Thrice-Concealed Flames_, would attack mobs of the same element like the Flaming Skeletons?"

"It should have been obvious that I held a grudge against the owner of Oriental House, so why did we still deliberately choose to go there to eat? You don't need a brain to know that I wanted you to deal with that bastard Huang Wei for me." Jing's expression was fierce.

"We knew full well that no one has ever managed to complete this quest for the hair tie. In fact, that no one has even _survived_ it, but seeing that the reward money was ten thousand crystal coins, we still brought you here on a suicide mission, just to try our luck. And you just followed us like this, without even bothering to ask us about the quest details?" Contempt was evident on Yun's face.

"You saw for yourself how strong the Demon King was, but you still didn't suspect us, and even entrusted the hair tie to Yun so easily? And you walked to the edge of the cliff? Even when Yun grabbed you by the ankles, you still managed to look so puzzled." Jing began to laugh wildly. "How could anyone on Earth be this naïve, this foolish?"

The two of them finished yelling, their chests heaving with the effort, as though they had screamed out all of the frustrations weighing on their minds. Their expressions were identical – identically lost and numbed.

After a long while, Jing said quietly, "Let's go. The Central Continent awaits us. Don't forget, Xiao Lan is there as well."

"Yeah," Yun said, casting one last look back at the cliff, his emotions so complicated that even he himself couldn't tell what they were.

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"Now that we've got the tickets, let's get something to eat while we wait for the ship." Lü Jing's face was still as hard as stone.

"Yeah," Yun Fei answered, and then frowned. "Though do we have to leave so soon? I wish we could stay on the Eastern Continent a little longer."

"Don't be silly,"ēwillLüsurelyJingsaidreturnfiercelytoWhite."Don't forget, Dàg

Tiger City. It'll be a blessing enough if we don't bump into him while we're waiting for the ship, and here you are, thinking of staying a little longer?"

Yun Fei didn't reply and merely followed Jing into a nondescript inn silently.

"Owner, two plates of fried noodles, a plate of green vegetables, and a bowl of fish soup," Yun said as he looked at the menu, ordering Jing's – who wasn't a picky eater – share in addition to his own as per usual.

"Yes, sir, coming right up," said an NPC dressed as a waiter with a smile. He left to give the cook their orders.

Yun Fei suddenly remembered something and hurriedly shouted, "Ah, right, I forgot the _wontons _in chili oil – Waiter! We also want a plate of…" Yun Fei's face went white mid-yell.

"And a plate of?" The waiter returned and asked dutifully.

Lü Jing looked at Yun Fei, who had fallen silent, but she merely said indifferently, "And a plate stir-fried shredded meat."

"Sure, coming right up."

Yun Fei remained silent until the food arrived, but when he raised his chopsticks, he discovered that he had no appetite at all. His stomach felt heavy, as though a rock had been stuffed into it, and his heart was filled with a myriad of nameless emotions. Finally, he sighed, put down his chopsticks, and looked at Lü Jing, who was eating the fried noodles at a steady pace. "Jing, I don't like the way things are."

"You think that I like it any better?" Lü Jing, too, put down her chopsticks, a stiff look on her face. "Besides, wasn't it you who planned this entire thing, right from the beginning to the end?"

"But I didn't think that all of those schemes would be used on the same person; I thought that no one would helpē us twice," Yun Fei said, frustrated. "How on Earth does a Dàg who's dumb to such an extreme even exist?"

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"It's precisely because he was so dumb that he was tricked by us. It's a good thing, in a way; let this be a lesson to him, so that he won't be tricked again," Lü Jing said quietly, and then she quickly began to eat again, making it clear that she wasn't in the mood to discuss the matter any further.

Yun Fei could only sigh as he gazed out of the restaurant, as though he fervently hoped that someone would suddenly barge in.

A figure really appeared in the doorway. Yun Fei was startled, but also a tad worried, and he wonderedēwouldforgiveifDàg them this time. In his heart, he secretly wished that

Dàgēwould be so foolish that he would continue to forgive them.

"I've finally found you two adulterers! This time, that cloaked fellow won't be around to get in my way!" the person said as he came through the doorway, and Yun Fei and Lü Jing recognized Huang Wei's venomous tone as well.

"Huang Wei." Lü Jing blanched.

"Yes, it's me, your most beloved husband, Jing-Jing, my sweetie-pie," Huang Wei said, leering at Lü Jing.

There was no way Yun Fei could simply watch idly as his best friend was being harassed. "Huang Wei, don't think that we're still newbies. It's not going to be so easy for you to bully us now."

"And just what exactly can a barrier master do, going up against my lackeys?" Huang Wei looked coldly at Yun Fei. "To think that you're actually stupid enough to choose to be a barrier master, a rubbish class."

"What did you say?!" Yun Fei was enraged. What he hated more than anything else was other people belittling the barrier master class; these people didn't even have the faintest clue as to how useful a barrier master could be in defending a city. He just hadn't managed to find anyone wise enough to appreciate his decision yet.

"I said, you piece of trash, stay the hell away from my wife," Huang Wei drew his shiny gold _dao_, and swung it at Yun Fei mercilessly.

"Yun!" Lü Jing shoved Yun Fei aside and the gold _dao_ bit into Jing's body brutally. Biting back a cry of pain, she glared at Huang Wei, then turned into a pillar of white light and shot into the sky.

"Jing…!" Yun Fei yelled, watching as the white light disappeared.

"Damn it, I got the wrong person," Huang Wei said, regarding Yun with spite. "You piece of shit, I know that you guys intend to run away. I also know that you've bought

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ship tickets, but I'm warning you, if you intend to run away, do so alone. Lü Jing will never be able to escape from the Eastern Continent and from my control."

"Hmph, the tickets are valid forever. Even if we can't take this ship, we can always take the next one," Yun Fei retorted, looking at Huang Wei coldly. "I don't believe that you have the ability to change _Second Life_'s rules."

Huang Wei began to laugh loudly, however. "I might not be able to change the rules, but I can arrange for my people to stand guard at the docks around the clock and kill you guys each time they catch sight of you. Let's see just how many levels you two have for my boys to rid you of."

Yun's face was white as a sheet. "You…"

"Listen, kid, I'm warning you, don't think about running away with Lü Jing. Don't even think about getting close to her again. If you do, I'll make you pay." Huang Wei turned around to his lackeys and commanded, "Give this kid a sound beating. Heal him up whenever he's about to die and then continue to beat him, and don't let him use death to escape. Beat him until he'll never dare to get close to Lü Jing again."

"Huang Wei, I'm telling you, I'll definitely bring Jing to the Central Continent, I definitely will!" Yun Fei bellowed. Unfortunately, facing several warriors, there was really nothing a barrier master could do…

hg

"God damn it!" Gu Yun Fei fled offline in a pathetic manner, only to find that the phone was ringing off the hook.

As soon as he pressed the "Answer" button, Lü Jing's frantic face instantly appeared on the screen. "Yun, are you alright? Why didn't you return to the rebirth point after so long?"

"Isn't it obvious? That bastard Huang Wei beat me up into a pulp and even got a priest to heal me, so that I couldn't just die. Finally, when I couldn't take it any longer, I logged off," Yun Fei replied. He couldn't resist touching his face; just a short while ago, his face had been left swollen by the beating he'd received in-game.

Lü Jing looked pale. "Why didn't you log off sooner, and instead let him continue to beat you up, you- you idiot?!"

"I have my pride!" Yun Fei muttered sullenly.

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"Forget Huang Wei, we'll just rush to the docks tomorrow immediately after logging on. Otherwise,ē… ifTheweconsequereallyruncesintowDàg on't be any better," Lü Jing said, distressed.

"Huang Wei said that he's going to get his people to stand guard at the docks around the clock." Yun Fei sighed.

"What?" Lü Jing's face grew even paler.

"What should we do now?" Yun Fei was deeply worried.

Lü Jing took a deep breath, and then calmed down. "Let's wait a few days before logging on. Huang Wei can't possibly have people standing guard there forever!"

"I hope so," Yun replied, although he still felt that Huang Wei seemed to be pretty deeply obsessed with Lü Jing.

hg

"Huang Wei, what on earth do you want?" Lü Jing was infuriated; she wanted to know how much longer this person intended to keep causing trouble. He had, true to his word, really kept a look-out for them at the docks for so many days.

"I want you to be my wife," Huang Wei replied, smirking.

"Stop dreaming," Yun Fei bellowed. "Jing wouldn't fall for a douche-bag like you, so save it!"

Contempt spread across Huang Wei's face, and he looked at Yun as though he had just seen a pile of dung. "You're really asking for it, and you even dare to be with _my_ Jing. Boys, let him have it."

"Huang Wei, stop it!" Lü Jing turned pale with fright.

"Sure – if you agree to be my wife, Lü Jing." There was a cold look on Huang Wei's face. "Don't choose the hard way, Jing. I've gone soft on you for too long already."

"Jing, don't agree to it!" Yun Fei was being restrained by a few players. Even when faced with the prospect of being beaten up yet again, he still tried to stop Jing.

Seeing that Yun Fei was being restrained, doubt appeared on Lü Jing's face. Biting back tears, she looked utterly miserable and pitiful as she said, "Why must you coerce me like this? How can something like love be forced?"

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Huang Wei stiffened. "If I say it can, it can. What's so bad about marrying me? I'll provide food, clothes, and lots of spending money. What more can you ask for?"

Lü Jing's suffering was clear on her face, and her tears finally began to fall. "Is giving me lots of spending money the same as love? That's not what I want!"

By this point, a crowd had gathered on the docks. There were, of course, plenty of onlookers, and when they saw such a lovely girl weeping from being forced into a marriage, many of them began to voice their disapproval, and other onlookers – who could not stand by idly – began to clench their fists and crack their knuckles. The atmosphere was increasingly volatile.

Huang Wei turned toward the crowd with an ominous look in his eyes. "Damn it, shut the hell up! Make any more noise and I'll bloody well chop you all up too."

Upon hearing that, the noise only grew louder and people began yelling angrily.

"Damn you! Being that cocky even though you're snatching someone's bride?"

"Chop me up? I'll chop _you_ guys up first!"

"He's too much, how could he coerce a girl like that!"

"Poor thing; the girl's already crying."

Huang Wei didn't back down in the face of the crowd's anger; in fact, he became even more arrogant. "Damn it, you people think you can get away with it just because there're more of you? Don't think that I, Huang Wei, only have so few men. Just wait till I call for ten of my boys to come and take care of you guys; we'll see if you dare to make a peep then."

"Mob boss Huang Wei?" someone in the crowd exclaimed. Anyone who had stayed in White Tiger City for any period of time would probably have heard of White Tiger City's tyrant, Huang Wei, who would – with the support of his eight lackeys – bully others, use money to suppress his dissenters, kill players whom he didn't like, and flirt shamelessly with any pretty girl who caught his eye. Huang Wei had uncountable crimes listed against his name, but for the sake of money, there were still a huge number of people willing to work for him. No one dared to do anything to Huang Wei as long as all those warriors continued to work for him.

Those among the crowd who were about to intervene began to hesitate upon realizing that the cruel person in front of them was actually Huang Wei. After all, Huang Wei's power within White Tiger City was something they were all deeply familiar with. No one wanted to make things awkward for themselves, not if they wanted to remain in White Tiger City…

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Yun Fei and Lü Jing had originally pinned their hopes on the indignant audience coming to their aid; they had not expected that Huang Wei's name alone could scare the crowd like this. Their spirits sank.

"As expected,ēwouldonlydo somethinganidiotlikefoolishDàg like upholding

justice," Yun Fei said with a bitter laugh before he lapsed back into silence. It seemed to him that it would be a very, very long time before he and Jing would be able to go to the Central Continent to look for Xiao Lan.

"…" Lü Jing's tears had long since stopped. She could only sigh in resignation as she looked at the crowd of people, none of whom dared to step up in their defense. It looked like she and Yun would have to go missing from _Second Life_ for a period of time.

Huang Wei looked satisfactorily at the now-silent audience, before turning to Yun Fei and Lü Jing. "Lü Jing, are you going to be my wife or not? I'm telling you, I've already positioned men at all the rebirth points. If you say no, I'll definitely have this kid killed over and over again until he hits level one."

Yun Fei's and Lü Jing's faces were both bone-white. Lü Jing opened her mouth, but the words refused to leave her mouth…

"If she'll marry you, I'll swallow my _dao_ whole," a familiar voice said. Yun's and Jing's hearts skipped a beat as they thought, _Dàg__ē_ ?

Yun looked ecstatically toward the source of the voice. At that moment, the person had also walked out from the crowd – it was a masked white-haired elf. In an emotional voice, Yunēis anexcelfaimed,ē?"alright"Elf?.IsthatDàgyou, Dàg

The elf smiled slightly. "Aside from me, which other elf would be sightseeing here on the Eastern Continent?" True, only an elf like him with his level 100 "ability" to get lost would be wandering around here…

"Dàgē…" Jing's expression was beyond complicated.

The elf looked toward Huang Wei and said softly in a voice laced with the threat of an imminent storm. "Huang Wei, right? Looks like the lesson I gave you the last time around wasn't enough."

"You…!" Although he was livid with rage, Huang Wei had not forgotten the fright he'd received from the elf during their last encounter. It was precisely because he knew that Yun Fei and Lü Jing were no longer traveling with that person that he had dared to stall the duo, but now he'd bumped into this formidable elf, whom he had no intention of riling, yet again.

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"God damn it, don't think that I'm really scared of you. Last time you snuck up on me, but it won't be that easy this time. Boys, get him! Whoever kills him will be heavily rewarded!" In front of a crowd, there was no way Huang Wei would willingly back down and lose face. Besides, the elf only managed to win the last time around by using a sneak attack; this time, he – Huang Wei – would be well-prepared. He would have his revenge!

"The fight's started, Kenshin," the elf remarked smilingly to the red-haired warrior next to him, who looked like a newbie. The red-haired warrior only nodded, his face an icy mask.

Two figures streaked toward Huang Wei and his men at lightning speed…

"Dàgē…" Yun Fei wasē astonished; he'd never thought that Dàg would once again help

them withoutētreatnotherthem sowordwell?.WhyEvendidafterDàghe and Jing had

pushed him off a cliff, snatched the hair tie from him, and were planning to run away, Dàgēwould still help them unconditionally. _This__ē_ _Dàgrea lly such a fool_, Yun thought, but in spite of his words, he was deeply touched, and warmth enveloped his heart.

"Jing, let'sētotheaccompCentr**a**nylContinent,Dàg okay?" Yun said calmly to Jing,

but while it was phrased as a question, he stated it like it was a matter of course. "After we look up Xiaoē.LanIdon'tinthewantCentralto Continent, I want to follow Dàg

look for the professor and Prince anymore."

"Yeah," Jing replied without hesitation as she looked at the two figures engaging Huang Wei in combat. She, too, knew that they would be the real idiots not to follow someone likeē. Dàg

After the elf and the red-haired warrior had thoroughly taken care of the eight thugs and Huang Wei, the elf threw back his head and laughed for a long time, clearly astonishing the surrounding crowd with his arrogant demeanor.

"Dàgē,we're definitely following you." Yun Fei's and Lü Jing's eyes glittered with determination and there were broad smiles on their faces.

½Prince Volume 3 : Reality and Fantasy

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½Prince Volume 3 : Records of the Vagabond

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**S****YNOPSIS****:**

The Adventurers' Tournament is finally over, although the last survivor was someone rather unexpected. In any case, Odd Squad can be considered the victors. Unfortunately, now there's a rather pressing matter at hand – _that is, we're going to build a city!_

Looks like everyone has a field of expertise, except me, _waaah!_ So I was sent on a "simple mission" and given the responsibility to rope in, rope in, and rope in all the people we knew well into helping out with the construction of the city. _Let me think for a_ _moment about who I should look for… There's Dark Emperor, Nan Gong Zui, and Rose Team, whom I haven't met in a while…_

Unexpectedly, my first time drinking led to a huge problem – I actually drank until I got lost! _God, just tell me straight: Where on earth am I? Please don't torture this poor soul_

_– who can reach the South Pole by following the North Star – any longer…_

_Aiyah_! To actually meet someone I whom I know from the real world, and it's not_ one _but _two_ persons. _Is this good luck or bad luck?_

_Hmm… This NPC in front of my eyes looks rather… familiar?_

**A****BOUT THE**** A****UTHOR**:

Yu Wo:

Who am I? Sometimes I am like a warrior, wielding a sword on the battlefield with limitless passion and energy. At other times, I resemble a mage, with a mind devoted to research, completely absorbed in the things I like. Or I might be like a thief, leading a free and easy life, letting fate lead me to distant and unfamiliar lands. Occasionally, however I am similar to a priest, with a gentle heart, filled with compassion towards the living things of this world. Ultimately, I am a kindly Fantastical world.

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Records of a Vagabond Prince

**H****ALF**** P****RINCE**** V****OL****. 3**

**Original novel in Chinese by: **御我** (Yu Wo)**

**Table of Contents **

**Disclaimer ...**

** 4**

**Chapter 1: The Final Victor ...**

** 6**

**Chapter 2: Infinite City ...**

** 15**

**Chapter 3: Everyone has Assembled ...**

** 27**

**Chapter 4: Jing and Yun ...**

** 35**

**Chapter 5: Demon King Kenshin ...**

** 58**

**Chapter 6: The Demonic Dark God ...**

** 79**

**Chapter 7: The Battle Begins ...**

** 99**

**Extra Chapter: Companions for Eternity ...**

** 116**

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**Disclaimer **

Please take note of the following:

- The followi½PrincegtranslationisbyPrinceof Revolution! and is a "by fans, for fans" translation.

- This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this, you have been ripped off!

- Prince Revolution! does NOT ask for donations, payment, or anything else of the sort. We do not benefit monetarily from our translations AT ALL.

- We only ask that you do NOT steal credit or attempt to profit monetarily from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across any individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translation.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthels are held by Yu W o, the author of the novels.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthel artworks are held by Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu,

the cover artists for the first and second editions of the novels respectively.

- Copyrights½Princetomanhuathe artwork are held by Cai Hong Z hong, the

artist½Princeforthemanhua.

- Prince Revolution! has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novels into English. However, this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

- As such, please cease distribution of this PDF once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

**Links**

Prince Revolution!

Yuʼs WoBlg

.cc/blog/kim1984429

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**C****REDITS**

**Translators:**

Eilinel (chapters 3-4)

Erihppas (chapter 5)

Samuki (chapters 1-2 and 8)

Spence (chapter 6)

Desiree (chapter 7)

**Proofreaders:**

Bridget (chapters 4-5 and 7-8)

EvlNabiki (chapters 3-4 and 6-7)

Hopehime4 (chapters 5-6)

Iskeirka (chapters 3 and 8)

ShadowRebirth (chapters 1-3 and 5-8)

**C/E Editors:**

Erialis (chapters 1-8)

**PDF and eBook Formatter**

Katerina

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**Chapter 1: The Final Victor **

"Let's get started, Wicked. Don't make me repeat myself," my voice, laced with anger, rang out.

Wicked gazed at me solemnly, a trace of melancholy in his eyes. At long last he drew his sword and said, "Then, before that – I want to duel Zui. I can't let you keep hogging the limelight."

I scratched my cheek, wondering, _Had I really been hogging the limelight? Okay…maybe_ _just a little. _"As you wish."

I glanced over at Zui and Fan, just in time to see Fan being forced into a corner before being cut in half by Zui. _Seems like Fan isn't Zui's match in one-to-one combat, despite_ _being his superior when it comes to strategy and tactics… (Or should I say Fan's a sneakier bastard?) Could it be that it was very cruel of me to have forcibly hauled Fan back from the brink of death, only to let Zui beat him to death? …Never mind! At the very least, it's better for him this way than being beaten to death by me instead._

After finishing Fan off, Nan Gong Zui walked slowly toward me. _It can't be that he_ _wants to challenge me to a duel, can it? Interesting! _I thought. With a faint smile I raisedBlack Dao, readying myself. I watched as Nan Gong Zui drew closer to me with each step. _He's about to attack!_ I tensed up…

"Thank you, Prince," Zui said suddenly.

"…Huh?" I froze. _Thank me? I massacred all his allies and still the man wants to thank_ _me?_

"You gave Fan and I the chance for a fair duel to the death," Nan Gong Zui hastened to clarify as he eyed my unconvinced expression. "Besides, that was the main reason why I entered the tournament in the first place."

"Oh… Ah, right, Wicked said that he wants to fight you first." I pointed over at Wicked.

Nan Gong Zui simply smiled upon hearing that. "There's no need; I'm the only one left in my alliance, so there's no point in fighting on. Besides, I have more important matters to settle, so you might as well kill me now, Prince," he said, a deep melancholy in his eyes.

His gloomy mood rubbed off on me, and I said softly, "All right then…"

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Before I had even finished what I was saying, a sword's blade suddenly pierced through Zui's chest –and the owner of the sword was none other than Wicked. Wicked wore an irate expression as he looked at Zui.

_I can overlook the fact that this fellow became friends with Xiao Lan, _he thought,_ and it's no big deal if he had the opportunity to be carried by Xiao Lan in her arms. But now he actually dares to ask Xiao Lan to kill him? Why can't he just go and find some place to die quietly by himself?_

"Wicked, what are you doing?" I exclaimed, deeply displeased. "Zui already said he wanted _me_ to kill him!"

A flicker of realization darted across Nan Gong Zui's face as he looked at Wicked's resentful gaze. "Never mind, it doesn't matter, Prince," Zui said. "After I've settled my business, I'll look you up for a drink…"

The conversation was once again interrupted as a translucent arrow was fired from behind me, on my right, landing squarely in the middle of Nan Gong Zui's forehead. The culprit, Gui, threw a cold glance at Nan Gong Zui. I thought, _I guess you could say that_ _Gui was more chivalrous than Wicked; at least he waited for Nan Gong Zui to say that he would come back to look for me before he finished him off!_

Watching as Nan Gong Zui's pillar of white light shot off into the sky, Gui and Wicked both revealed sinister, satisfied smiles as they thought, _Who asked that slightly handsome_ _bastard to get close to Prince!?_

"Since when were the two of you on such good terms?" _Even their smiles are identical_, I thought as I looked suspiciously at those two butchers. However, as soon as I said that they immediately stopped smiling, and even glared hatefully at each other.

"Two weirdoes…" I muttered to myself.

I hefted my Black Dao and leveled it at Wicked. "Whatever the case, it's now time for us to fight to the death once again, Wicked. I really missed your longsword – and your moves that seem to come out of nowhere!"

hg

"Prince…" _Xiao Lan…_thought Wicked, pained. How could he possibly turn his blade on his beloved Xiao Lan? Originally, Wicked had planned to perish together with Nan Gong Zui, so that Xiao Lan would be spared from having to kill her friend, and also so that he wouldn't have to swing his sword at his own beloved girl _—_ even though it would mean letting down his friends in Dark Emperor!

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Wicked looked towards his teammates and they returned his gaze expectantly, waiting for him to draw his sword. As for Feng Wu Qing, he had long since drawn his own rapier…

_Feng Wu Qing, if you knew that this was your own sister, would you still be able to attack her?_

(_Feng Lan: You don't have to worry about that, he'll be more than happy to thrash his_ _sister – who stole his women from him – till kingdom come_…)

hg

I waited for Wicked to draw his sword, but for a long time he didn't move an inch…

_Could it be that Zhuo-g__ē__ge wants to let me attack first? _I frowned, feeling extremelyticked off. _I want to win, but not this way!_ I roared, "Draw your sword!"

My fury only blazed more fiercely still as Wicked continued to look at me hesitantly.

_What's this supposed to mean? That I can only win if people go easy on me? I—_

Suddenly, Gui rested a hand on my shoulder and the look in his eyes seemed to be telling me to calm down. He walked up next to Wicked and murmured by the latter's ear, "If you don't want to lose Prince forever, then you'd better draw your sword. Any kind of concession on your part will only further agitate him. Do you still not understand what he's like, even though you've known him for eight years?"

_The problem is_, Wicked thought,_ Xiao Lan didn't use to be like this. _In the game_ The World_, she had always hidden behind him, and was always cajoling him to buy things forher. Wicked felt nostalgic as he recollected Xiao Lan's impish antics, but… _Now she's_ _really grown up. Now she's always at the front of her team, always laughing delightedly even as she fights, weapon in hand; now she knows how to work hard for what she wants. Prince isn't the old Xiao Lan anymore._

"I admire the current Prince…" _But I miss the Xiao Lan from before_, Wicked added silently in his heart.

Wicked looked steadily at Gui. "Watch your own back; even if you've just helped me, we're still love rivals. Just you wait; I'll still gut you like an animal later."

Gui's lips curled upwards slightly. "My words exactly."

Wicked finally drew his sword, and I gave a satisfied swing of my Black Dao. Both teams began to prepare for the battle ahead. Wolf-dàgēhurriedly told Doll to summon her skeletal minions and then directed us to take up our positions. When the members of both teams had taken up their positions, the skeletons and I stood in a fan-shaped formation in front to protect the rest of the team, while Dark Emperor had Wicked and Feng Wu Qing at the fore.

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Wolf-dàgēreminded us, "Everyone, the outcome of the battle w ill be determined the moment the mages cast their large-scale spells. As such, we have to either cast our spell first, or take down Ming Huang. Lolidragon, you'll go and distract Playboy Lord, and no matter what you must not let them kill Yu Lian. If you can, finish Ming Huang off. Gui, you'll have to pay attention to the enemy archer. Doll, you hide at the back as much as you can and keep the number of skeletons up. Your job is to stay alive. Last of all, Prince, your duty is to protect all the team members."

All of us gave Wolf-dàgēan "OK" sign.

Wolf-dàgēobserved Dark Emperor for a moment, and after making sure that their preparations were ready, he tore a corner off the hem of his shirt and threw it into the air. Everyone watched as it slowly drifted to the ground – and landed!

Both sides went into action simultaneously.

hg

After releasing his breath explosively, the commentator Xiao Li exclaimed, "The final battle has begun at last! It's a showdown between Odd Squad and Dark Emperor — which team will be the victors of the Adventurers' Tournament? Presently, we can see the Blood Elf Prince engaged in battle with the dark elf Wicked, as well as the human swordsman Feng Wu Qing. The movement of their weapons is so rapid that I, Xiao Li, can't even begin describing their moves.

"Prince is now executing a series of attacks, following it up with a flying kick, then a low kick… Wicked isn't backing down either, crouching and whirling around quickly to evade Prince's attack. Now it's Wicked's turn on the offensive with a Z-shaped attack, almost hitting Prince… Has it appeared; is that Prince's ultimate attack? Heavens, a series of blows, all laced with flames, what an amazing move! But did it hit Wicked at all? Pity… Only one attack landed and once again there is a clash of blades. How will this contest between longsword and _dao_ end?

"Next, let's take a look at how Feng Wu Qing is decimating the ranks of skeletons with his rapier —he seems to be holding his own against eight skeletons! The way he handles his rapier is simply incredible; all of his attacks are deadly. The speed with which the skeletons' HP is going down has left the necromancer in a fluster… Wait a minute! Everyone quick, look at the battle between the thieves; it's like a fight between wind and wind. Did you see that? The two shadows are darting about the stadium relentlessly, drawing close to Odd Squad at times, forced back toward Dark Emperor at others, so quickly that I, Xiao Li, cannot differentiate one from the other!

"As for the mages on both sides… Are they preparing to cast large-scale magic? No, they're both now maintaining shielding spells over their teams. It looks like neither mage is able to execute such attacks for fear of the long-range attackers on the opposing team.

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The mages and long-range attackers have come to a stalemate; it looks like they can only sit tight and hope that their warriors at the frontline will triumph, or that their thieves will be able to successfully assassinate members of the other team."

hg

_I see, so it all depends on the warriors and thieves huh? _I smiled._ I definitely cannot lose to Lolidragon; otherwise she'll use her piercingly shrill laughter to make jabs at me. _Idecided to step up the pace, increasing the speed of my attacks.

_I wonder if you can still manage to keep up so effortlessly, Wicked? _I smiled slightly.

"Ugh…!" A sudden flare of pain in my knee – _Impossible! I'd clearly dodged all of_ _Wicked's blows! _I looked down and saw that it was actually an arrow, its head buried inmy knee. I raised my head to look at Ambusher and sure enough, he was smirking at me. Worse still, a whole volley of arrows was flying toward me. With an effort, I managed to roll away, but an arrow still found its mark in my left shoulder. Cold sweat poured down my back even as pain washed over me. Luckily, Wolf-dàgēimmediately restored a large amount of the HP that I'd lost, so I was able to get back to my feet, but only with considerable effort on my part.

I turned around hurriedly to face Wicked in case he was going to make use of the opportunity to attack me…but he was just standing there with a look of reluctance on his face. I glared furiously at him and even swung my Black Dao in front of his face a couple of times. _I think I must be the first person on Earth who's ever had to remind the enemy_ _in the middle of a fight to not hesitate to attack, and even to take advantage of the opportunity to land a sneak attack!_

Wicked seemed to have finally decided to quit dawdling. "_Flawless Circle of Profundity_

_– True Blade of the Solitary Man_."

_What a bizarre-sounding move_…_ Of course, I'm not going to lose to you. _"Watch me!_ Ringing Blade, Frenzied Strike_!"

My Black Dao seemed to morph into a thousand copies, each blade striking Wicked from a different direction. Blood spurted as wounds appeared all over Wicked's body, but…

True Blade of the Solitary Man _indeed,_ I thought. _I see. It's completely different from my_ Ringing Blade, Frenzied Strike_. That move of Wicked's was designed to pierce just one_ _time, but to hit a vital point in the process._

Unfortunately, due my wounded knee, I was only just barely able to prevent the attack from piercing my heart by shifting slightly. My _dao_ was around twenty centimeters away from Wicked's neck, whereas his longsword was buried deeply in the right side of my

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chest. Moreover, the point of the blade was angled towards the left side of my chest, at my heart. _No matter how you look at it, it seems that I'll be dead before him…_

hg

Back to main fight, neither Yu Lian, who was maintaining the protective shield, nor Gui, who was waiting for the opportunity to strike, had expected the enemy archer to leave the safety of his team's shield to spring an attack on Prince. It was clearly a kamikaze strategy…but what was still more frustrating for them was that even though Yu Lian immediately dropped the protective shield, letting Gui rain a barrage of arrows on Ambusher, the archer continued to fire a number of shots at Prince before he died.

Gui quickly turned to check on Prince's condition. Upon seeing the situation, his heart almost stopped, but lucky his hand continued to reflexively fire arrows. Wicked, who had not noticed Gui, was hit squarely in the middle of his forehead by an arrow. He looked at Gui with astonishment in his eyes before turning into a pillar of white light and shooting away into the sky.

hg

I breathed a sigh of relief, but instantly the pain in the right side of my chest nearly overwhelmed me. Gripping my chest tightly, I forced myself to endure the agony as I waited for Wolf-dàgēto finish the incantation for the healing spell. _I have to get rid of_ _Ming Huang while he's still casting the spell for the large-scale magic…_

"Urgh!" I looked down disbelievingly at the blade that had just emerged from between my ribs, and then turned my head to look at the owner of the rapier… _It's a really_ _complicated feeling, dying at the hands of your own brother! _I thought._ Feng Wu Qing, you bastard, you sure chose a good time to kill your sister!_

"Prince…!" Gui gave an ear-shattering roar, but could only watch on helplessly as I followed in Wicked's footsteps and turned into a pillar of light.

hg

Ugly Wolf, who wasn't able to cast the healing spell in time, could only direct the team to change tactics. "Doll, block Feng Wu Qing. Gui, get rid of the mage. Yu Lian…" Ugly Wolf turned toward Yu Lian, about to ask her to begin the incantation for her large-scale magic, but Yu Lian had already seen Ming Huang chanting the incantation and begun chanting her own.

Feng Wu Qing could see that the situation had turned against Dark Emperor. Should he hurry back and protect Ming Huang, or should he go up to Odd Squad and kill off their mage?

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"Playboy, quit fooling around over there and come over here to help!" he roared, even as he backed up to Ming Huang, using his body to shield the latter and frantically deflecting Gui's _Supersonic Soul-chasing Arrow_s with his rapier.

Playboy Lord only smiled bitterly as he thought, _Does Wu Qing think that I actually_ want _to fool around? _If he hadn't been following that elf thief – who was fast as the wind andcould burrow into the ground – closely, she would have assassinated heaven only knows how many members of Dark Emperor already. Still, as the situation seemed to call for a different strategy, Playboy Lord gave up on pursuing Lolidragon and turned his attention to the other members of Odd Squad.

Lolidragon and Playboy Lord were locked in a stalemate as they circled Yu Lian continuously. Playboy Lord knew that he would be unable to attack Yu Lian right in front of Lolidragon's eyes. He smiled coldly, and with a light step, retreated several meters. He turned around at the same time and the dagger in his hand scored a line across Doll's throat. Thus, adorable Doll was killed and the skeletons that had been about to pursue and attack Feng Wu Qing also crumbled into dust.

"Damn it!" With a single leap, Lolidragon jumped and landed right in front of Playboy Lord. Not caring that she was weaker than Playboy Lord in terms of physical strength, she attacked him in a flurry of dagger blows. Light danced and glinted off their daggers, and there was the sound of metal on metal as their blades met over and over again unrelentingly.

"… _Wrath of the Nine Heavens_!" Ming Huang spat out the final line of the incantation viciously.

"…_Meteor Shower_!" Yu Lian-dàsăowas only slower by a heartbeat.

Instantly, the earth and the skies began to heave violently…

"Shit," both teams thought at the same time.

hg

As an aftereffect of death, I was a little fuzzy-headed when I stepped back into the stadium and stood next to Ambusher, who had arrived a long while ago. I'd returned just in time to witness an amazing sight – Ming Huang's lightning had consolidated into pillars of electricity, and there were so many meteors descending in Yu Lian-dàsăo's meteor shower that you could lose track of the number of wishes you'd made on them. I searched the arena for signs of survivors…but unfortunately, I couldn't see anyone.

"Don't tell me it's a draw again! Wicked and I survived the last time, but everyone perished this time around?" I remarked.

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I waited silently for the spells to dissipate and for the outcome to be decided. Just then, Wicked too came to stand beside me quietly…and then came Doll, with two streaks of tears on her cheeks, and was whining about the pain as she came up to me. The seconds seemed to tick by slowly, and we grew tenser with each passing moment.

The commentator Xiao Li seemed to be just as eager as the audience to know the outcome. "Members of the audience, this is the moment of the tournament that we've been anticipating most. Which team will be the ultimate champions of the Adventurers' Tournament, Dark Emperor or Odd Squad? Or were both teams annihilated? Ah… The spells have faded away. There seems to be figure in the midst of all that smoke; let's see which side he or she belongs to. That's, that's… The person lying on the floor is Feng Wu Qing, the human swordsman from Dark Emperor! Although he's close to death, he is still alive. The winning team has emerged!"

"Ah! It's Wu Qing!" I couldn't help feeling a little crestfallen, but it made sense that the sole survivor of the deadly storm of magic would be the warrior, with the highest HP and strongest defense. I turned to Wicked. "Congratulations on winning."

The audience went into a frenzy of roars and cheers. Xiao Li's voice was like the sound of pigs being butchered as he shrieked, "Dark Emperor! Dark Emperor has emerged victorious!"

A hand appeared! From the arena's dirt floor, a hand abruptly shot out. At first only a few spectators stared at it in silence with mouths gaping wide open, but like a contagious disease, that silence soon spread across the rest of the audience as everyone stared at the hand sticking out of the ground… The entire stadium was engulfed in silence!

"What is that thing?" I went numb all over, thinking, _Don't tell me it's the fourteenth day_ _of the seventh lunar month… Could it be a haunting? No way! Do those things also play online games?__1_

Following that, another hand shot up through the ground. More than a few members of the audience couldn't take the terror and were already screaming…

"Whew… It's a good thing I'd taken the pains to learn _Burrowing_," Lolidragon muttered to herself as she clambered up from the ground and began dusting off the dirt from her clothes.

1** Fourteenth day of the seventh lunar month: **This is more commonly known as the "Ghost Festival", atraditional Chinese festival that takes place on the fourteenth day of the seventh lunar month every year and is usually celebrated by Taoists and Buddhists. The seventh lunar month in general is known as the Ghost Month, during which the gates between the realm of the living and the realms of the dead are believed to be opened such that the dead may freely walk the earth. The fourteenth day is known as the Ghost Day and it is on that day in particular that deceased ancestors would visit their living relatives.

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I paid no mind to my image as I gaped at the sight. However, my mouth wasn't gaping _that _widely compared to the members of Dark Emperor, the audience, and Xiao Li.

When Lolidragon had finally finished patting off the dirt, she sauntered over to Feng Wu Qing with an intolerably smug smirk on her face. "_Yooou_ look like you're about to die!" The evil smile on her face was definitely Satan's own; it was a bewitchingly charming smile, but one which you would definitely _not_ want to see twice!

Lolidragon raised her dagger, but lowered it after a moment as the smile on her face grew even smugger. She lifted her foot lightly and then stomped forcefully on Feng Wu Qing's solar plexus. As she grinded her foot into his chest, she remarked coyly, "As the saying goes, 'dying under the peony, a gallant hero even as a ghost'.2 Isn't that right, great hero Chu Liu Xiang?"

Finally, Feng Wu Qing vomited a huge mouthful of blood and then turned into a pillar of white light which shot into the sky… _I really can't tell, was he stomped to death, or_ _infuriated to death?_

"Odd Squad, victory!" yelled the referee.

2** Dying under the peony, a gallant hero even as a ghost: **This is actually a line from a poem, which hasalso become a well-known saying. What "dying under the peony" actually means is "to be killed by a beautiful woman". Thus, the saying's meaning is actually along the lines of "a gallant hero should act like a man and not mind dying at the hands of a beautiful woman". (In case anyone's forgotten, Chu Liu Xiang is the fictional character that Wu Qing loves to emulate. He's supposedly a gallant hero but also a huge flirt as well.)

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**Chapter 2: Infinite City **

"Why must I be the liege lord?" I grumbled, malcontented. _I don't even have the foggiest_ _notion of what to do as a liege lord; wouldn't it be better if the position was given to Wolf-dàg__ē__?Making me the liege lord! I'm not even sure what to do with our new_

_territory. What are we going to do with it, farm?_

"Let me ask you, Prince," said Lolidragon in an interrogative manner as she jabbed a finger at my nose, "Do you know how to devise strategies or command troops like Wolf-dàgē,and so be put in charge of the military department?"

I cocked my head to one side, thinking, _Me, handle military matters? I don't even know_ _what the difference between strategies and tactics is… _"I don't know how to."

"Or are you by some chance like Yulian-dàsăo, with the talent to manage finances and accounts with incomparable skill, able to use money to generate more money, and so manage the finance department? Are you, in addition, a mage, and so able to take charge of the mages' department as well?"

"No, I can't." _It's already an achievement in itself if I don't spend all of my money, and_ _besides, I'm not a mage, _I thought, feeling sorry for myself.

"Then do you have a brain as good as Gui's? Are you able to come up with the blueprints for the entire territory and even supervise the entire construction process?"

I went to a corner to be gloomy. "About drawing… People have always said that the dogs I draw looked more like cats."

"Then do you have my technical knowledge, to be able to lay traps around the territory to prevent monsters or other players from attacking?"

"Not stepping on one of those traps myself, that can already be considered a blessing…" There were now two ghost fires floating next to me.

"Then are you by any chance able to summon skeletons like Doll, to help with the construction?" Lolidragon questioned, dealing me a final blow.

_I didn't expect…that even Doll's more useful than I am! I want to weep… _"If I'm souseless, why do you still want me to be the liege lord?" I pouted, sulking.

Lolidragon gave me a pat on my shoulder, her face the picture of kindness – _or was it_ _faux kindness? _– as she looked at me. "That's precisely why we want you to be the liegelord! After all, the only thing you can be is the liege lord, who doesn't need to do

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anything except be good-looking, be presentable, and not do anything to damage our territory's reputation!"

"So that's how it is! So it's because I don't know how to do anything that I can only be the liege lord…" My eyes filled with two large, glistening tears and I whimpered. "I must apply myself to learning some skills from now on, otherwise I'll never amount to anything more than a liege lord."

_…Is being the liege lord really such a sad thing? _wondered the remaining members ofOdd Squad.

Backtracking a little, back on that day when Lolidragon used _Burrowing_ to safely sit out the havoc wrought by the two large-scale AOE spells, stomped Feng Wu Qing to death, and then snatched victory back for Odd Squad in the Adventurers' Tournament, we went onstage happily to claim our prize as a team. We drank in the deafening cheers of the crowd and admired the remarkable sight of the members of Dark Emperor standing stock-still, mouths gaping in shock for an entire hour…until the headaches began.

Of all the prizes, the most significant one was a piece of land, which we were suddenly saddled with for no reason. According to hearsay, it could compare with Sun, Moon, and Star cities in terms of size, and so we had no choice but to start discussing how to manage this piece of trouble…

"This land of ours is really no small burden. Sun, Moon and Star cities are spread out along the fringes of this continent in a triangular formation; as the cities are quite far from one another, and as teleportation fees are expensive, most players will usually opt to make one of the three cities their base camp and then train in its vicinity. Our territory lies right smack in the middle of the entire continent, however, and the amount of time needed to travel from our land to any of the key areas on this continent is pretty much the same.

"As such, if we play our cards right, we'll definitely be able to lure most of the players away from Sun, Moon, and Star cities and get them to settle down here. However, for the same reason there will be many people eyeing this piece of land…and that will probably be much scarier than an attack by mobs," Lolidragon mused, frowning. "Although the developers have provided us with NPC guards for the moment, once the time's up, they will be removed, after which we will have to defend the city on our own. While we can hire NPC guards, they're overly expensive and, after all, they're not human players. They lack adaptability and thus cannot be the main pillar of our defense. We must organize our own defense force, create a vibrant economy, and design our city well…"

That was how we began to divide the work among us… _And, as you can see, because_ _there's nothing special about me except my good looks, I ended up as an ornament – the liege lord!_

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"Although the liege lord is supposedly nothing more than an ornament, Prince, I have an assignment for you, to keep you from dying of boredom." Wolf-dàgēcleared his throat. "We have a serious shortage of manpower, so you have to recruit some help."

"Who am I going to recruit…?" _My fan club? You've got to be kidding me!_

"Rose Team." Lolidragon said as she tapped her chin with a finger thoughtfully. Upon seeing me flinch, she hurried to add, "Even though there was some unhappiness the last time we met, they're good people. I don't think they really felt that what happened was your fault. Besides, there are quite a few talented individuals in Rose Team."

"The big brothers and sisters from Dark Emperor too!" Doll exclaimed delighted. "They're all good people!"

"Nan Gong Zui!" Yulian-dàsăoadded, even as Gui's face hardened upon hearing that name. (His objections were overruled, however.) "To have been one of the head honchos of the three major alliances in the tournament, he must have considerable influence. If you can get him to join us, Prince, our force's numbers will be greatly bolstered."

"That's right, it's basically these people for now," Wolf-dàgēsaid with a nod. "While

we're pouring our sweat and blood into constructing the city, Prince you should make use of the time to chat with them and do some networking, and then get them to join us while you're at it. Oh, by the way, it'll be great if you can find other talented individuals as well. What do you think? Isn't your assignment quite simple?"

Biting my index finger, with my head tilted to one side, I thought, _It seems to be…quite_ _easy?!_

"Okay, then I'll get going. It'll be tough on you guys!" I felt a little guilty. _Everyone else_ _will be working hard on construction, whereas I'm running off to chit-chat… Sigh! It's all because I don't know how to do anything, that's why I'm so useless._

Everyone waved cheerfully at me as I left. I too waved back at them enthusiastically, and then embarked on my "chatting" journey…

hg

It was not until they could no longer see Prince that the smiles, which had been plastered on the faces of the remaining Odd Squad members, finally came off.

"Hmm… I feel a little guilty. We've tricked Prince into carrying the toughest job; I wonder if he'll be okay?" Wolf-dàgēremarked, looking slightly worried.

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"Don't worry about it; that fellow has extremely good luck with people in general. Besides, I don't have a conscience to speak of, so I don't feel the least bit guilty," Lolidragon said with an evil smile.

"Prince is the liege lord after all, so one way or another he has to have a little responsibility!" Yu Lian-dàsăosmiled, stretching her index finger and thumb as far apart as possible as she said "a little".

In a troubled tone, Gui asked, "But will Prince lose his way?"

_…That is the most worrying question indeed!_

hg

"Who should I look for first?" I agonized. "Oh well, I guess I'll look for Dark Emperor first; since Zhuo-gēge is there, it shouldn't be that difficult to recruit them, right?!"

I made up my mind and immediately PMed Wicked, saying, "Wicked, where are you guys? There's something I'd like to talk over with you all!"

"…We're in Star City, but it's better if you don't come over now." Upon receiving her message, Wicked was initially delighted at the prospect of being able to see Xiao Lan. However, after he took one long look at his drunken teammates sprawled about in the restaurant booth and thought of how they had been talking about hacking the members of Odd Squad into a million pieces just a moment ago while drinking, Wicked thought the better of letting Xiao Lan come over. "What's up?"

"I want to rope you guys into managing the territory!" I went straight to the point.

"Hmm… I'll talk things over with my teammates, but they're too angry to think straight right now, so it'll be better if you don't come over first."

"Oh, then I guess I'll look for Nan Gong Zui first," I replied, even as I thought, _Rose_ _Team… I guess I'll look for them last. _I still felt a little guilty about what happened, so Iwasn't ready to meet them yet.

Unbeknownst to Prince, Wicked's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're going to look for Nan Gong Zui?! That fellow Gui actually didn't try to stop you?"

"Yeah, he did. I have no idea why he was objecting, but after Lolidragon got him in a chokehold, he didn't object anymore." (_Or perhaps it was because he had no way to_ _voice his objections?_)_ Seriously, Gui gets jealous over just about anything. Are all gays this troublesome? He gets agitated if anyone approaches me, never mind whether they're male or female… He's such a poor thing!_

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"Don't look for Nan Gong Zui! I guarantee you that Dark Emperor will join you guys!" Wicked looked menacingly at his teammates on the floor; woe betide any naysayers!

"I knew you're the best, Zhuo-gēge! It's a done deal then; you have to join us!" I said happily, thinking, _One team down already, looks like I'll be back with my Odd Squad_ _teammates in no time! _"I'll go look for Nan Gong Zui now then."

"Hey—!"

I closed my private channel with Wicked and PMed Nan Gong Zui for the first time ever. "Nan Gong Zui, paging for Nan Gong Zui!"

"Who is it?"

"Prince," I reported my name cheerfully.

"…The Blood Elf?" Nan Gong Zui sounded somewhat startled.

"Just call me Prince." _Why does Nan Gong Zui like calling me "the Blood Elf" so much?_

"Oh, Prince. Is something the matter?" Nan Gong Zui asked enthusiastically. "Looking for me to go drinking together?"

"Erm…something like that, and there's some other stuff I want to discuss with you."

"No problem; come over first! I'm in Moon City, just let me know before you arrive," Nan Gong Zui replied, and his voice became tinged with frustration. "I still have to settle that problem with my godsister Ice Phoenix first."

"Sure. It might take me a few days to reach, as I'm still pretty far from Moon City, so take your time to settle things," I replied.

_So, my destination is Moon City? _I unfolded the map and saw that Moon City was on thewest side of the continent. _Which way is west?_ I looked blankly at the huge moon and the sky full of stars, thinking, _Gui told me before that if I can find the North Star, I'll be able_ _to tell which way's north…but what did he say about finding the North Star again? First I have to locate the Big Dipper…but what is the Big Dipper? _My head slumped to oneside, uncomprehending. (Gui: I couldn't get you to understand in the end, but didn't I give you a compass?)

hg

"Phoenix, do you mean to infuriate me to death?" Nan Gong Zui was on the verge of exploding with anger as he looked at his godsister. "Fan is clearly deceiving you; can you still not see that? Why did you foolishly send him yet another present?"

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Ice Phoenixē,is smileditreallysorrowfullywrongto."Dàglove a person, to want to

make sacrifices for his sake, to want to dedicate yourself to him? I believe that his heart will be truly moved by me one day."

"You, you…!" Nan Gong Zui gave an exasperated sigh as he wondered, _How is it that_ _women can be _this_ foolish?_

"I have loved Fan deeply since the moment I first laid eyes on him," Phoenix said. There was an intoxicated expression on her face as she recollected, "He is just like a perfect god. Back then, when he walked towards me, I even thought that I was looking at the most handsome Sun God, Apollo! I believe that there is no other person in the world who can rival his perfection."

Goose pimples broke out all over Nan Gong Zui's body. _Fan certainly is quite good-looking… I wonder, between him and Prince, which one of them would Phoenix prefer?_

"Ah… Fan's PMing me, I've got to hurry over," Phoenix said, almost beside herself with joy upon receiving Fan's message.

"I forbid you to go—" Before he could finish speaking, his godsister was already gone, and so Nan gong Zui had no choice but to hurriedly chase after his godsister's disappearing figure.

hg

In the end, I still took the wrong path. I inadvertently walked to the East instead, and thus wound up in Star City…after which I chose to simply travel to Moon City via the teleportation station. As it turns out, Moon City was actually a Chinese-styled city. As I wandered through the city, I happily admired the bamboo buildings, red lanterns, and the streets full of fan-waving swordsmen.

_Talk about how the culture of a city influences the character of the people living in it… That's odd, why did my brother, that Chu Liu Xiang-wannabe, end up in Star City instead? _I mused as I gnawed on a stick of candied haws that I had just bought.

"Stop right there, Phoenix!" Nan Gong Zui grabbed Phoenix's hand angrily.

"Let ē;goletofmeme,lookDàgfor Fan!" Phoenix wailed.

I chewed another candied haw as I watched the scene unfold before my eyes, thinking,

_Looks like my luck's pretty good; I found Nan Gong Zui without even having to PM him!_

Fan sauntered over slowly towards the duo from the other end of the street with a smile on his face. "Nan Gong Zui, don't you think that your behavior's rather unsightly? You couldn't win your godsister's heart, so you're resorting to brute force now?"

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"What did you say? Don't spout nonsense, I just don't want her to be deceived by a bastard like you," Nan Gong Zui roared, enraged.

"Nan Gong Zui, you should be more careful about what you're saying. Who's deceiving her? Phoenix, have I ever tried to deceive you?" Fan asked, and his expression was one of confidence. "I made everything clear to you, including the fact that you're only one of the women I'm seeing."

"I know. It's okay, I don't mind at all," Phoenix replied, mesmerized by Fan's handsome side profile.

Fan shrugged and gave Nan Gong Zui a helpless look.

"You…" Nan Gong Zui was so furious that he had drawn his sword and was about to charge forward and duel Fan.

Terrified for her beloved, Phoenix hurried forward to bar Nan Gong Zui's path. "Stop it, Gēge! I won't allow you to harm Fan!"

Nan Gong Zui's expression revealed how wounded he was by her action. "Phoenix, you…"

"Dàgē,I…" Phoenix was wracked with guilt, but also unwilling to budge.

The atmosphere grew heavy as the situation stalemated. I swallowed the last candied haw, licked my lips, and tossed the remaining bamboo skewer into the trash bin.

…_An infatuated woman, a worried brother, and a heartless and dissolute playboy; this is_ _quite the detestable soap opera. Allow me to break up this meaningless drama! _I thoughtwith a devilish smirk.

I straightened my posture, affixed a slight smile to my face, elegance oozing from every pore_. Right now I am…the most perfect Lord Prince!_ In a low and warm voice, I said, "Nan Gong Zui, is that you?"

All those present turned to gaze at me – or more accurately, stared at me, blushing fiercely, their hearts thumping furiously – and I saw with satisfaction that even Ice Phoenix was looking at me infatuatedly. With elegant steps, I walked up to Nan Gong Zui, remarking, "My apologies, I arrived early. I'd meant to take a look around first and then pay you a visit. I hope it's not too much trouble?"

"It's not…" Nan Gong Zui looked at me with uncertainty. In his head, Nan Gong Zui was thinking, _The Prince here today seems…quite different from before?_

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"Hmm, this lady here… She must be your godsister, Ice Phoenix, correct?" I turned towards the stunned-looking Phoenix and flashed my most brilliant and peerless smile – one which could mesmerize both women _and_ men – at her. "Nan Gong Zui often mentions you!"

"Re- really?" Phoenix stammered as she stared fixedly at my face, enraptured.

"You're just as adorable as he described!" Inching my face closer and closer towards her as I spoke, I could almost hear her heart as it thumped wildly in her chest. Finally I took her hand lightly in mine, raised it to my lips, and brushed the back of her hand with a kiss.

Phoenix breathed in sharply, and then actually _fainted_… _Now I know that I'm hot enough_ _to make people faint, _I thought, as I carried the unconscious girl in my arms, mildlyexasperated. "Nan Gong Zui, come and claim your sister!"

"…" Nan Gong Zui came over and took Ice Phoenix from me wordlessly.

"It's you again, Prince!" Fan snarled. The mask of serenity that he had been wearing was starting to crumble away.

I grinned maliciously at him. "What? You wanted to see me _that_ badly?"

"Who would want to see you?" Fan's face had become twisted with hatred.

"Aiyah! Still trying to act tough?" I walked up to Fan with slow, deliberate steps, not forgetting to give him an ambiguous smile. "If you wanted to see me you just have to say so. I _guarantee_ you that I'll look you up whenever I'm free."

"Get away from me," Fan said, backing up three paces, and he even remembered to draw his sword and point it at me.

I laughed coldly. Placing my hands on my hip in a show of magnificent unconcern, I said, "You sure you want to fight me?"

Hearing that, Fan hesitated. He hadn't forgotten the Blood Elf's prowess on the battlefield, but there was no way for him to back out when his own reputation was at stake, and so his sword remained leveled at me unwaveringly.

My expression changed, growing severe within an instant. "Don't ever come near Ice Phoenix again. You should know that from this day on, her heart no longer belongs to you."

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Fan's face became almost mottled with rage, and he laughed mockingly before saying, "Blood Elf, aren't you a little too nosy? What happens between Phoenix and I is really none of your business."

"Hmph, Nan Gong Zui is my friend, his sister is my sister, so how can I stand by idly and watch as Phoenix gets played by a beast like you?" I drew my Black Dao and watched with considerable satisfaction as Fan paled, which made me decide to challenge him further. "If you want to fight, cut the crap and come at me!"

Fan looked at me with a sick expression, and then deliberately glanced at Nan Gong Zui, who was standing nearby. "Planning to fight me two on one, is it?"

I replied coldly, "Quit looking for excuses, you know very well that Nan Gong Zui won't interfere."

"That's hard to say!" Fan retorted nastily, sheathing his sword. "I've no interest in being ganged up on by two people!"

I said no more and only looked coldly at Fan. After all, I didn't really intend to fight him here on the streets, especially not for a reason like competing for a woman's heart…

Fan shot me an icy look before he turned to leave. "One day, I will exact from you everything you owe me, Blood Elf."

I lifted an eyebrow. "I'll be waiting."

_Sigh, this visit to Nan Gong Zui has left me with yet another beauty for a suitor and earned me the enmity of a formidable rival… If he still refuses to join us, even if he's a friend, I will definitely turn him into mincemeat. _With that thought, I turned to look atNan Gong Zui menacingly, but he continued to look at me with innocent confusion.

"Nan Gong Zui, are you going to join me or not?" I demanded, grabbing his collar.

"Huh?"

hg

_In Nan Gong Zui's house…_

"I see, so it's about the territory you won!" Nan Gong Zui smiled. "Have you decided on the name for your city yet?"

I was taking a long sip of my bubble tea, but I immediately froze upon hearing Zui's question. "My city's…name?"

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"What? You guys haven't decided on it yet?" Nan Gong Zui's astonishment was evident.

I cocked my head to one side, thinking, _Maybe they have already decided on it but forgot_ _to tell me? _"Wait a minute, let me ask them."

"Wolf-dàgē,does our city have a name yet?"

"…Oh no, we clean forgot about that. Prince, since you're the liege lord, you think of one!" was Wolf-dàgē'sirresponsible reply. "After you've come up with a name, you might as well go and register it with the Office of Land Development in the city. That's all."

_Why is it like this_… I frowned. "They asked me to think of name myself! Nan Gong Zui,help me come up with a name."

"…This kind of heavy responsibility is best left to you, the liege lord!"

I thought and thought, turning my head inside out and back again as I racked my brain for an idea, any idea…but I collapsed on the floor in tears in the end. _Uwaaah, I just can't_ _think of anything! _I turned my tearful gaze to Nan Gong Zui in a silent plea…

"…Why not call it Infinite City, to represent the limitless potential of the future?" Nan Gong Zui pronounced after mulling over it briefly.

"Excellent name!" I dashed up to Nan Gong Zui and clasped his hands. Looking at him with gratitude-filled eyes, I said cajolingly, "Since you've already helped with the founding of Infinite City, you can't run away now! You _have_ to join us, okay? Please,

_Zuiiiiii…_"

"…I think we should be able to join you guys. I've no problem with it, and our team's Phoenix is definitely going to follow you, which means that her older sister will too. Her sister's husband is our team's priest, and his younger brother is our team's thief, and the remaining person in the team will probably come along as well."

"…It's agreed then, I- I have other people to look for still, so I'll leave it to you to meet up with my teammates in Infinite City." The smile on my face had stiffened. _What Zui_ _just said…did he mean that if I don't take responsibility for Phoenix, her sister and two brothers-in-law will definitely hunt me down? Sigh, how am I going to survive in the future? _I considered getting Gui to design a secret room for me to hide in.

"Sure! No problem at all."

"Thanks, Zui," I smiled cheerfully, thinking, _That's another assignment completed!_

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Nan Gong Zui gave me a friendly knock on my chest and said, "Don't sweat it, what are friends for! Come on, let's go register your city's name and then go for a drink."

I smiled foolishly… _Will I actually be able hold my liquor?_

hg

"This is the only thief in my group, Kong Kong," Nan Gong Zui introduced the drinking companion that he'd invited along, the petite thief Kong Kong.

"Hello, I'm Prince," I introduced myself politely.

"Don't be fooled by how thin and small Kong Kong is; he can handle even a thousand drinks. You should watch out, Prince," Nan Gong Zui said with a hearty laugh.

I joined in and laughed heartily as well…but inwardly I felt really helpless! _I've never_ _gone drinking before and I'll be in a drinking competition with two men the first time I go drinking? Dear heavens! Isn't that asking a little too much from me? Waaah… I don't care anymore! It's not my problem no matter how things pan out!_

"Let us first toast to Prince for successfully clinching victory! Cheers!" Nan Gong Zui yelled.

"Cheers!" Kong Kong too, lifted his cup and yelled.

"Cheers!" I could only follow their lead. I stared at the liquid in my cup for three seconds, gritted my teeth, and then gulped down the contents of my cup… _It burns!_ I fought to hold back the tears. _Don't tell me I'm going to have to guzzle down a whole lot_ _more of this in a moment? It can't be, right? I want to cry…_

hg

_After three hours…_

"Another round!" I bellowed, swaying unsteadily as I held up my cup.

"Urgh… I can't, Prince. You're just too strong, let's stop drinking…" Kong Kong groaned from where he sat, half-sprawled out on the table. "If we keep drinking, I'll really die…"

"Hahahahaha, you can't out-drink me!" I laughed wildly, but my body was swaying uncontrollably. "And you still say you can handle a thousand, a thousand drinks?!"

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"That's because you, you won't collapse even after ten thousand drinks, Prince." Zui, who had passed out earlier, suddenly woke up and said. He massaged his temples. "Let's stop drinking and go back!"

"Okay…" I replied, feeling a little sullen.

The three of us staggered along the moonlight-flooded street. A faint feeling of melancholy wrapped about my heart and I suddenly felt the urge to draw my weapon and vent my feelings. Without sparing another thought, I drew my Black Dao and, like a person possessed, I swung and hacked and slashed, leaping and dodging furiously, roaring…until I was too exhausted to continue my rampage. I stood still, panting, all the moves that I'd executed up until now in the game flashing through my mind.

Eventually, I began to dance, the techniques melding together into a seamless flow, a dance. Bathed in the clear, icy moonlight, hearing only the delightful sound of my Black Dao whistling through the air, I felt euphoric and a smile crept onto my face, growing wider and wider. The moonlight, the blade, the slender, flitting figure, and the arrogant yet refined laugh – which only an elf could be capable of – wove together into an achingly beautiful melody which echoed throughout the rustic Moon City.

"Hahahaha…haha!" I laughed wildly.

"Excellent! An excellently proud swordsman," Nan Gong Zui roared approvingly. "Let's test how good you are, Prince!" With that, he drew his sword and leapt in front of me. Our blades met with a resounding clang, like a song of steel crashing down on the silence of the night.

"Here I come as well!" Kong Kong couldn't resist drawing his dagger and joining the fray, swift as a wind.

I aimed a kick at Kong Kong even as my _dao_ continued to fend off Nan Gong Zui's sword, and then followed up with a twist in mid-air, evading their combined attack. The three of us were like children fooling about on the street, dodging here and darting there, striking out at one another with our weapons from time to time. We fooled about in this fashion and had a whale of a time…until we reached Nan Gong Zui's place.

After waving goodbye to Zui, I looked up at the star-studded sky, suddenly filled with the desire to explore the ends of the earth! And so my legs carried me toward an unknown street…

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**Chapter 3: Everyone has Assembled **

"Sheesh, Prince hasn't been replying to my PMs for a few days now," Lolidragon complained.

"Well, you know that he's a really careless person. He probably just didn't notice the messages," Ugly Wolf replied absently. "How's the trap-setting coming along?"

"We've only covered one-quarter of the perimeter. Honestly, this city is too large," Lolidragon answered, her brow furrowing.

Ugly Wolf turned toward his wife. "Yu Lian, do we still have sufficient funds?"

Yu Lian's brow was also deeply furrowed. She replied, "If we build according to Gui's blueprint, we won't be able to complete the construction of the city just by depending on the tournament's prize money. I plan to build half the city first and open that part of the city to the public, and then continue to build the rest of the city with the tax income."

"Can't we just ask Gui to amend the blueprint?" Ugly Wolf asked with some anxiety.

"We can do that, but in my opinion, if we want to operate this city for a long period of time, or even make this city the largest city on the Central Continent, then Gui's blueprint is perfect." Yu Lian eyes shone as she spoke. She added, "I'm certain that we will not regret it in the future, even if we have to work harder now."

"You're probably right. As expected, you are more farsighted than I am," Ugly Wolf said with an affectionate look at his beloved wife.

"Wolf…" said Yu Lian bashfully, and the two of them gazed at each other with eyes full of love…

"I'll go and check up on Doll and Gui!" Lolidragon said quickly and walked away, looking rather embarrassed.

Lolidragon left the building, which was still under construction, and strode towards Doll, who was working hard to direct her skeletal minions to build a wall, and Gui, who was supervising the remaining NPCs and player workers.

"How's the situation? Is everything coming along alright?" Lolidragon asked.

"We're slightly behind schedule," Gui replied, not looking altogether pleased. "_Sigh_… It can't be helped since we simply don't have enough funds, so we can't hire more workers. If not for Doll's skeletons, the construction would probably go on for months."

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"_Sigh_… It would be nice if Prince could quickly find us some recruits and hurry back. Every little bit of help counts," Lolidragon said as she sat down, propping her chin on her hands in worry.

Doll suddenly came dashing over with a delighted expression on her face. "Wicked-gēge is here and all the big brothers and sisters from Dark Emperor have arrived as well."

As usual, Wicked was at the fore of his team. They walked up to Gui and Lolidragon and stopped.

"You're finally here," Gui said, raising his eyebrows and looking as though he wasn't in the least bit surprised to see Wicked.

"Where's Prince?" Wicked asked, frowning.

"Not back yet…" Gui replied, troubled.

"He's still at Nan Gong Zui's?" Wicked demanded as a vein popped on his temple. "And you didn't do anything to stop him?"

"Prince isn't my prisoner; on what grounds am I supposed to stop him?" Gui retorted acidly, and then added, "Besides, we really do need Nan Gong Zui's help." Although what Gui had said was the truth, Wicked still continued to glare fiercely at Gui.

As for Doll, she was happily holding both Ming Huang's – whose face was black as a thundercloud – and Wu Qing's hands. "Yay! Doll missed all of you big brothers and sisters very much! Did Ming Huang-gēge and Wu Qing -gēge miss me too?"

Feng Wu Qing's face softened, his disgruntled expression slowly replaced by a smile as he patted Doll's head and said, "Yes, I missed you very much! It's just that there was a certain someone whom I really didn't want to see." When he mentioned "a certain someone", Wu Qing fixed a glare at the female thief who was busy feigning innocence.

Ming Huang's expression of annoyance had started to slip as well, and when Doll turned to peer at him with her large, guileless eyes, he instantly surrendered. "Yes, yes, I did miss you," he said reluctantly.

"Playboy-gēge, Black Lily -jiějie," Do ll greeted the two smiling individuals and gave them each a peck on the cheek.

Just then, Ugly Wolf and Yu Lian emerged from the temporary headquarters and approached Dark Emperor with evident delight. "You guys are here, that's great! I was really worried at first that Dark Emperor might not be willing to help us." Ugly Wolf shook hands with Wicked.

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"We would not be so churlish. So long as we lost the showdown in a fair and square way, why should there be any resentment from us?" Feng Wu Qing said as he gently fanned himself, sounding for all the world like a perfect gentleman… _Then who was that person_ _who got drunk and said that he wanted to kill everyone from Odd Squad, especially Lolidragon? _The remaining members of Dark Emperor looked at Feng Wu Qinghelplessly.

"Nevertheless, thank you all very much for your willingness to come and help out. It'll really help to lighten our workload," Ugly Wolf said with a broad smile.

Yu Lian mumbled to herself, frowning, "It's still not enough people. I wonder if Prince will be able to convince Rose Team and Nan Gong Zui to help out."

"Of course he can!" A voice roared from the city gate, which was still under construction, causing the members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor to look sharply in that direction. A cloud of dust, accompanied by hoof beats, approached them swiftly and the person in the lead was none other than Nan Gong Zui himself. He rode up to Odd Squad, then abruptly stopped and dismounted. The one hundred and fifty riders at his back dismounted as well. "Prince isn't back yet?"

"Not yet…" The two teams answered in unison and stared dazedly at the ranks of a hundred and fifty riders and a hundred and fifty horses.

"I see. Then I'll have to wait until he returns to introduce our liege lord to my fellows. Here, let me introduce you all. This is my adventurers' group – The Righteous Blades. It consists almost entirely of warriors, plus a handful of priests and mages. As you can see, it's an adventurers' group with very high offensive power." Nan Gong Zui could not conceal a look of pride as he regarded the group which he had founded.

"An adventurers' group!" Lolidragon exclaimed, moved by the impressive sight of The Righteous Blades. She added, "I knew that the strength of Prince's dumb luck and popularity is nothing common. To think that he even managed to recruit an entire adventurers' group!"

The members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor nodded in agreement unconsciously…

_Prince is definitely unusually popular._

Nan Gong Zui only gave a small smile when he heard what Lolidragon said. He said, "The sole reason that I came here is because Prince is truly a person worthy of respect. My adventurers' group and I deeply admire the way he treats his friends and his martial prowess. All of us are very pleased to become a part of Infinite City."

"'Infinite City'?" Ugly Wolf asked, feeling slightly bewildered.

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"Huh? Hasn't Prince told you guys yet? I helped him to decide on 'Infinite City' as the name for the city. We've already registered it," Nan Gong Zui asked, puzzled.

"Infinite City! I can't believe that the last people to know the name of the city are us, the ones who own it! Where on earth did Prince run off to?" Lolidragon exclaimed totally losing her cool.

Yu Lian rubbed her temple and said, "Could it be that he didn't dare to look for Rose Team and was afraid of getting scolded by us, and so he decided to simply go missing instead?"

"I don't think he would go that far; shouldn't he already be accustomed to getting scolded by us?" Ugly Wolf said, sounding a tad worried. "Maybe he was rejected by Rose Team and felt so hurt that he decided to hide somewhere?"

"Don't tell me he lost his way and fell from some cliff again!" Gui said, his face white as a sheet, and even Wicked looked worried upon hearing that.

"What? Did he really fall from a cliff?" Ice Phoenix – who was standing next to Nan Gong Zui – demanded anxiously upon hearing Gui's words.

"Who are _you_?" Gui and Wicked turned their heads in unison to look at Phoenix, their eyes narrowing dangerously.

Before Phoenix could answer, a person who looked like a thief suddenly interjected, "It's not possible for Prince to do something as silly as falling off a cliff."

"And who might _you_ be?" Gui and Wicked once again turned to shoot a glare each at the speaker.

Nan Gong Zui immediately introduced them, "This is a mage in my adventurers' group, Ice Phoenix, and the other is a thief, Kong Kong. Kong Kong has gone drinking together with Prince and I before. Additionally, this is Phoenix's older sister, Madame White Bird. She is the strongest female warrior in my group and my second-in-command. Her husband, Chuang Wai, is one of the priests in the group."

"From what I've just heard, why does it seem like Prince is a muddle-headed sort of person?" Madame White Bird remarked, not wholly pleased. She did not wish to see her sister, Phoenix, fall in love with yet another weird person. Turning to Kong Kong, she demanded, "Kong Kong, it was you who said that Prince is strong, proud, and possesses extraordinary martial skill. You said that he is gentlemanly in his attitude toward women and is both frank and loyal towards his friends, a veritable man amongst men, which was why I did not object to the decision to become part of Infinite City. So why does Prince's character seem very different according to what they've just said?"

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Kong Kong instantly retorted, "I don't know why they spoke of Prince in such a way, but I've seen with my own eyes that Prince is exactly like how I've described him to be. After all, I've gone drinking with him and exchanged blows with him before. He is prideful and his martial prowess is at such a high level that even Captain Nan Gong and I couldn't win against him together. He always treats girls with a tender smile on his face; you can ask Phoenix about this. As for friends, you have all seen it for yourselves that day on the battlefield. Did he not go to Captain's rescue, even though they were opponents at the time?"

"Is that really the case?" Madame White Bird asked doubtfully as she looked at the members of Odd Squad.

"That's right. Prince is indeed as all of you have described. We were just joking around to lighten the atmosphere, please don't take it seriously," Ugly Wolf answered with a serious face… Overall, it wasn't a lie. Their description did fit Prince, and as for the other aspects of him, since they didn't ask…then there was no reason to mention them!

"Nan Gong, is that really the case?" Madame White Bird looked at Nan Gong Zui sternly.

Nan Gong Zui nodded. "Yeah. Moreover, although he may appear proud, he is actually quite easy-going and is easy to get along with." He hesitated for a moment and thought,

_That's how it is, right? Although Prince does do some pretty weird things at times! Still, that probably doesn't need to be mentioned…_

Madame White Bird's expression softened and she looked at Odd Squad apologetically, saying, "My apologies for having doubted your liege lord, but I had to be certain about this since the matter concerns the whole of The Righteous Blades." _Besides, the_ _happiness of my worrisome little sister is also at stake here. Phoenix always falls in love with some unsuitable person or another, making me worry. Still, this time it seems like she's finally fallen in love with the right person, _White Bird thought, and felt a knot ofworry undo in her chest.

"No problem at all, you should be vigilant indeed," Ugly Wolf said even as he ignored the voice of his conscience.

"When will we be able to meet the liege lord?" Madame White Bird asked.

"With regard to that, our liege lord is currently travelling around in the hopes of recruiting more people to help us construct and manage the city. I'm afraid all of you will have to wait for a while before we can introduce him to everyone." On the surface, Yu Lian answered Madame White Bird's question calmly and unhesitatingly. Privately, however, Yu Lian said through clenched teeth over team channel, "PM Prince straight away and don't stop PMing him until he replies. If they catch sight of Prince in his muddle-headed state, I'm afraid we'll lose this hard-to-come-by adventurers' group."

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_She's right, _thought the rest of Odd Squad. Their thoughts went to the sight of Princebiting his index finger and looking muddle-headed. _If the members of The Righteous_ _Blades see that sight, things will definitely get real messy. _With that thought, everyonebegan to spam Prince with PMs.

"I see. It must be hard for our liege lord," Madame White Bird said, nodding her head understandingly.

"Then let us discuss about the placement of everyone first, and about the personnel who will take up the key officers' job." Ugly Wolf voiced his opinion.

"Sure, no problem," Madame White Bird replied unhesitatingly.

Just as they were all about to enter the temporary headquarters, Doll suddenly caught sight of some very familiar-looking people at the city gates. "Eh! It's Rose-jiējie and the others," she cried out.

The members of Odd Squad turned to look. Sure enough, loitering by the city gates was none other than Rose Team. All of them looked slightly embarrassed as soon as they realized that Odd Squad had spotted them.

Ugly Wolf promptly walked toward Rose Team, saying, "So Prince found you guys; that's great!"

"Prince?" Broken Sword asked, looking a bit taken aback by Ugly Wolf's words.

"Wasn't it Prince who recruited you guys to help with the construction of Infinite City?" Ugly Wolf asked with uncertainty in his voice. His expression had also changed visibly.

Everyone from Rose Team looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Rose said apprehensively, "We didn't encounter Prince… We heard that you guys had won the tournament, so we wanted to come and apologize for the incident that happened last time, and also to see if you needed any help."

"So that's how it is. Then where on earth has Prince run off to…?" Ugly Wolf said, feeling a headache come up. However, as soon as he remembered that at his back stood the members of The Righteous Blades, he immediately said loudly, "It looks like you came here before Prince could even find you guys! That's great; we really need Rose Team's help."

"But, the last time, I vented my anger out on Prince. I'm really sorry about that," Broken Sword said, remorse clear on his face. "It really wasn't his fault at all."

"And I shouldn't have forced my feelings on Prince like that, and even…kissed him," Rose said, lowering her head. Her cheeks were flushed.

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Fairsky poked her head out from behind Li'l Strong's broad body, teary-eyed. "It's entirely my fault; I shouldn't have used those wrong ways to court Prince. I really know that I've behaved wrongly. I won't do it again."

Yu Lian patted Fairsky's head gently and enfolded the younger woman in her arms. Fairsky immediately began to sob softly. "Don't worry; Prince has never blamed you guys. He always wanted to reconcile with everyone from Rose Team. When he returns, I'm sure he'll be delighted to see all of you."

Upon hearing Yu Lian's gentle explanation, everyone from Rose Team heaved a sigh of relief, and smiles finally appeared on their face.

"Rose, Fairsky… Are the two of you still in love with Prince?" Lolidragon asked worriedly. These two girls had already suffered too much anguish over Prince, so much so that even Lolidragon felt sorry for them.

The members of Rose Team suddenly looked at Rose with uncertainty, while Rose merely lowered her head bashfully. Next to her, Broken Sword placed an arm around her shoulder and said with a smile, "Rose is my wife now, so of course she doesn't like Prince anymore."

"That's debatable, actually," For Healing Only jibed playfully, causing Broken Sword to give him the evil eye.

"I won't give up on Prince," Fairsky suddenly shouted loudly as she pulled away from Yu Lian's arms, two streaks of tears coursing down her face. Her loud announcement surprised everyone. "I know that my past methods were wrong, but I've improved since then. I'll definitely move Prince's heart with my patience and deep love."

Hearing her words, Ice Phoenix came forward and demanded, "You like Prince _too_?"

Fairsky looked at Phoenix doubtfully. "You said 'too'? Don't tell me that you are _also_ in love with Prince?"

"That's right, and I will _never_ give up either." Phoenix said firmly, pronouncing each word clearly. There was the crackle of electricity as lightning bolts appeared between Fairsky and Phoenix.

In an incomparably icy voice, Gui said, "Prince is _mine_!"

While everyone else was trying to wrap their shocked minds about Gui's sentence, Wicked had begun to glare at Gui fiercely. "Nonsense, Prince is _mine_!" There was another crackle of lightning…

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All the people present gaped as they watched two men fight over another man, with the exception of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor's members. Most of them had knowing expressions on their face; in particular, Ming Huang had pursed his lips and was glaring at his brother, Wicked, with an indignant expression.

Seeing that her sister's face was turning pale, Madame White Bird turned to Odd Squad, and demanded fiercely, "Prince, he's…he's a…"

"Prince is definitely _not_ a homo!" Lolidragon guaranteed with a stern look on her face. _It's the truth too! _"It's just that Prince is simply too handsome, so even guys want him forthemselves," she explained. _This is simply too much fun!_ Lolidragon thought, collapsing with laughter inwardly. She couldn't wait for Prince to come back and see this messy situation… _Hehehe!_

Both Phoenix and Fairsky heaved a sigh of relief, and then they glared at the two gays and said in unison, "I warn you, don't you dare lead Prince astray! He's _mine_!" Then the two girls turned to glare at one another again.

"No, he's _mine_!" Both men roared, and then they joined ranks of those glaring at one another.

"Not _baaad_ at all; they have enough people for a game of mah-jong, and they even have a common topic to chat over," Lolidragon said nonchalantly.

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**Chapter 4: Jing and Yun **

As soon as I opened my eyes, I couldn't help but exclaim admiringly, "Such a blue sky!"

I lay there lazily for a while, marveling at the sky blue expanse before my eyes. When I stood up reluctantly at long last, I peered around at my surroundings and bit my index finger, puzzled. "Where on earth is this place?"

_Wow, there are seagulls here! _Pleasantly surprised, I watched as an entire flock ofseagulls flew by… _Eh? Is that a sail? I've never seen such a large sail before… This_ _thing underneath my feet, I think it's called a "deck"?_

I walked up dazedly to the ship's railing and gazed into the distance.

_What a blue sea, and there's a salty-tasting sea wind blowing this way. Hoho, it's so comfortable, _I thought, grinning foolishly for a full ten seconds, and then realization hitme… _Wait a moment!_ I looked left and then right. _My god! It's a blue ocean as far as the_ _eye can see. Where has my beloved land disappeared to? Why am I on a ship? Where am I heading to?_

_Don't panic, don't panic! _I tried to calm down._ There must be some reason as to why I am here._

I attempted to recall what had happened. _I remember that I was drinking with Nan Gong_ _Zui and Kong Kong; the liquor burned as it went down my throat and was very hard to drink…and then? _I held my head in my hands and thought as hard as I could, but simplycouldn't remember a thing. _Just what exactly happened after that?_

Suddenly, I spied someone from the corner of my eye. I rushed over and seized him by the arm. "Excuse me, big brother, but could you tell me where this ship is heading to, please?" I asked worriedly.

"This ship is the Star of the Ocean, which sails from the Central Continent to the Eastern Continent. Didn't you know that?" The man, who resembled a sailor, wore a questioning expression on his face as he answered me.

_The Eastern Continent? _I stared at him blankly. "The Eastern Continent? Since when did_ Second Life _have so many continents?"

"…This world has a total of five continents: the Eastern, Western, Southern, Northern, and Central Continents. This should be common knowledge!" The sailor stared at me as though as I was a freak.

_So that's how it is? _"Then where am I from?"

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"Judging from the ship's course, you're probably from the Central Continent, right?"

I rubbed the back of my head, grinning foolishly. "You're probably right!" I exclaimed.

"So how can I get back to the Central Continent?" _Although sailing on a ship is quite an_ _interesting experience, I'll definitely get a dressing down from my teammates in Odd Squad if I don't hurry and look for Rose Team._

"You can take another ship back when you reach the Eastern Continent."

"How much longer will it be until we reach the Eastern Continent then?"

"Probably another five more days or so! Can't chat with you anymore; I've got work to do." The sailor walked away, muttering to himself, "What a weirdo; the ship fare is this expensive and yet he wants to return even before he's reached the Eastern Continent…"

_Wait a second!_

"Five days, then including the return trip, it'll be ten days altogether?" _I want to cry, it'll_ _be a miracle if I don't get scolded to death this time._

I sighed. "I guess I might as well tell my teammates first."

"Guys, I have something to tell everyone…" _Why aren't they responding?_

"Paging Odd Squad, paging Odd Squad…" _Still no response from them? That's_ _impossible! Shouldn't there be at least someone online at this time? _I grew panicked andhastily grabbed the Sailor-dàgēagainē,why."Dàgam I unable to reach my teammates

via the messaging system?"

Having been forcibly stopped by me, the sailor asked me exasperatedly, "Where are your teammates?"

"On the Central Continent," I answered obediently.

"Players on different continents cannot use the PM channel to communicate with one another; this includes the team channel as well. While you're at sea, you can only PM players who are also on the ship."

My jaw hung slack with shock. "I'm in deep shit this time."

There was nothing else that I could do, however, so I simply sat woodenly on board the ship. At first, I could still look at the blue sky and the ocean, but I nearly went mad with boredom eventually. _The sailor-dàg__ē__told me that it's the off season right now, with very_

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_few players taking ships, not to mention ships that leave in the small hours before dawn, so I'm the only player on board this ship, waaaaah!_

I rolled forward, backward, to the side… _I'm so booooored! God! What on earth am I_ _going to do? Even the NPC sailor-dàg__ē__has gone into hiding after being pestered so much by me, so there's no one around for me to talk to. _I buried my head between myknees plaintively, my eyes red with incipient tears. "_Waaah_, Lolidragon, Wolf-dàgē,Gui, Doll, and Yu Lian-dàsăo, I miss you all so much, _waaah_!" I'd realized only now how lonely I was without the rest of Odd Squad around.

"Mama, why cry-cry?" A child-like voice came from my pouch.

I froze for a moment, and then quickly opened my pouch. "_MEATBUUUUUN_!"

I took Meatbun out and hugged it tightly, showering it with kisses, pinches, and cuddles. "I forgot that I still have you."

"Mama, Meatbun-bun feels pain- pain!" My hand had gone on a rampage, pinching Meatbun all over and causing the latter's bun skin to turn red. Just like before, Meatbun – which was afraid of pain – began to cry, with mega-huge teardrops falling from its eyes.

_Erk! Shit. _I hastened to console Meatbun in a kindly manner. It wasn't very effective,however, and Meatbun still ended up crying like two faucet taps turned on at full blast…

_Erk! This is really bad, I'm afraid I'm about to be the first player to find out whether NPC ships can sink or not. _With Meatbun cupped in my hands, I tilted my head to oneside and thought, _Hmm, the situation probably won't be as bad as I thought. At least I_ _know how to swim doggy-style._

hg

"Although our liege lord is away on business, this city still requires managing, so we'll just assign each person their position first. If Prince is dissatisfied with the arrangement when he returns, we can reshuffle the positions." Ugly Wolf looked at all the people below him. _Although we don't know where Prince has run off to, we still have to get_ _everyone settled in first! I only hope that nobody will resent the arrangements. _He heaveda sigh at that thought. _Really, where on earth has Prince vanished to?_

"Let's do that then," Nan Gong Zui said calmly.

"As I am unfamiliar with where all of your expertise lies, I will first assign positions to those whose abilities I am familiar with. Team leaders, please inform me if I miss anyone out." Ugly Wolf began to list out names seriously. "Nan Gong Zui, Broken Sword, Wicked, and I will be in the military department, Yu Lian in the finance department. Gui and Lolidragon will be in the construction department for city planning and military

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infrastructure – such as laying traps around the city – respectively. Lolidragon will also serve in the foreign affairs department, together with Doll."

Nan Gong Zui smiled slightly. "I think I can only take charge of training the troops. I usually leave the task of coming up with military policies and battle strategies to White Bird; she is an expert at that."

Madame White Bird raised her eyebrows and remarked, "A person who can lead troops into battle and a person with the talent to map out strategies and command battles from afar are often not one and the same. I suggest that the military department be further divided into two sections, one for coming up with strategies and another for commanding troops – that is to say, having two different types of positions: generals and military advisors. This will make things clearer for everyone."

Ugly Wolf considered it for a moment, and then replied, "What you say makes sense; we'll do it that way then. Nan Gong Zui, Broken Sword, and Wicked shall each be one of the three Generals, while Madame White Bird and I will act as the Left and Right Advisor respectively. Is there any other question regarding the military department?"

Seeing that no one else had any opinions on the matter, Ugly Wolf went on to the next issue. "As for the finance department, I really have no idea who else has expertise in this area aside from Yu Lian from my team, so may I ask if the other teams have experts in this field?"

"My team recommends Rose," said Broken Sword, and everyone in Rose Team grinned at Rose as he added, "Rose isn't any ordinary expert in this field; she's practically the goddess of financial management!"

"I wish to join the finance department. I'm not an ordinary expert at minding money either," Ice Phoenix said with a confident smile while the members of The Righteous Blades nodded their heads wildly in agreement.

Ugly Wolf nodded his head happily. "That's great, Yu Lian won't have to run finance department all by herself then."

"Next, apart from Gui and Lolidragon who have been assigned to the construction department, I hope that all the thieves can aid Lolidragon in setting up traps. After all, this city is simply too big, and it'll be impossible to rely on Lolidragon alone for this." Ugly Wolf looked at the thieves who were present, and both Playboy Lord and Kong Kong nodded.

"Is there anyone here who is familiar with city planning or overseeing the construction process?" Ugly Wolf asked, frowning.

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Fairsky pouted for a moment and then answered reluctantly, "I am, but I don't want to work with _him_." She glared at Gui fiercely.

"You should not mix your private affairs with work, Fairsky," said Broken Sword sternly.

"I'm sorry," said Fairsky with a stricken look. "Then I shall join the city planning section and do my best to help Gui out."

"All that's left is the foreign affairs department then. Is there anyone who wants to help Doll and Lolidragon?" Ugly Wolf asked.

Lolidragon said with a smile, "I recommend Feng Wu Qing."

Feng Wu Qing retorted, "Hmph. Why should I join the foreign affairs department? Especially if you're in it."

"Aiyah, is it possible that the great hero Feng Wu Qing is unable to distinguish his private affairs from work? Does he intend to waste his skill with language and let mold grow on it instead?" Lolidragon asked caustically. "Or is he afraid that his achievements will lose to mine, and so decided that he might as well not join?"

Feng Wu Qing gnashed his teeth with hatred. "Me? Lose to you? I will most certainly join the foreign affairs department, and then you can see for yourself who is the true expert at diplomacy."

_This round, victory goes to Lolidragon! _thought all the people present.

"Then we shall follow this arrangement for now!" Ugly Wolf finished up the personnel chart with satisfaction. "Next, we need to discuss the matter of The Righteous Blades. Although the city is currently being protected by the game admin, we will need to shoulder that responsibility on our own soon. As everyone knows, there are countless players eyeing our city for their own, so we must swiftly increase the number of players in our forces and decide on the method to manage them."

Ugly Wolf looked directly at Nan Gong Zui, meeting his gaze squarely. "I will say it straight. A city cannot have two lieges, and it seems that the entirety of our military defense depends on The Righteous Blades. Nan Gong3, are you certain that you are willing to let your own group serve Prince, that you are willing to be Prince's subordinate?"

Nan Gong Zui looked at Ugly Wolf, resolution clear in his eyes, and he said clearly, "If Prince were here, I could kneel down and swear my fealty to him in front of everyone from The Righteous Blades.

3** Nan Gong: **This is not a typo. "Nan Gong" is Zui's last name.

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"I am not truly a good leader. I have known from the very beginning that I do not possess the aura of true ruler," Nan Gong Zui explained slowly. "Instead of letting The Righteous Blades remain an ordinary group beneath my leadership, I would much rather find a better leader than me to lead them. And now, I've found one."

"That fellow, Prince… I don't know why, but I always think that the sight of him smiling gives people a very comfortable sort of feeling," Broken Sword said with a grin. "I really want to see him standing on the city walls, laughing with that wild, arrogant laugh of his."

Legolas replied coolly, "Really? I always felt that that fellow, Prince, is something of an idiot…so long as you're a friend, he will trust you unhesitatingly, and will even be willing to throw his life away for you." As Legolas finished speaking, however, there was a slight smile on his face.

"His blade dance is a true feast for both the heart and the eyes," Kong Kong said, shaking his head with an admiring sigh.

Feng Wu Qing said awkwardly, "Although there was some unpleasantness between us earlier, his fighting prowess is really pretty impressive."

"All right, all right, everyone, please don't continue singing Prince's praises anymore. Otherwise, even if he isn't here, I think his backside will still stick up with conceit," Lolidragon hurriedly interrupted their praising. _Sigh!_ Her head ached as she thought, _If_ _Prince doesn't show up with an image that lives up to their expectations when he returns, there will be big trouble._

Ugly Wolf too didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Anyway, let's get the development of Infinite City well under way before Prince comes back."

"No problem!" They were all filled with confidence, ready to prove themselves in front of their proud, mighty, and steadfast liege lord…

hg

I knelt on all fours on the floor, scrubbing, scrubbing, and scrubbing the floor.

_Uwaaaaaaah…._

"How was I supposed to know that the ticket for the ship would be so expensive, actually costing five thousand crystal and three gold coins? I only had five thousand crystal, three gold, and ten copper coins, how was I to know that I wouldn't have enough for dinner?

Actually making me, the only player on this ship, scrub the floor as payment, they're simply too heartless," I muttered to myself as I scrubbed the floor. "Sigh, Meatbun, why is it that you don't have arms? Otherwise you could be helping me with scrubbing the floor."

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Meatbun, which had been sitting obediently on top of my head from since the beginning, could not understand what I was muttering about at all, and so could only keep making the same reply, saying, "Yes, Mama."

I scrubbed, I scrubbed… _Wait a second. No money? The return ticket has to be_ _purchased right? This. Is. BAD!_

My body turned weak as jelly. _Five thousand crystal coins! That's the amount that I've_ _saved up from the time I started playing the game until now. I did give some of my money to the team, but it'll still take a lot of time to earn five thousand crystal coins… What am I to do? Then that basically means that I won't be able to go back for a very long time. Plus, I can't message my friends; they'll probably be worried about me._

"Hey, we've arrived at the Eastern Continent," Sailor-dàgēshouted.

I looked at Sailor-dàgēdazedlyē,isthere."Dàgany other way to obtain a ship ticket other than by buying it?"

"No!"

Dazedly, I was shooed off the ship. Dazedly, I stood in the unfamiliar port. Only the smitten gazes directed my way were familiar. _Looks like this face of mine is also pretty_ _popular here on the Eastern Continent; don't tell me I should sell my body to earn money?_

"Gururu…" growled my stomach. _I'm so hungry. I want to eat,_ I thought. Hugging my stomach, I remembered that I didn't have a single copper coin on me and immediately my entire body went weak as jelly again… _Looks like I'll starve to death before even getting_ _around to selling my body for money!_

Unable to endure the insistent grumbling of my stomach any longer, I made up my mind. "Time to go hunting!" I exclaimed, but…_which way is it to the forest…?_

After a moment's thought, I figured that any place that has trees should be a forest. By then I was so hungry that I had almost become a corpse, so it was with impatience that I rushed towards the forest. As expected, there I found my adorable little wolves…

hg

"Meatbun, I don't have meat buns for you to eat right now, so just try and eat some wolf meat!" I stuffed wolf meat down Meatbun's tiny mouth even as I greedily devoured some myself.

Tears welled up in Meatbun's eyes as it reluctantly chewed the wolf meat. "Tastes bad, Mama."

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"Really? I think it's delicious!" _Anything will taste good when you on the verge of_ _starving to death, _I thought. I swallowed the last piece of the tough wolf meatcontentedly and then lay down on the grass on the lake bank, rubbing my stomach comfortably.

_How on earth am I going to contact my teammates? _I felt troubled._ It's a pity that Lolidragon isn't here to answer my questions; only now do I realize that she's actually very useful… _"So I finally have to rely on myself?" I remarked to the air sadly.

I watched the clouds in the skies as they scudded by, feeling somewhat stoned, somewhat lonely, somewhat lost. Closing my eyes, I muttered, "I don't like the feeling of being separated from everyone else."

My eyes flew open. I jumped to my feet and roared at the sky, "I WANT TO GO BACK!"

"Are we taking the ship now, Mama?" Meatbun asked happily.

"…Yep, we'll be able to take the ship once I've earned the last of that five thousand crystal coins," I replied. _First, I should go and kill mobs for cash. As for selling my_ _body…we'll talk about that again when I really have no other choice!_

_I'll fight stronger mobs, _I thought._ That way I'll earn money faster. _I checked the contentsof my pouch. Seeing that there were still a few health potions inside, my mind was set at ease and I began to make my way deeper into the forest. As my surroundings grew darker and darker, I cautiously rested my left hand on the hilt of my _dao_ so that I could draw it at a moment's notice.

_There's movement in the trees! _I slowed my footsteps to a halt. Looking at the clearing infront of me, I could see that the silhouettes of a number of monsters. A smile crept onto my face and I drew my Black Dao. _Looks like I'll be able to return to my team soon._

hg

Day Two…

I sundered two mobs with one swipe of my blade and then sheathed my _dao_. "This is monster number…?"

"This is the five hundred and fifth one," Meatbun answered dutifully.

I exhaled. "How many gold coins do we have?"

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Meatbun turned its white and chubby body around and, with some effort, burrowed into the pouch. After a while, that white and chubby body wriggled out. "One hundred and thirty five gold coin-coin, Mama."

"Hmm, I've gotten used to the types of mobs they have here on the Eastern Continent, plus I also have enough money to buy health potions and mana potions, so I should be able to venture further in." I looked at the precipitous valley in the distance and wondered, _Should I go there to look for higher level mobs? Higher level mobs have a_ _higher chance of dropping rare items. If I can get several rare items, I might even be able to head back immediately._

"Right! Get ready, Meatbun. After you use _Aroma Release_, we might encounter a boss!" I was in high spirits.

"Meatbun-bun is ready!" Meatbun's tiny face was filled with childlike determination. _It's_ _so adorable!_

After I placed Meatbun on top of my head, I began to make my way towards the unknown valley. As I walked, my surroundings grew darker, and there would be gusts of chilly, sinister wind from time to time… _So cold,_ I thought. My teeth were chattering and I had no choice but to dig out a long-disused cloak from my pouch and put it on. When I felt warmer, I resumed walking toward my destination.

"_Heeelp_…" There suddenly came a cry for help. I froze for a moment and then began sprinting over to rescue that person.

When I arrived on the scene, I saw a girl being chased by around five or six Flaming Skeletons…. _Odd, why does this scene look kind of familiar?_ I stopped to think. _Don't_ _tell me this is yet another necromancer who's been frightened by her own skeletal minions?_

"Hang in there, Jing! I'll save you once I drink some potions." The male voice came from behind the girl.

The girl wailed, "Hurry up, Yun, I'm going to die!"

_Jing? Yun? Why do these two names sound kind of familiar? _I sank back into mythoughts once again…

Just then, the girl seemed to have caught sight of me. "Help, please help us kill these skeletons!" she cried.

_That face belongs to Lü Jing…my best friend in real life— My god, Yun? Don't tell me it's Gu Yun Fei? _I lifted my head to look at the guy behind her._ No mistake about it! It really is Yun, _I thought, rooted to the spot with astonishment._ So Jing and Yun were on_

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_the Eastern Continent, and we met here by sheer coincidence; looks like my "good fortune" is not the run-of-the-mill sort._

"I beg you, could you save me, please?" Jing's eyes were glistening with unshed tears as she rushed towards me like a damsel in distress.

"Oh…" I replied somewhat dazedly. I grabbed Jing and pulled her behind me. Drawing Black Dao, I ducked and with a low slash, hacked both feet off a skeleton. Against the next one, I simply sundered it into two, and then separated the first skeleton's skull from its body with a reverse slash… _Against mobs like Flaming Skeletons, I've long since been_ _drilled by Doll to the point where I'm practically fighting out of reflex, and can make short work of a single skeleton. _Before Yun even arrived at a run to help out, I hadalready dispatched the five Flaming Skeletons with great ease.

"Holy…you're really strong," Yun said, gaping at me.

_Should I say something in reply? Will they figure out that I'm Feng Lan? _I felt a littlehesitant.

"You really are extremely strong, unlike the two of us, who are really weak…" There was a sorrowful look on Jing's face, and she even heaved a sigh.

_You can save that act of fragility – which you use to lead people to their deaths with no intention of paying with your own life – for someone else, Jing! Against me, your best friend Feng Lan, that move is completely ineffective!_

I chuckled to myself inwardly. _About my best friend, Jing, I know her too well. Jing may_ _look like a delicate, pitiful Lin Dai Yu__4__ on the surface, but…in reality, she's actually a peerless Taekwondo expert._

4** Lin Dai Yu: **A famous female character in Chinese literature, Lin Dai Yu (林黛玉prn. lín dài yù) is oneof the main characters in the novel Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong Lou Meng). She is the epitome of the damsel in distress – beautiful, fragile, easily heartbroken, and ultimately, dead.

In the story, Dai Yu and her older cousin, Jia Bao Yu, the young master of the Jia house, fall in love. However, Dai Yu was not well-liked by members of the house as she came from a relatively impoverished branch of the family. She was also easily depressed, or sorrowful – for instance, she collected fallen flower petals and buried them, then asked, "Today, I buried these flowers. When I die, who will bury me?"

Jia Bao Yu and Lin Dai Yu's relationship was complicated by the fact that Bao Yu was being match- made to another cousin, Xue Bao Chai, who was comparatively more lively and sensible than Dai Yu. Bao Chai's family was also wealthy, thus Bao Yu's family favoured his match with her.

At the end of the story, Jia Bao Yu married Xue Bao Chai, but this was not by choice – he was deceived into believing that he was marrying Lin Dai Yu (since the bride's face is covered by a red veil till the night

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Yun too, sighed softly. "It's entirely my fault. I can't even protect you as a friend because my level's too low."

"Don't say that, Yun. I'm already very grateful that you're willing to help me level," Jing said, looking at Yun with "gratitude". "Sigh, I really wish that an expert player would be willing to help us with our training."

"It is unfortunate, but how could it be possible that an expert player would be willing to help total strangers like us?" Yun said with a downcast expression.

Once again Jing looked at me bashfully. "We are most grateful to you for saving our lives, _Expert_-dàgē.I am called Lü Jing, and this is my _friend_ Yun Feiē. May we ask Dàg for his name?"

I could feel a tingling sensation in my scalp as I was being cajoled by Jing. Whenever Jing cajoles somebody, that person will inevitably suffer an unspeakably horrible fate.

After I failed to replyēisfor a while, Jing's eyes misted with tears. "Could it be that Dàg unwilling to tell even his name to Jing?"

_What should I do? _I thought, panicked_. Should I tell them that I'm Prince? But Yun seems to know a lot about Prince; he probably found out that Prince is on the Central Continent before I did. How will I explain to them the reason for my appearance on the Eastern Continent, especially when I don't even know the reason myself?!_

"Jing,ēis siu**n**cewillinDàg to tell us his name, it's clear that he has no interest in small fries like us, ēsoanymore,"let'snot makesaidYunthingsindignantdifficu**l** Dàg

_Then quit__ē__"…calling me "Dàg_ I thought, exasperated.

"But… Sigh!ēwhoIthoughtisapowerfulwe'vefinallyfighter,foundaman Dàgof his words, andēand Irighteouswill…" Theperson,blushandwhichthen hadDàg

mantled Jing's cheeks and the worshipful expression on her face suddenly gave way to incomparable disappointment,ēlooks and her voice sounded choked. "Since… Since Dàg down on Jing so, then…then…"

"Don't be disappointēdidn'tm**e**and, . I'mmustsureb **that** heDàghas

something pressing to attend to, otherwise how could he possibly bear to leave us

of the marriage). In the end, it is revealed that Lin Dai Yu had passed away from illness. Upon learning the truth, Jia Bao Yu decided to become a monk.

For more information, refer to Wikipedia: wiki/Lin_Daiyu.

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behind…especially such an adorable beauty like you!" consoled Yun. Next to him, Jing continued to maintain her pose as a delicate and weak young woman.

_*Sweat* I finally understand what they're trying to achieve, _I thought._ So they're trying to use Jing's beauty to lure this "Expert-dàg__ē__"into training the two of them!_

_As we are best friends, in principle, I should help them in their training. However, I'm in a rather unusual situation right now. Not only am I worried that they'll find out that I'm Feng Lan, I'm also worried that they'll figure out that I'm Prince. How am I supposed to help them in such a situation? _I heaved a helpless sigh.

"Whyē?"doJingyou asked,sigh,Dàgconcern in her voice.

I looked into Jing's eyes, which were filled with concern, and thought, _Although I really_ _can't tell if she's truly concerned about me or just faking it, I still feel a little moved… Oh forget it; I'll just help them out! After all, I've not shown them any concern ever since we started playing _Second Life_, and they've never complained either. If I continue to refuse to help them, I'm afraid I'll really have a guilty conscience._

Having made up my mind, I coughed a couple of times. Feigning the attitude of an Expert-dàgē,I said, "Ask not my name, meddle not in my business; follow me as you will!"

Listening intently, I could hear Yun muttering to himself, saying, "Wah… He really is a pro!"

As I walked, I suddenly remembered, _How am I supposed to lead them when I still don't_ _know their classes and levels?_

"Your levels? Classes?" I threw the two questions at the two people who were following me closely.

Yun introducedē,Iamhimscalledlf enthusiasticalYunFei.I'm**l**y,evel"Dàgforty

-five,

and I'm a human Barrier Master."5

"Xiăomèi's 6 name is Lü Jing. I'm level thirty, and I'm a human Exorcist," Jing replied shyly.7

5 **Barrier Master: **Possibly a reference to the manga_Kekkaishi_. Note that_kekkaishi_means "barriermaster".

6 **Xi****ă****omèi: **This means "little sister". Though this is usually used to refer to females younger than oneself,it can be used to refer to oneself in a cutesy or humble sort of way.

7 **An exorcist: **Technically, the word should be translated as "a Taoist", but only because exorcisms of thissort are usually carried out by Taoists in fiction. Modern Taoists are not always exorcists, however, so in this case the specific (exorcist) is more accurate.

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_Exorcist? Barrier Master? What sort of classes are those? Why have I never heard of them before? _My footsteps slowed to a halt, and scratching my face, I had no choice butto admit my ignorance and ask, "Please explain your classes to me."

Yun grinned at meēprobablyashereplied,won't"Barrier Masters are pretty rare, so Dàg

be familiar with the class! As the name suggests, a Barrier Master's main job is to create barriers. The barriers have a multitude of uses; for instance, the most basic barrier is the _Flat Barrier_, which can block an attack from beyond. Some barriers can even reflectattacks, such as the _Mirror Shot_ ability. Alternatively, I can create a three-dimensional barrier, inflicting all kinds of status conditions on players or mobs inside the barrier. For instance, I can cast _Weakness Barrier_, which will cause their attacks to deal less damage, or I can use _Slow Barrier_ to cause mobs to move slower."

I nodded; his class is kind of like Gui's in the sense that they're both support classes. "Offensive abilities?"

"Barrier Masters don't have any offensive abilities," said Yun, still grinning at me.

_No offensive abilities? _I felt stunned for a long while._ No wonder Yun leveled up so slowly; you can't train alone if you don't have offensive abilities! That's odd, he can't train by himself? Then Yun must have a team! But I've never heard him mention it before… _I frowned. "Don't you need to return to your team?"

"I don't have a team." Yun laughed, embarrassed, and explained, "Most players don't really understand the Barrier Master class. And since they hear that my ability revolves around creating protective barriers, they would rather find themselves a mage. In addition, my level isn't high, so there are limits to the effectiveness of my barriers, which is why I still haven't found a team till now."

_No wonder Yun, who is such a training freak, is still only at level forty-five, _I realized._ I really can't begin to guess how much time it took him to train all the way to level forty-five. _A heavy feeling grew in my chest as soon as I thought of how I, his best friend,never even thought of helping him. _It's time that I do my best to help Yun out,_ I thought.

"Dàgēshould be more familiar with the Exorcist class," Jing said with a smile. "Exorcists mainly use _Fu__8_ to cast different kinds of spells."

8** Fu: **As Prince notes in the next line, exorcists use bells to exorcise in most Chinese dramas. However,_fu_s,which are usually special paper with characters written on them with an ink brush, are used usually to render a zombie immobile. This is how is the scene in Chinese period drama horror movies usually unfolds…

Zombie hops (in Chinese movies, they don't shamble, they hop) into the scene. Exorcist chants or makes some weird motion and the _fu_ paper flies from his hand and sticks itself to the zombie's forehead.

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_Exorcist? I thought an exorcist would be using a bell to command zombies… From Jing's explanation, it doesn't seem too different from a mage… _I continued walking with myhead full of questions. However, I knew enough now that I understood that Jing could cast spells and that Yun's was a support-type class, so I stopped asking them questions, and began to think hard instead. _What would be the best type of mob for us to train on?_ _This is bad, I'm not that familiar with the mobs here on the Eastern Continent. Which type of mob exactly should we fight?_

All of sudden, Yun'sē, smile became particularly fawning. "Dàg mightăodì Xi 9 be so

bold as to suggest a good place to train?"

I stopped in my tracks. Yun's suggestion had just solved my dilemma. "Say it."

"We can train on Lesser Demons. They yield high experience and have high drop rates for treasures. Plus, there are a number of quests involving them. They're great for leveling, getting gear, and earning money!" Yun said excitedly, and then embarrassment crept acrossēprobhisf**a**cebly. "Buthasnoa proneedplayerformoneylikeDàg."

_It might be true that I'm not lacking money, but I'm lacking a ship ticket that costs five thousand crystal coins._

"I really wonder when we will finally have enough money. Why is the ship ticket to the Central Continent so expensive?!" Jing said with a weary sigh.

I was astonished. _How does Jing know that I need money for the ship ticket?_

Yun and Jingē,actuallybothlookedwe'reembarrassedtryingtosave."Dàgupenough

money to take the ship to the Central Continent. We intend to look for our friends there," explained Yun.

_Ah, so I misunderstood them. Looks like Yun and Jing really plan on going to visit Professor Min Gui Wen and Prince…to visit me?_

"There's no need to go; I'm already here for both of you to see," I couldn't resist muttering to myself.

"What?" Jing, who had sharp hearing, asked, puzzled.

I hurriedly cleared my throat. "Nothing."

Zombie stops moving (and sometimes combusts). Exorcist rings the bell. The spirit leaves. If the person possessed is still alive, he/she will wake up.

9** Xi****ă****odì: **This means "little brother". Though this is usually used to refer to males younger than oneself, itcan be used to refer to oneself in a cutesy or humble sort of way.

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"Oh?" Jing shot me a dubious look.

"Let's go and kill some Lesser Demons then!" I said, hastily changing the topic. "Let's get the quests first."

"Okay,ē,"YunDàgreplied me cheerfully, but…as Yun's best friend, even with the hood

of my cloak obstructing my gaze, I can still tell that there's something wrong with that overly-brilliant smile on his face. _I have a bad feeling about this… I'm not going to die by_ _my best friends' hands, am I?_

hg

I stood quietly outside the White Tiger City's Adventurers' Guild, waiting for the two people who had brought me to this city to be done with obtaining their

quests. Fortunately, there was a huge map of the Eastern Continent hanging outside the Adventurers' Guild, so I could finally see for myself the geography of the continent currently under my feet. _I think it makes no difference if I see the map or not, though,_ I thought. _After all, I can lose my way all the way to Star City when I'm really trying to go_ _to Moon City, so how can I possibly hope that a map alone would allow me to go sightseeing on the Eastern Continent freely?_

I raised my head and took a casual look at the map. _The Eastern Continent, as the name_ _implies, is a continent to the east of the Central Continent. There are four admin-controlled cities here, and they are located in the four cardinal directions: to the east, Green Dragon; west, White Tiger; south, Red Phoenix; north, Black Tortoise. The continent really has an Eastern feel to it. It's no wonder even the classes are extremely Eastern as well; even the food is Chinese!_

Beneath the hood of my cloak, I was busily munching the _xiaolongtangbao__10_ that I'd just bought. _I'll buy some_ wontons _in chili oil__11_ _later,_ I decided.

10**_ Xiaolongtangbao_****:**_Xiaolongbao_s are sometimes known also as soup dumplings. They have translucentflour skins as opposed to fluffy skins like meat buns or _mantou_s, and they are usually small enough to fit into a Chinese soup spoon. The filling is usually a mix of minced pork, chopped spring onions, garlic, seasoned with various condiments, and then mixed with soup stock, after which it is frozen and takes on a gelatinous form. When steamed, the fillings melts and the _xiaolongbao_ will become filled with soup. Fancier variants may even include crab meat and roe. For more information on the normal _xiaolongbao_, please refer to this Wikipedia article: wiki/Xiaolongbao.

What Prince is eating here is a variant of the soup dumpling, called the _Xiaolongtangbao_. It is a bit different from the usual _xiaolongbao_ in that there is greater emphasis on the quality of the soup. (That's why the name has an extra "_tang_" – "tàng" is "soup" in Chinese!) We've dug around the internet looking for a couple of fairly simple recipes for the foodies out there and found two decent ones.

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This one has an English translation next to the Chinese recipe on the site. Ray has also kindly translated another version into English for the foodies (with much agony, it seems). The translated recipe is here below, but you should still take a look at the site if you're interested in pictures of the _xiaolongtangbao_. The recipe is as follows:

When making the Xiao Long Tang Bao, there are four important steps.

One of the Xiao Long Tang Bao's biggest specialties is that it is delicious with lots of soup, and the method of the making the pork skin is the key to having fillings with plenty of soup.

For those of you need a measurement converter, here's one ( from/kg/to/lb).

Ingredients: 500g of raw pig's skin, 500g of pork, 20g (or a large bunch) of spring onions/scallions (10g used for pig's skin, 10g for onion and ginger juice), 35g of ginger (15g for pig's skin, 20g for juice), 15ml of rice wine, 250g of flour, salt, MSG, pepper, sugar, soy sauce, lard, sesame oil

The first step: Making the frozen pork skin

Add cold water to the pig's skin in a pot and put over a high heat for 2 minutes. Remove the fatty meat on the skin and pluck away the fur. Put 1500ml of water in a sufficiently deep pot, and put 500g of raw pig's skin, 10g of spring onion/scallions, 15g of ginger, 15ml of rice wine, and add salt, MSG and pepper in suitable amounts. Cook over low heat for 90 minutes, until the meat is very, very soft and easily pulled off the skin. Remove and chop the pig's skin.Put it back into the pot to cook for a short while.Leave the pork's skin in a large, broad bowl to cool off and solidify. You may put it into the fridge (but not the freezer) after it has cooled off sufficiently. (Eri: To those who don't know their way around the kitchen, refrain from putting a hot or even rather warm object in you fridge until it's cooled to about room temperature.) Remove the pork skin from the bowl once it has cooled off and solidified. (Eri: You should be able to remove it by upending the bowl.)

The second step: Making the fillings.

Shred the frozen meat using a shredder. (See this picture.) Put into a large bowl.Add 500g of pork, 7g of salt, 5g of MSG, 15g of sugar, 15ml of soy sauce and mix.Add in 200ml of onion and ginger juice (see third step) and mix again. Mix it in the same direction forcefully, and finally add in the sesame oil.Add in the frozen pig's skin. Note that the volume of the fillings made in this step and the volume of the frozen pig's skin should be about the same. (Eri: Hence, if you've reduced the amount of pig's skin or filling, then you must reduce the amount for the other as well.) Finally, add lard and mix everything.

The third step: Making the onion and ginger juice

Cut 10g of spring onions, and 20g of ginger into pieces. Add 200ml of water and put everything into the blender, or use your hands to squeeze. (Eri: A mortar and pestle works too, but only if you have the patience to work in batches. Using your hands to squeeze ginger is even harder.)

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"Dàgē,we've obtained the quests," Yun's bright voice rang out.

_Ehhh! I won't be able to buy my _wontons_ in chili oil, damn it!_

"ToēforthankhelpingēallowDàgus,YunwillFeiDàgand Lü Jing to treat him to a

meal?" Yun asked, his face shining with sincerity. As for me, of course I would be happy to be treated… _Ah, my_ wontons _in chili oil, I'm coming!_

Filter off the pulp and you will be left with the onion and ginger juice.

For the outer skin that is thin, and does not burst when full of fillings, it is made by adding cold water to all-purpose flour and kneading it.

The last step: Making the dough

Add 250g of flour to 120ml of cold water to form a lump. Leave it for 10 minutes. Knead it continually for a while, and then cut it into small portions each weighing about 10g. Roll it into a round disc such that it's thick in the centre and thin at the sides. Put fillings inside and wrap it.Fold it into shape. (Usually, 14 folds is the minimum. 20 folds is ideal.) Leave it for 10 minutes. (See picture for how to fold the flour skin.)Put cold water in the steamer and steam them for 5-6 minutes. (Eri: The author of this recipe used 9 minutes.)Take it out and serve.

Reminder: The _xialongtangbao_ tastes best with ginger strips and dark vinegar.

11** Wontons in chili oil: **As the name suggests, this is basically wontons in chilli oil (NOT Tabasco).Because this dish is very easy to make, we shall provide you with a translation of the recipe. Here is a video ( . ?movieid=374) demonstrating how to prepare the dish to boot.

Ingredients: Wontons, oyster sauce, soy sauce, refined white sugar, white or dark vinegar, white pepper, garlic, spring onions/chives, chili oil

Set water to boil in a pan. Once it boils, add your wontons (premade or whatever) into the water. It should be ready in about 1-1.5 minutes. (Eri: To those who have never dealt with wontons, do not overcook them. If you see that there are air pockets bubbling up beneath the dough wrap near where the fillings are, it's time to rescue your wonton from the hot water. Failure to save them will result in soggy wontons that will fall apart easily.) Mix 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of refined white sugar (less if you don't like it sweet) and 1 teaspoon of white/dark vinegar. Add a little white pepper. Mix the wonton with the sauce, sprinkle finely chopped garlic and spring onions/chives on it, and then pour the desired amount of chili oil over it.

The crux of the dish is the chilli oil. You can get this in most Asian supermarkets. The dish originated from the Sichuan province of China, which is not surprising because the chili oil is a staple of Sichuan dishes. Warning: To those who have never tried this kind of chili oil before, it's way hotter than Tabasco or normal chili.

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hg

Along the way…

"Dàgē,isit alright with you if we dine at Oriental House?"

12

"Dàgē,isit really impossible for you to tell

us your name? What if we get separated

along the way?"

"Dàgē,your cloak is really stylish. I'm guessing that you must have a really fit body as well?ăodìCan'thaveyoujustletoneXi glimpse?"

"Dàgē,mayăodì beXi so bold as to ask you what your race i s? Since you are such a strong warrior, I think you must be from the human race, right? Or are you a beastman? But you're not that powerfully-built, so I don't think you are one."

"We've almostēeatenreachedatOrientalOrientalHouseHousb**e**for;has Dàg e? If you

haven't,ē's thenbase IcampguessprobablyDàg isn't White Tiger City huh?"

From the beginning till the end of our walk, I hadn't so much as uttered a word.

"We've reachedē,"said Jing,OrientalsmilingHouse,happilyDàg as she pointed to a

red, traditional building. "The food and wine at this restaurant are all pretty good, especially the wine. Their _Clear Tranquility_ wine in particular is famous in White Tiger City!ē,whyDàgdon't you order a few main courses to fill up your stomach first, an d then order some light dishes to go with the _Clear Tranquility_."

"Right, that's right,ēăodìXi onemustseldomhaveacomes across such a good Dàg goodēdrinktoday,"withsaidDàgYun, laughing heartily.

_Drink? What should I do if I wake up and find myself on the Western Continent the next time?_

As soon as I received the menu, I hastily ordered my _wontons_ in chili oil_,_ in addition to a lot of other delicious-sounding food. Finally, I put down the menu reluctantly and waited for my mouthwatering dishes to be served.

"That's all, and bring us two bottles of _Clear Tranquility,_" Yun told the waiter.

I watched, with eyes full of anticipation, as the dishes were served one by one. _Although I_ _still haven't seen my adorable _wontons_ in chili oil yet, it's not a bad idea to tuck into the_

12** Oriental House: **This is written as Zhong Hua Lou (中ōngprnhuá.zhlóu) in Chinese. Many

restaurants and inns in China in the past (and even now) have the " " character in them, which basically means a building with more than one storey.

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_other dishes first, _I thought. My hand rose, the chopsticks plunged, and a fragrant bite offood was delivered into my salivating mouth. _It's a good thing I'm shielded by my cloak,_ _otherwise my "Expert-Dàg__ē__"image would be comple tely ruined_.

Yun picked up my wine cup and began to pour just about the entire huge bottle of _Clear_ _Tranquility _intoēmy,shallcupwe."Dàghave a drink first?"

I couldn't be bothered to answer him. _With such delicious food before me, who cares_ _about best friends? _I stretched my claws towards the dish of silver thread rolls13oncemore…

From the top of my head came the sound of Meatbun's child-like voice. "Mama, Meatbun-bun wants to eat-eat too."

Baffled, Jing and Yun peered left and right, searching for the source of the voice. I froze; I'd nearly forgotten about Meatbun's existence entirely. _Looks like Meatbun fell asleep_ _on top of my head, that's why it was so quiet all this while! _I snatched a silver thread roll_, _snatched Meatbun from my head and placed it on my lap, and then stuffed the entire roll

– which was larger than Meatbun – into Meatbun's mouth. Finally, I stuffed Meatbun back into the pouch. _It's finally quiet,_ I thought, and heaved a relieved sigh.

_Of course, the entire operation was carried out beneath the cover of my cloak. Cloak, oh cloak, you really are an indispensable tool for secretly feeding pets and maintaining one's image!_

"That's odd, I thought I heard a child's voice just now?" Jing remarked, frowning.

I lowered my head and engrossed myself with eating upon hearing that.

Seeing me tuck in, Jing and Yun stopped bothering me and picked up their chopsticks to begin eating as well.

"Isn't this Xiao Jing?" A somewhat irritating voice came floating to my ear. _Which_ _person is it who has no eyes to see that he's bothering me in the middle of my meal? _Inarrowed my eyes and raised my head to look…

_My god, this is such a classic, such a classic fop! _He was a little similar to Fan, with allthat shining, flashy golden armor, but he had none of Fan's elegance or divine harshness. What made his appearance still more ridiculous was that jewel-encrusted helmet on his head and that red cloak embroidered with dragons he was wearing. There was only one word to describe him, and that was…vulgar!

13** Silver thread rolls: **It's like a bun, but what you do is cut the dough into long strips, kind of likenoodles, and then wrap them into a bun shape before baking. Go /fp1f83 to see what it looks like.

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_It's my first time seeing someone so vulgar that heaven and earth would be shocked and the demons themselves would weep. I doubt that I'd have such a comical effect even if I were to wear gold bars for clothes! It's a pity because this person's looks can still be considered quite handsome, but thanks to that outfit, he just feels intolerably vulgar, sigh!_

I lowered my head and continued to dig in. _If I keep looking at him, I'm afraid my_ _eyesight and taste will both be damaged beyond repair._

There was a sour expression on Jing's face as she looked at the vulgar dandy. Yun too, was not like his usual self as he continued to eat silently with a frosty look on his face.

"Xiao Jing, why didn't you say a word if you were eating here at Oriental House? I trust those bastard waiters didn't ask you, the lady boss,14 to pay right? If they did, I'll have to reprimand them," said the fop, and the crowd behind him laughed half-heartedly.

_Lady boss? Since when did Jing open this restaurant? Why haven't I heard her mention this? _I wondered as I munched on a chicken's foot.15

"Huang Wei, don't you dare go too far with your words! Who do you think you're calling 'lady boss'?" Jing slammed the table and stood up sharply, enraged.

_Huang Wei?__16__ Not a bad name, but on this person, it sounds… _I continued munching onmy _Taro Pie_.17

"Of course it's you, Xiao Jing. This Oriental House is mine, and you are my beloved wife, so of course you're the lady boss!" Huang Wei leered at Jing's beautiful face.

Yun finally had enough. "Jing isn't your wife, so quit spouting your nonsense. It's obvious that you're just a huge pervert who keeps pestering Jing." His voice clearly showed that he was trying to control his rage as he spoke.

Huang Wei's cheeky smile was gone in a flash, replaced by a look of contempt, although to me, it looked more like the expression of a person who had just stepped in dog poo.

14**Lady boss: **Usually the word here means "lady boss", but an alternative way to interpret it is "boss'swife".

15**Chicken's foot: **Most of you have never eaten chicken's feet, so we need yet another culinaryexplanation here. Chicken's feet are used in Chinese cooking quite frequently. They make really good soup stock, for one (extraordinary as it may seem to some of you), and they can also be used to make light dishes, such as dimsum. how_2221703_ an example of a dimsum recipe involving chicken's feet, while . is a picture of a completed dish (not of the recipe, though).

16 **Huang Wei: **Huang Wei's name is written as "皇威" (prnēi).. "Huang"huángw means royal, or an

emperor, while "Wei" means mighty, impressive, even aggressive.

17** Taro pie: **As the name suggests, it's made of taro. It doesn't look like a Western sort of pie though, andthough I couldn't find a more "rugged" version, the pies don't always look as pretty as the one we have food/2004-09/01/xinsrc_ . The ones I see usually look like miniature bricks.

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"So, a piece of garbage like you still dares to stick to Jing? I told you before that I'll kill you every time I see you. Did you not understand or do you enjoy being killed?"

_Eh? The dish that the waiter is carrying to us now, isn't that my favorite _wontons_ in chili oil? _I swallowed my saliva and stared fiercely at that delicious-smelling, enchantingly reddish of _wontons_ in chili oil_,_ my heart aching. _As for whatever's going on nearby? I have_ _no idea, my stomach's doing the thinking now._

"So what? Even if you plan to kill me, Jing will still stay by my side, and not yours!" Yun smiled at him fearlessly.

The look on Huang Wei's face suddenly changed, and he roared, enraged, "Damn you, don't get too ahead of yourself! Just you wait; I will thrash you just like this dish." With his right hand, Huang Wei snatched the dish from the waiter, smashing it on the ground and then stomping on the dish and its contents with his foot.

I watched as the _wontons_ in chili oil_,_ which had almost been delivered to me, was suddenly snatched by a hand from the waiter before my very eyes, after which the vividly crimson _wontons_ slid from mid air and landed onto the ground amid the shards of the broken plate. On top of that, a damnable foot stepped onto it and even grinded itself into the mess; and so my _wontons_ lay there, oozing to death, their goodness and beauty forever lost… As the shock was simply too overwhelming, I found myself sitting dazedly at the scene, thinking, _My_ wontons _in chili oil_…_are gone?_

"Hmph, don'tē,"thinksaid thatYun,I'mlookingeasy toat bully,me I have a Dàg confidently.

"Aē? DàgHahaha, so what? " Huang Wei looked scornfully at me. He beckoned with his hand and ăimmediatelyodìshisbackthe rubbedfiveor theirsixXipalms and clenched

their fists, clearlyăodìs,itc**h** 't."I wedo have a lot of Xi see how many blows canētakeyourăodìs?"fromDàgmy Xi

Jing and Yun were both extremely pale, and Jing said coldly, "I forbid you to harm the two of them, Huang Wei."

"Fine, then become my wife obediently, and then, hehe…" Huang Wei began to laugh brazenly.

Suddenly, I jumped, landing on the table lightly on both feet, and then leaped toward Huang Wei, drawing my Black Dao in midair. Light danced off my blade, and I landed behind Huang Wei.

"Shameless!" I said coldly.

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_As you must know, every grain on a dish is the result of hard labor. It isn't a simple thing to make a dish of _wontons_ in chili oil_,_ so how can he waste food like this? Especially when that food is mine! Even if the heavens do not punish a person like him, I will!_

All the people present were taken aback, wondering, _What on earth just happened?_ Just then, Huang Wei's neck suddenly slid to the side. First, a trickle of blood began to seep down his neck, then – as the crowd watched, wide-eyed – an entire fountain of blood began to spurt into to air, and Huang Wei's entire head was propelled by the flow of blood away from his body. It rolled a few times on the floor, and then he turned into a pillar of white light and left, leaving behind only a puddle of fresh blood on the floor.

"How is it possible?" Yun murmured. "Huang Wei was wearing a helmet and full body armor, how can it be so easy to separate his head from his body?"

I looked with a heavy heart at the corpses of the _wontons_ on the floor, feeling extremely pissed off. _After so much anticipation, only for my hopes to be dashed in the end, it really_ _MAKES. ME. PISSED. OFF! _I leveled myăodìsBlack Dao at the Huang Wei's five Xi

and, in an extremely cold and harsh tone that I rarely use, I said, "Ten seconds. Be gone, or die!"

TheăodìsXifroze. They looked at me, clearly reluctant to leave but al so afraid to come

forward. None of them dared to move.

"Hmph!" I snorted coldly. Lightly pushing off against the ground with both feet, I skimmed across theăodì,floorand swiftlythen until I stood in front of the nearest Xi

executed my famous technique: _Nine-headed Dragon Slash!_ Laced with flames, the ten consecutive slashes scored beautiful lines of crimson in the air at lightning speed. As the final blow, I brought my weapon down heavily onto the enemy, cleaving him in two.

Then I slowly rose to my feet and sheathed my blade before turning back to my seat. As I turned,ăodìthatturnedunluckyinto Xiapillar of white light and left.

From the beginning until the end of that display, no one had moved. It was only after I returned to my seat that the rest of ăodìstheXifnally began to flee for their lives. I

picked up my chopsticks with satisfaction and went back to attacking my food.

After a long while, Jing and Yun finally recovered their senses. They returned to their seats nervously, but did not continue with their meal and only stared at me, wide-eyed.

After another long while,ē I put down my chopsticks and said sternly, "Yun, Jing, Dàg has something to ask of the two of you."

Yun gulped, whileē?"Jing'st expression was one of alarm. "What is it, Dàg hey said in unison.

"Can I order another serving of _wontons_ in chili oil?"

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"…"

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**Chapter 5: Demon King Kenshin **

_Real life…_

I took off the game helmet, feeling kind of drained. _To think that I actually became Jing_ _and__ē__…Yun's Dàg If they ever find out the truth, I will die a horrible death._

I got up and began to prepare breakfast, feeling deeply troubled. It had been six, nearly seven days and I still had no way of contacting any of my Odd Squad teammates. _Sigh!_ _Truth be told, there's actually many ways to solve the problem. Telling my brother would be the easiest way and yet, ironically enough, I just can't tell him…_

_Briiing… Briiing…_

_Who could be calling at such an early hour? _I answered the phone, puzzled. "Hello?"

"Xiao Lan? Are you alright?!" Zhuo-gēge's anxious voice sounded over the receiver.

"I'm fine. This is great, I can finally contact someone!" I was overjoyed. I had clean forgotten that I could contact Zhuo-gēge.

"Xiao Lan, where on earth have you run off to?" It was clear from his tone that Zhuo-gēge was relieved to hear from me.

"I… I'm on the Eastern Continent…" My voice grew tinier with each word.

"The Eastern Continent?" Zhuo-gēge was stunned. "What are you doing over there?"

"I have no idea either. I woke up and found myself there after drinking with Nan Gong Zui!" I said woefully. "Also, we can't send PMs to players on different continents, so I couldn't contact you guys at all."

_Is it just me or does Zhuo-g__ē__ge sound as though he is trying to suppress his anger? _"Youwent drinking with Nan Gong Zui and drank until you lost consciousness? You're a girl, how could you not know how to protect yourself?!"

"Ehhh… But I'm a guy in-game!" I scratched my face. _Nan Gong Zui and Kong Kong_ _wouldn't do anything to me, a guy, right? Besides, is it possible to be XXed in a game? Hmmm… That's a question worth mentioning to Lolidragon._

"It still isn't right. You are a girl after all," Zhuo-gēge insisted stubbornly.

"Oh… Well, I won't do it again. I don't like to drink anyway!" _That's how it is, right? I_ _remember that the wine was unpleasant, but how did I get so drunk? How odd!_

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Zhuo-gēge's tone relaxed. "It's almost time for you to come back to the Central

Continent. You should stop playing on the Eastern Continent. Everyone's waiting for you in Infinite City, especially Nan Gong Zui – he's brought along an entire adventurers' group. They're looking forward to meeting you."

"But I can't go back; I don't have enough money for the ship fare," I told Zhuo-gēge pitifully.

"How much do you need?"

"Five thousand crystal coins."

"…I'll ask Lolidragon tonight when I log on to see if we can find a way to transfer money to you," Zhuo-gēge said, sounding troubled. "Though, Infinite City is a bit strapped for cash. I wonder if Yu Lian would be willing to spare the money?"

"Oh… In that case, I'll just earn it by myself." I felt a bit embarrassed. _I haven't done_ _anything as the liege lord yet and already I'm being a hindrance._

"I'll talk to them about it. For now, you should take on some high-level quests. With your skill, you should be able to complete several B-level quests18 on your own. The rewards for B-level quests range from several hundred to several thousand gold coins," Zhuo-

gēge suggested, and then added worriedly, "But they may be quite d ifficult, so make sure that they're not too dangerous before you take them on!"

"Alright, I got it."

"Sis, where's my breakfast?" Yang Ming's discontented voice sounded from behind me.

Startled, I quickly said, "Zhuo-gēge, we'll stop here for now. Bye bye! "

As soon as I hung up, I turned to faced Yang Ming. After making sure that his face only held dissatisfaction and not a hint of suspicion, I relaxed.

"I'll make breakfast now."

hg

_Online…_

18** B-level quest**: The Adventurers' Guild offers all sorts of quests for players to complete. The rewardsdiffer from quest to quest, depending on the level of difficulty. From high to low, the difficulty levels for quests are: X, S, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

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With a somber expression, Wicked entered Odd Squad's current temporary meeting place

— the prison. Just as he had expected, the members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor were lazing on the ground, sleeping, or stuffing their faces with food… Not one of them looked even the slightest bit like a highest-ranking commander.

In a heavy voice, Wicked announced, "I have important news for Odd Squad."

Ugly Wolf reluctantly let go of Yu Lian, who had been in his arms, gave Gui – who was buried under sheaves of designs – a kick, fished Doll out of her snacks and shook Lolidragon – who was drooling in her sleep – awake. "What important news?"

"I know where Prince is," Wicked replied. The look he shot Gui held a hint of a challenge, and he watched with satisfaction as Gui paled.

"Where did that fellow run off to?" Lolidragon grumbled. "We're working our asses off here, while he, the liege lord, is happily fooling around out there."

"He's on the Eastern Continent," Wicked said calmly.

All eyes widened among the members of Odd Squad, while Dark Emperor's members – who had been making a din to one side – fell silent. Within a moment, the prison was so quiet that even the crackling of Fire Phoenix's flames could be heard clearly.

Finally, Gui asked, his tone a mix of concern and anxiety, "Why is he on the Eastern Continent? Why doesn't he come back?"

"He doesn't know how he got there either, possibly because he was drunk. As for why he hasn't come back, it's because…"

"I believe I know the reason," Lolidragon said exasperatedly. "The ship ticket to the Eastern Continent costs five thousand crystal coins, and the return ticket costs another five thousand crystal coins. Prince probably only had enough money on him for a ticket to the Eastern Continent, if I recall correctly."

"What? Five thousand crystal coins?" Yu Lian's smile was so frosty that the members of both teams could not help but observe a moment of silence for him.

Wicked too averted his gaze from Yu Lian's terrifying smile and looked at Lolidragon instead. "Is there a way to send Prince money, Lolidragon?"

Lolidragon broke out in a cold sweat and quickly looked away from Yu Lian's smile, which had grown frostier than ever, replying stiffly, "It is usually possible for a player to transfer money to another player, but if a player is on another continent, then it's impossible to send them a private message, much less transfer funds."

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"What? Then what about Prince?" Gui turned pale as a ghost as he imagined Prince wandering about on a faraway continent, without a cent to his name, suffering from the cold and hunger, dressed in rags, and finally, ending up as a corpse on some street…

hg

_White Tiger City, Eastern Continent_…

Prince: "Mmm, _wontons_ in chili oil… Delicious!" I said, munching on the breakfast which Yun and Jing were respectfully treating me to.

hg

"We'll just have to ask Prince to earn the money for the ticket on his own," Lolidragon said with a shrug, and then she crawled back to her cage to sleep without a second thought.

"Hmm…" Ugly Wolf scratched the fur on his head. "Since that fellow's absence doesn't affect Infinite City much right now, plus the Righteous Blades have long since settled into our city and can't just quit anymore, it shouldn't make much of a difference if Prince doesn't return right away."

Yu Lian smiled. "Not a penny for him!"

"Doll misses Prince-gēge a lot…" D oll said, and then furrowed her brow when she caught sight of her snacks out of the corner of her eye. "…But Prince-gēge would snatch Doll's snacks to eat, so forget it." Doll crawled back into her pile of snacks and began to eat.

"Wait, Prince is all alone over there, with no friends and not a cent to his name! We have to go and save him!" Gui shouted at his irresponsible teammates, his face white as a sheet.

"YOU are not going anywhere, so just get back to drawing designs obediently," everyone retorted in unison.

Wicked looked at them helplessly, thinking, _Looks like Xiao Lan won't be returning for_ _the time being… _But that wasn't a bad thing at all, he realized. Gui wouldn't be able tosee Prince.

On the other hand, he – Wicked – would still be able to talk to Xiao Lan over the phone.

_Excellent! _thought Wicked, his lips quirking into a smile.

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hg

My arms were folded across my chest as I studied the monster I would have to fight soon

— a lesser demon.

The lesser demon resembled the "_oni_" from Japanese folklore, with its hideous face, sharp teeth bared in a snarl, short horns on its head, and a somewhat short katana19 in its hands. They lived in chilly, deep, and eerie caverns. If Jing and Yun hadn't led the way, I probably wouldn't have been able to navigate my way through this maze-like cave. _I'd_ _better be careful not to be separated from them, or I'll suffer a fate more horrific than accidentally ending up on the Eastern Continent._

After not moving for several "long" minutes, Yun couldn't keep silent for any longer and asked,ēwhen"Dàgare we going to begin fighting? If we don't hurry and get the demon

horns, we won't be able to finish the quest!"

I felt a tad frustrated. _I don't know much about the monster, and the people by my side_ _aren't my usual teammates from Odd Squad. We don't even have a priest, so if I rush in carelessly, I might just join the ranks of the demons myself… _Nonetheless, I had to getstarted. I could only pray silently that this type of mob wasn't too strong. "Yun, Jing, stand further back."

After I gave the order to Jing and Yun… I mean, instructed them on what to do, I looked around carefully and found a lone lesser demon. Moving lightly on my feet, I stealthily crept up behind it, and then savagely stabbed through its back at its heart. Unfortunately, the lesser demon's agility was unexpectedly high and it turned around, causing my blade to only pierce its shoulder. A green, sticky fluid – probably its blood – spurted out. Enraged, the injured demon brandished its short katana, and the sharp point of the blade came stabbing toward me. I leaned backward and the katana whistled past my waist, but an idea darted through my head, and I turned the motion into a backward somersault, kicking the demon and sending it sprawling backward. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I sprang toward the demon, slashing my weapon at it and severing its entire right arm.

The demon howled. Though it had lost its right arm and its weapon, it still tried to bite me. I wrapped my left hand about its throat tightly and stabbed Black Dao right through its heart with my right hand. Just as I was about to heave a sigh of relief, however, the demon actually bit my left hand. I winced with pain, thinking, _Don't tell me the lesser_ _demon's weakness isn't its heart?_

"Dàgē,cut off its head, you have to cut off its head!" Yun roared frantically.

19** A somewhat short katana**: Our translators suggested that this might be a_kodachi_, but Yu Wo didn'tspecify, so we're stuck with "katana".

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_So that's how it is_. In the instant I understood, the demon no longer had a head on itsneck. I quickly let go of the corpse, which was spurting blood everywhere, so as to avoid turning into a tank of green oil.

"Dàgēistrulyē'sa heroicmanofdisplayăodì .Dàghasdeeply touched Xi

backwardē's somersaultistrulypeerless;ofDàgelegant, yet unyielding as steel. Sigh! Xiăodì can only bă**o**dìw ē**t**rot**o**yourublecutoffDàggreatness… However, could Xi

the demon'săodìmighthorns,besoablethattoXicomplete the quest?"

_What the heck? If you want me to slice off the horns just say so! Spouting so much rubbish, you're making my skin break out in goosebumps. _Still, the horn needed to be cutoff, so my blade rose and fell, and I handed the small horns to Yun.

Having a rough idea of how strong the lesser demon was, I realized that I could probably handle them quite easily and my anxiety dissipated. I began to come up with a plan to help Yun and Jing level up and, after some thinking, I led Jing and Yun to a crevice in the cave wall and asked them to stand inside. "I'll be in charge of luring the demons here. After that, Jing, I won't let the demons harm you, so don't worry and just cast your spells. Yun, set up a _Slow Barrier_."

I gazed into the depths of the cave, closed my eyes, and breathed in deeply. Then I opened my eyes and smiled slightly. _Lesser demons, here I come._

To begin with, I lured a single demon and exchanged blows with it with great ease. It was then that Jing pulled out a piece of _fu_ paper. I stole a backward glance and saw her draw several strokes on the paper with her fingers before throwing the paper over, crying out, "Flames, true and thrice-concealed, go!"

Unexpectedly, the paper flew straight toward the demon. Seeing that the demon intended to dodge, I launched into a flurry of blows, forcing it to stay in place. Finally, the paper reached the demon and suddenly turned into three white flames, enveloping the demon. It howled in pain and reacted by lunging toward Jing, but unfortunately for it, a kick from me sent it sprawling back to its original spot.

"Flames, true and thrice-concealed, go!" Seeing that the flames on the demon were about to go out, Jing once again sent out another piece of _fu_ paper.

This time, I watched in satisfaction as the flames began to reduce the demon to ash…

"AHHHHH!"ē,theYundemon'ssuddenlyhorns!"wailed. "Dàg

Hearing that, I smoothly sliced off the demon's horns and watched as the demon turned to ashes. _Looks like I can lure more of them,_ I thought decisively.

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Thus, the number of demons increased from one to two and ultimately three, after which I decided that was enough, as any more would leave me with insufficient space to fight. In this fashion, I would engage the demons, focusing on honing my defense. While I initially had many openings in my defense and couldn't react quickly enough, I soon grew proficient to the point where my defense was watertight. I grew more and more familiar with this method of fighting, which was completely different from the aggressive fighting style I had used all this time. _It is pretty good training for me… still, if only the_ _mobs were stronger, _I thought in dissatisfaction.

After luring more than ten groups of mobs, I heaved a long sigh and said mildly, "Let's take a break."

Guilt washed over Jing's face. "I'm reallyē.Jingsorry,completelyēDàg forgot that Dàg needs to rest."

"It's okay," I said and sat down, recovering a bit of my energy.

"Wow, we've each gained a level, and we have enough demon horns to complete the mission," Yun said, his eyes sparkling.

I wasn't really keen on fighting any more of these lesser demons. I had nothing to gain from fighting them, and though my main objective was to help Yun and Jing, it would be advantageous to them as well if we fought higher-level mobs. With that thought in mind, I asked, "Are there any stronger mobs that we can fight?"

Jing's and Yun's eyesē,whyshone brightly, and Yun quickly replied, "Of course, Dàg

don't we take on demon maidens? A demon maiden's horns are worth more than a lesser demon's."

"The monster's features are…?" I asked.

Directing this question to Yun, the gamer, was the right thing to do, as he immediately replied with enthusiasm and confidence, saying, "Demon maidens are generally similar to lesser demons, except their levels are higher. Their weak point is their heads, just like lesser demons, but demon maidens use their sharp and long claws as weapons, and they move faster thanē'sspeed, ,won't withhave Dàg

problems once you're familiar with their style of attacking."

I nodded. "Let's take them on, then."

Standing up, I stretched and said, "Lead the way."

The demon maiden had long, flowing hair, pale green skin, and wore a dress like the type ladies used to wear in ancient China. Its hands ended in extremely long nails, their edges glinting dangerously. I darted forward and we began to fight.

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Yun, the zealous gamer, was right; the demon maiden was indeed more challenging than the lesser demon. Its perception was considerably sharper than that of a lesser demon, making it tough for me to strike her weak spot, her head. Moreover, it was extremely fast, and I had to focus on dodging – with great difficulty – initially. Unfortunately for it…

I smiled. The demon maiden's attacking style was limited to stabbing. I searched for an opportunity, and when the demon maiden once again stretched out a hand, thinking to leave holes in my body, I stopped moving, and then savagely hacked off its hand the moment it touched me. A demon maiden with one hand missing was nothing to be afraid of, so I used the same method to get rid of its other hand and to finish it off… although I wasn't as successful the second time I tried and a "small" hole appeared on my body.

Without making a sound, I secretly took a swig from a bottle of health potion, and then returned to my companions' side as if nothing had happened.

Yun's eyesēiswerereallyfilledēwouldstrong!withIworshipknewthat."Dàg

definitely have no difficulty with it. We'll wait here for you to lure the monsters over, Dàgē."

"Alright," I replied. _Looks like I can train on stronger mobs now,_ I thought, and happily went off to lure some demon maidens.

hg

"Dàgēisreally strong! In just three days, Lü Jing has leveled up five times and I've

leveled up twice as well. Fighting higher-level mobs really speeds things up! What shall we fightē?"Yunnext,saidDàgcheerily as he brought over a plate of _wontons_ in chili oil.

I frowned, but still accepted the plate of _wontons._ Inwardly I thought, _I should really start_ _to earn some money and prepare to return_,_ although Zhuo-g__ē__ge had passed me Wolf - dàg__ē__'smessage, saying that things at Infinite City were going along fine without me _.

So I simply said, "I can't stay here much longer."

Yun and ē,Jingyou'relook**e**avindpanicked. "Dàg g?"

"No, I need to make money. I need to earn five thousand crystal coins," I replied after swallowing a _wonton_.

"Makeēneedsmoney?money?What, ButDàgyou didn't ask us to split our reward

money from the quests earlier with you!" Yun paused suddenly, and then frowned slightly. "Why didn't you ask us to split the reward with you if you're in need of money, Dàgē?"

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I remained silent. _With Yun__ē__",__ē__""Dàgc**all**ingdaymelong,"Dàghow could I_ _possibly even ask to split the money?_

"Dàgē,although we don't h ave five thousand crystal coins, please take this for now!" Jing took out a bag of coins and pushed it toward me.

I sighed. _It's almost time for them to get new equipment, so how could I possibly take the_ _money from them now? _"No need, I'll make my own money."

"But,ēareDàgyou really going to leave us?" Yun's expression was one of dismay,

clearly unwilling to part. "We don't know your name, or even what you look like. If we part now, we'dē!" probably never meet again, Dàg

_We will meet again, but it will be quite some time before Jing and Yun manage to gather ten thousand crystal coins and come to Infinite City to find me. I wish I could help them earn the money for the ship fare, but my teammates in Odd Squad are waiting for me! Is there really no way out of this dilemma?_

As though she'd gatheredē,IsawanupAher courage for something, Jing said, "Dàg - level mission some time earlier. The reward money is substantial, and it doesn't seem to be very difficult, we just have to retrieve the demon king's hair tie. Since the demon king, lesser demon, and demon maiden are all similar types of mobs, it shouldn't be a problem forē. Besides,Dàg even if we can't beat it, we can just grab the hair tie and escape."

_It does sound like a pretty good proposition, _I thought._ If I can take the ship back to the Central Continent with Jing and Yun, then I'll at least have someone to chat with and wouldn't have to be bored to death like I was on the trip here. _"Alright then, let's get thatquest."

"Dàgē'sthe best!" Yun happily cheered.

hg

With Jing and Yun leading the way, I once again returned to the Demon Cave.

"Dàgē,we might have to spend some time searching, since the demon king often wanders around the areas further inside the cave. It'll probably be difficult to find him," Yun said worriedly.

"Okay. Let's begin searching then."

Jing, Yun, and I made our way into the depths of the cave and quickly reached the spot where we'd trained at recently. There, I stopped and fought a few lesser demons and demon maidens in order to work the kinks out of my muscles. We then proceeded deeper into the cave to an area where we'd never been before. As before, I would engage the

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lesser demons and demon maidens that we encountered along the way and then let Jing and Yun get some practice.

After walking for some time, I beckoned for Jing and Yun to stop and take a short break, as well as to leave offerings to the Temple of the Five Internal Organs… that is, to eat. I chomped on a _shaobing youtiao__20_ and drained a bottle of soy milk…

"Dàgē,why do you treat us so well?" Yun remarked as he ate.

_Do you even need to ask? Obviously it's because we're best friends! _Since I couldn't verywell say those words, I could only keep up my "big brother" façade and ask, "What did you just call me?"

"Dàgē…" Yun trailedēreallyoff,andis then he chortled with laughter. "Dàg straightforwardē'?". Just because we call you 'Dàg

"Just for that, don't you think it's not really worth it?" Jing looked at me with…

_Conflicting emotions in her eyes? I must be mistaken. _"Aren't you worried that helping uswould just turn out to be a waste of time, and that after you've helped us, we might just go our own way and forget all about you?"

I simply answered, "I don't do things that I will regret. Once I've decided to do something, I won't regret it."

Jing and Yun didn't say anything else. _Why has the atmosphere suddenly turned heavy?_ I wondered. _Did I say something wrong? Ah, forget it; I'll just eat my_ youtiao.

"Ah…" Jing suddenly cried out. I turned around, startled, just in time to see Jing crash against the wall. I caught sight of the culprit out of the corner of my eye, and instantly I leaped forward and knocked Yun aside.

A katana came stabbing at my chest. I flipped through the air and as soon as I landed on the ground, I somersaulted backward to Jing and Yun's side. Grimacing in pain, I clenched my wounded left hand, blood spilling from between my fingers. I did not dare to take out a health potion, however, because I knew that as soon as I moved to do so, the

20**_ Shaobing youtiao_**: A_shaobing youtiao_is a combination of two popular Chinese snacks or breakfastfood. A _shaobing_ ( wiki/Shaobing) is a baked flatbread, often topped with sesame, and can contain a variety of stuffing (or none at all). A _youtiao_ ( wiki/Youtiao) is, as mentioned before in V1C4, a length of fried dough that's quite fluffy inside. A _shaobing youtiao_ is basically a _shaobing_ that has _youtiao_ stuffing. It sometimes resembles a sandwich, while at other times it looks more like a turnover.

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person standing across from me with the frosty, piercing gaze – Himura Kenshin21 – would definitely take the opportunity to attack.

_That's right! The mob across from me with that head of red hair, the cross-shaped scar, and that rurouni outfit is DEFINITELY the _battousai_.__22__ This is rather unexpected; looks like the _Nine-headed Dragon Strike_ that I had plagiarized has finally met its owner. He won't sue me for plagiarizing, right? _I broke out in cold sweat.

Yun helped Jing to sit up, and shouted,ēhe's"Dàgthedemon king, be careful!"

_What? The _battousai_ is the demon king? Don't tell me that the demon maiden I killed earlier was Kaoru?__23_

Hmm… Forget it, if I go on, nobody would get what I'm talking about. The important thing now is I deeply feel that the mob in front of me would be a very, very tough adversary. From how he sent Jing flying without me sensing it and how he subsequently managed to injure me even though I was moving at top speed, it was clear that his speed was certainly not below mine… _And he might even be faster than me,_ I thought with a sinking feeling, since speed was my greatest asset.

The atmosphere was extremely tense, but there was no sign that the _battousai_ intended to move. Instead, he stood where he was and the two of us exchanged stare for stare until at last, he opened his mouth and said, "Elf, why have you entered my territory, knowing that the Demon Cave does not welcome you?"

It took me some effort to conceal my shock. _He actually knows that I'm an elf? Is he a_ _mob with artificial intelligence? This, this is my first time meeting one… Hold on a second! A mob with artificial intelligence? Then he must be a boss mob at least… _Igulped. _That can't be, right?_

If my Odd Squad teammates were here, I would probably have exclaimed proudly, "Come on then, you monster with a brain!" Reality is cruel, however, and I didn't even have a healer, so my pride immediately turned into good humor. _Gaaah, I'm so pissed_ _off! Why am I so unlucky lately, so much such that even when I'm just trying to earn some money, I would end up bumping into a boss mob with artificial intelligence?_

"Elf, what exactly have you come here for?" The _battousai_ suddenly looked at me with curiosity. "Elves rarely appear on the Eastern Continent; this is in fact my first time seeing an elf."

21**Himura Kenshin**: The title protagonist of the manga_Rurouni Kenshin_. See Wikipedia( wiki/Himura_Kenshin) for more details. Note that "_rurouni_" approximately translates as "wanderer".

22**_Battousai_**: According to Wikipedia, this was a title given to Kenshin in the manga_Rurouni Kenshin_inrecognition of his skill as a practitioner of _Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryuu_, which utilizes superhumanly-fast _battoujutsu _(sword-drawing) techniques. The title literally means "master of sword-drawing".

23**Kaoru**: Kaoru was Kenshin's companion and later on, his wife in_Rurouni Kenshin_.

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_So that's why he didn't kill me right away, _I thought.

Jing and Yunē?"finally reacted, exclaiming, "Elf? Dàg

"I came to borrow something from you." I forced myself to say it. After all, the chances of defeating him in combat and the chances of borrowing the hair tie off him were about the same… that is, almost none.

"The hair tie?" The _battousai_ actually pointed at his hair tie with a smile. "Many people have fought me for this ragged hair tie. Just what use does it have?"

_So you mean many people have failed? Just how strong exactly is this artificially intelligent mob? _I thought. My hands and legs felt like jelly. "Uh, someone asked me toget it."

"Who?" There was finally a serious expression on the _battousai_'s face.

_How should I know? _"Errr, his, her name is Kaoru!" I fibbed.

"Kaoru?" The _battousai_ actually looked astonished. "It's her? I see."

_…Is this for real? What's going on now? _I was kind of stunned._ I can't possibly be this lucky. So this quest doesn't need us to defeat this artificially intelligent mob? Could the game designer actually be a loyal fan of Rurouni Kenshin like me?_

"Tell me, did Kaoru say anything?" The _battousai_ looked at me levelly.

_Say what? This quest has a prequel quest? Oh crap, _I thought desperately._ I'll just give it a random shot! _"She wanted me to tell you… to tell you that she'll wait for you forever."

The _battousai's_ expression became gloomy. "That silly girl," he said, and he undid his hair tie.

"Tell her not to wait for me, for I can no longer turn back." With a melancholic smile on his face, he handed the hair tie to the wide-eyed, can't-believe-my-luck me.

I lowered my head and looked at the old, bloodstained hair tie in my hand, and then looked at Kenshin, whose expression was one of sorrow, as though something had broken within him. The phrase "artificial intelligence" vanished from my mind, and suddenly all I saw was a forlorn swordsman who was trapped and unable to reunite with his beloved person, who also happened to be my favorite character, Kenshin, as well. So I asked, "Why? Why can't you turn back? Why do you remain here as the demon king and not return to Kaoru's side?"

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Kenshin looked at me for a long moment, then finally sighed. "You do not need to know. Just relay my message to Kaoru."

There were still things that I wanted to ask, but Kenshin leaped backward and swiftly disappeared up the cavern wall.

With a heavy heart, I thought to myself, _He's just an artificially intelligent mob, he's just_ _an artificially intelligent mob… _Still, the guilt refused to go away, for his hair tie andmessage would never reach Kaoru, and the culprit would be me.

Just then, Yun helpedē!Sothat'sJing howtoherthefeet and said, "That's great, Dàg

quest's supposed to be finished. Now we can go back and claim our reward."

"No, I want to find Kaoru," I replied, gripping the hair tie tightly as I made up my mind. _I_ _won't regret it._

"But,ē…"DàgJing paled.

I held up a hand. _There's no room for discussion, because I know that if I don't do it, I_ _will regret it all my life, whereas if I do it, no matter what the result may be, I will have no regrets._

Jing and Yun fellēsilenthasdeciandedin tothe end, Yun said, "Very well, since Dàg do so, we shall look for Kaoru together."

I nodded and gave the hair tie to Yun. After that, the three of us walked together silently, and I couldn't stop thinking about Kenshin's behavior earlier. _Do artificially intelligent_ _mobs have feelings? It's impossible right? _I shook my head, feeling a little silly…_ Then what about Meatbun? _I caressed my pouch absently as I thought,_ Does Meatbun have feelings? It calls me "Mama", cries when I disappear, and seems delighted when I pat it. Does it have no feelings? _I could not, would not bring myself to say that it didn't haveany.

"Dàgē,quick, take a look, there's something down there!" exclaimed Yun, who was kneeling in front of me, next to a cliff.

Puzzled, I walked over to where Yun was and peered down the edge of the cliff. "It's just pitch black?"

I felt someone grab me and looked down in bewilderment, only to see Yun grabbing my ankles. Before I could ask what he was doing, I felt a powerful force hit me in the back. With Yun hanging onto my ankles, I couldn't do anything but pitch forward, both legs in the air… Finally, as I began to fall, I managed to turn around, and saw the conflicting emotions in Jing's and Yun's eyes.

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hg

Yun closed his eyes as he murmured, "Why? Why didn't you want to claim the reward, Dàgē?Why did you have to hand me the hair tie? Why did you trust us so much?"

"Thisēwilltime,surelyDàgregret it!" Jing said with a pained smile.

hg

My mind was blank as I fell, but slowly a thought surfaced in my head: _This cliff is really_ _tall, so I should die instantly, and not end up lying half-dead on the ground._

_SMACK!_

My splayed-out body hit the surface of the water. _Damn it… It hurts,_ I thought, my face contorting with the pain. I grimaced and inadvertently swallowed several mouthfuls of icy water. It was so cold that I began to shiver, but I set aside the cold and tried to swim to the surface, only to find that my waterlogged cloak was weighing me down. With great difficulty, I freed myself from the cloak and fought to get to the surface, but my vision was steadily becoming blurrier and blurrier. _Waaah, to think that I would get to_ _experience so many different ways of dying while playing a game…_

Suddenly, just as I was on the verge of death, I discovered that someone had grabbed me by the waist and was hauling me upward. _Have Jing and Yun come to save me? Is that it?_

I opened my eyes immediately and stared dumbly at a man who was… _kissing me?_ After freezing up for a few seconds, I hurriedly pushed him away.

"Kenshin?!" I was startled to see that the person in front of me was Kenshin, whom we'd just parted from.

"Are you feeling better?" Although they were words of concern, Kenshin's voice was emotionless as he spoke.

I asked dazedly, "You were doing CPR on me?"

"Yes."

I tilted my head to one side and thought, _That can't count as my first kiss then… No wait,_ _my first kiss has already been given to my cousin, waaaaah! What the heck, my first kiss was given to my cousin, and my second kiss was given to an NPC? Sigh! My kisses have all been such disastrous encounters…_

"You've been betrayed by your companions?" Kenshin got to his feet.

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"Seems like it," I replied with a heavy heart. _I didn't expect that Jing and Yun would_ _actually hurt me. They didn't know it was me, but still, it's wrong to harm others! Although I can understand their desire to get to the Central Continent more quickly…_

"You regret it then; you regret trusting them." The look in Kenshin's eyes was incomparably frosty.

I got to my feet as well and scratched my face. "Nope, I don't regret it. No matter what, I would've helped them. It's a good thing that they don't know my name and appearance. This way, the next time we meet, at least they won't feel guilty. Letting the person known asē""Dàgvanish just like this might not be a bad ending."

Kenshin looked me in the eyes, and finally let out a sigh. "I don't understand what you're thinking."

"Hmmm, the matter is rather complicated."

"I need you to meet someone," said Kenshin, clearly feeling torn over something.

"Oh? Why?" I thought curiously, _Who could it be? It can't be Kaoru, right?_

"It's a quest. A hidden quest," Kenshin said, looking at me sorrowfully. "And I can't go against it."

I looked at Kenshin in astonishment. _Surely this isn't something that an NPC should be_ _saying? _I gulped._ Don't tell me… don't tell me he really has developed feelings? _I blurtedout, "Are you an NPC or not?"

"I'm an NPC… I think so?" Kenshin looked at me, and his eyes held both pain and uncertainty.

_*Sweat* Perhaps that's no longer the case; perhaps he's really developed feelings and self-awareness. I have never seen an NPC reveal such sorrow or agony in their expressions. _"You have your own will then?"

There was a moment of silence, and then Kenshin replied impassively, "I do not know. It's just that one day, while I was fighting a player, I suddenly felt that something was very odd. I didn't know what I was doing, but it felt like I should be looking for someone, looking for Kaoru… But from the conversations between players, I gradually understood that things weren't the way I thought they were. I am an NPC, and it took me a very long time to understand what "NPC" truly meant. Ever since that moment, I no longer know what I am."

"You are Kenshin," I blurted out. "Do you really want to find Kaoru? Perhaps we can look for her together?"

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"I already know that I will only find Kaoru's grave. That is how the script was written. I will never be able to see her," Kenshin replied with a pained smile.

"So what if I do manage to see her? Did things really happen between us? Did we really live together before? After which, I was challenged to a fight by the Demonic Dark God and imprisoned here upon my defeat, while Kaoru became trapped in Snow Village, such that the two of us can never meet. Originally, my greatest wish was to see Kaoru, but afterwards I slowly realized that everything was just a lie."

_A lie? _I'd never thought of it that way, never realized that the arrangement we humansimposed upon the NPCs could be this cruel.

"Nevertheless, I have to comply with the system's hidden quest and bring you to see that person. However, I hope… I hope that you won't hurt him. Can you do that, elf?" Kenshin looked at me almost beseechingly.

I gave him a brilliant smile. "Call me Prince. Don't worry, Kenshin's friend is my friend."

"So, what's his name?" I asked as I peered around curiously at the pure white tunnel. From the vibe that Kenshin gave me, I'd expected that we would be walking through a dragon's palace or some divine immortal's sanctuary…

"He was originally called Lantis Ilanyushenlin, but he wants me to call him Sunshine," Kenshin replied as he led the way.

_Lantis Ilanyushenlin? Which retarded game designer came up with such a retarded name? I bet he picked alphabets at random and pieced them together to form a name._

"Sunshine sounds much better. Is this person a guy?"

"He is, for the most part."

_Eh? Then what about the remaining part?_

"We're here." Kenshin abruptly turned around and I suddenly noticed that before me was a pure white door with a ruby set in its middle. _How many ship tickets can be purchased_ _with this ruby, I wonder? _I thought, drooling in secret and resisting the urge to climb upand try to yank it off.

"I hope you won't hurt him. Although the quest requires you to fight him, you don't have to attack as Sunshine is no longer controlled by the quest."

"Oh, I understand," I replied with a nod as I cheerfully thought, _It's a good thing I don't_ _have to fight. I can't even defeat Kenshin, let alone do this insanely difficult quest. (Aside from having to know about Kenshin and Kaoru and answer Kenshin's question correctly,_

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_one must also have nothing better to do than fall off a cliff. If this quest isn't insane, then what is?)_

At that point, I still hadn't realized in the slightest just how grave the implications of an NPC that isn't controlled by the quest parameters were!

Kenshin pushed open the gigantic door, and a gentle ray of golden light shone through the gap in the doorway. As I raised a hand to shield my eyes from the light, I thought I saw a silhouette within. I followed Kenshin into the room.

"Sunshine, this is Prince, the elf who came upon the hidden quest," Kenshin said, his lips curving into a smile.

"Oh? Really?" The human figure, which had been originally lounging on a divan, approached me.

I gradually began to make out the details of the human figure and promptly received a shock. _A dark elf?_ His skin was as dark as a dark elf's, but instead of silver hair, he had long, silvery-purple hair, which he tied up into a ponytail. He had a pair of emerald green eyes, and he wore a two-piece outfit. On his lower body he wore a skirt that trailed down onto the floor, and there were no shoes on his feet, which were only wrapped with pieces of cloth.

I gaped. _Are you kidding me? Didn't Kenshin say that there are few elves on the Eastern_ _Continent? Why is a dark elf part of the hidden quest then? Hmmm, _I thought, and then Isuddenly saw that his ears were just like a normal human's. _Just what exactly is going on_ _here?_

"Hello, Prince. I'm Sunshine," Sunshine said, and then bowed elegantly.

I looked at him, frowning, trying to figure out what the game designer was thinking… _An_ _Arabic prince? _I suddenly realized._ Isn't this outfit and skin color Arabic? So that's how it is, the game designer was trying to come up with an Arabic design. _Understandingdawned upon me. _He's not a dark elf, he's AN ARAB._

"Prince?" Sunshine was peering at me curiously.

I snapped back to reality and happily greeted my new friend. This was my first time meeting an Arab, even though he was an NPC. "Hello, I'm very pleased to meet you, Sunshine."

There was a slender smile on both Sunshine's and Kenshin's faces, and Sunshine began to ask me questions about the outside world eagerly.

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As I wasn't familiar with the Eastern Continent, I could only tell them how I came to be on the Eastern Continent, and then I began to describe to them everything about the Central Continent, including my beloved Odd Squad teammates and our not-sure-if-it's-been-completed Infinite City.

"I really want to visit the Central Continent," Sunshine said with a slight frown. "I would like to see the outside world, to see real sunshine."

_Sunshine? I see, is that why you named yourself Sunshine? Because you yearn to see the real sunshine… _I made up my mind. "You guys can come with me and accompany meback to the Central Continent. I won't reveal your identities, and you can just pretend to be normal players. There won't be a problem."

"Seriously? You're willing to bring us with you?" A smile blossomed on Sunshine's face.

"Yep." I smiled as well, but just then I suddenly thought of something. "But even without me, you guys can leave, right? Why haven't you done so?"

Kenshin gave a bitter smile. "It's useless; I've tried. If the hidden quest hasn't been triggered, then when I leave the Demon Cave the system will forcibly teleport me back here. Sunshine can't even step out of this palace."

"Then can you leave now?"

"No," Sunshine replied, his brow furrowing, and he sighed. "You have to fulfill Kenshin's wish first."

I turned to look at Kenshin. "Your wish? You sure have a lot of wishes."

"That's because the system dictates it to be so…" Kenshin replied tiredly. "The hidden mission goes like this. You have to tell me your quest-giver – Kaoru's – name before I can give you the hair tie. After receiving the hair tie, you must not bring it to the Adventurers' Guild, but instead, bring it to Kaoru, who is gravely ill. Kaoru will beg you to bring me to see her, and you will return to the Demon Cave and tell me the news, that Kaoru is near death. I will then go with you to look for Kaoru, but upon seeing her grave, you will then accompany me to look for my enemy and have my revenge. Upon accomplishing all that, I will become your humanoid pet."

_So that's how it is, but really, how many people would know that that's the method to obtain the hair tie? And after getting it, they'll have to give up on the enormous reward and instead give the hair tie, which was so difficult to obtain, to another NPC? And they'll even have to agree to bring Kenshin to meet Kaoru, and most ridiculous of all, they'll have to help an NPC get his revenge? _Cold sweat dripped off my forehead as Isilently paid my respects to the ancestors of whichever game designer it was who came up with this insane quest. "No wonder no one has completed this quest before."

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"Yes, and Sunshine's quest is even more difficult," Kenshin continued emotionlessly. "After obtaining me, you must fall off this cliff. I will then rescue you and bring you to meet Sunshine, after which, when asked, you must say Sunshine's full name or he will attack and kill you. In so doing, you will never be able to attempt this quest again."

"Lantis Ilanyushenlin? Even if I were to keep guessing until Armageddon arrives, I would never be able to come up with that name," I said weakly.

"You have to complete another quest, only then would you come across my name by coincidence. I think it's carved upon a slab of stone containing a prophecy, on the world's highest mountain, Azure Peak." There was a glint in Sunshine's eyes, and there was a note of dissatisfaction in his voice as he said, "But I don't like that name."

"Is this quest not meant to be completed? I mean, just how many coincidences would you need to do it?" I deeply suspected that if not for the fact that Kenshin and Sunshine had developed self-awareness, until the day _Second Life_ shuts down, nobody would be able to accomplish this quest.

Kenshin grimaced slightly. "I think they didn't intend for anyone to complete it. Until now, no player has managed to defeat me. If I became somebody's humanoid pet, I would probably be worth a lot."

_Th-that would be true, _I thought, gulping._ If I have Kenshin, I would have nothing to be afraid of. Even Lolidragon wouldn't be able to bully me anymore. _"What about you,Sunshine? Would you become a humanoid pet as well?"

Sunshine continued to smile charmingly. "Yes, I would. After you finish the quest, I would be able to leave this place."

"Yaaaaay! Not only have I gained two friends, but they're super powerful friends!" I was practically bouncing around the room with joy.

"Friends?" Kenshin and Sunshine grinned. They had picked the right person after all.

"You have to finish all the quests, however, or you'll raise the system's suspicion," Kenshin interrupted my cheering.

"Don't worry. With you around, how could I fail to complete the quest?" I replied, without an ounce of fear.

Kenshin took over the reins of the discussion and continued to explain what we had to do. "In that case, let's look for Kaoru's grave first. It should be in Snow Village, which is in the northernmost area. We'll look for the Demonic Dark God after that to carry out revenge, and then receive the prophets' quest and look for the three prophets, who have scattered throughout the land. Each prophet will give us a fragment of a map. After

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piecing them together, we'll go to the world's highest mountain, Azure Peak, and get the Stone of Prophecy, then hand the stone to the prophets. The prophets will give you this prophecy: The demon awaits his lover; his lover too, awaits him in pain. Only in the most silent and deepest of places can hope be found."

"What sort of weird prophecy is that…" I wondered, _Whoever gets that prophecy will_ _probably throw up blood, right? After climbing up a tall mountain with such difficulty, only to get a weird prophecy…_

Sunshine explained, "It's basically hinting that you have to first accomplish the demon king – Kenshin's – wish and then jump off a cliff; only then can you meet me."

_If somebody can actually figure that out, he should just go and buy a lottery ticket. He'll definitely win the grand prize! _I thought, and the corner of my mouth twitched.

"Alright, it doesn't sound that hard. I'll bring Kenshin to look for Kaoru. Wait for the good news, Sunshine!" I assured Sunshine confidently, thinking, _With Kenshin around,_ _what's so scary about the Demonic Dark God? All I have to do is look for a few people, climb a mountain, and then I'll gain Kenshin and Sunshine as my companions. With this much to gain, I'd be a fool not to do it._

"Right. I shall await your return," Sunshine replied, looking at me trustingly.

My will to fight blazing now, I grabbed Kenshin and said, "Let's go, Kenshin. Let's finish this quest quickly, then we can come back and fetch Sunshine, and then return to the Central Continent."

I waved goodbye at Sunshine and then left through the enormous white door, towing Kenshin behind me.

"Good luck, Prince. May Allah bless you," Sunshine said as we left.

Still towing Kenshin along, we returned to the Demon Cave. With Kenshin around, it was a breeze to get out. I looked at the sky, which I hadn't seen for some time, and stretched my limbs comfortably. When I was done stretching, I discovered that Kenshin was looking at his surroundings with a dazed expression. I couldn't help but snicker, since it was so rare to see him looking this bewildered, and Kenshin immediately composed himself, though he still looked slightly embarrassed.

I suddenly remembered something. "By the way, you probably shouldn't walk around dressed like that, since many people might notice that you look a lot like the _battousai_!"

_Although not everyone likes to read ancient comics like I do, hmmm… except for that bored game designer._

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"Is that so? Wouldn't it be fine if we just tell them that I'm your pet?" Kenshin replied, unconcerned.

I looked at him unhappily. "But you're not my pet. You're my friend."

Kenshin returned my gaze. Though his face was still expressionless, I could see the mirth in his eyes. "Then what should we do?"

"Hold on," I said. I grabbed my pouch and began rummaging through it. Finally, I pulled out my newbie equipment, which I'd kept as memorabilia. _It's a good thing I didn't sell_ _them, _I thought. "Wear these! And let down your hair; that way you won't look so muchlike the _battousai._"

Kenshin took the clothes from me and began stripping off his _rurouni_ outfit right then and there… _Uhhh, should I turn away?_ My gaze drifted upward. I would steal a couple of curious glances every now and then, but… _I swear, aside from his not-so-broad_ _shoulders, lean arms, his six-pack, and two slender legs, I really didn't see anything!_

When I saw that he was done changing… I mean, after Kenshin told me that he was done changing, I tore a strip off his old clothes and then tied it around his forehead like a headband.

_Very good, _I thought as I looked at him in satisfaction._ After putting on the newbie outfit, he looks like a teenager. This way, he looks no different from other players; in fact, he looks like a new player._

"Can I continue to call you Kenshin? I don't think it should be a problem."

"Mm."

"Let's go, then. We don't want to keep Sunshine waiting for long." _So, off we go to find_ _Kaoru's grave. _Of course, I hadn't forgotten to put on my opera mask.

"By the way, it sounds like Snow Village is a very cold place. Is it?" I asked worriedly.

"I don't know. Never been there," Kenshin replied simply.

"Are you scared of the cold?" I was curious.

"I don't know. Probably not," Kenshin replied, raising an eyebrow, as though he didn't think that he could be scared of the cold.

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**Chapter 6: The Demonic Dark God **

_Not afraid of the cold? Then who the heck is the person desperately clinging to me for warmth right now? _My teeth chattered as I staggered onward, having great difficulty ineven lifting my feet, not to mention having to haul along someone who was desperately clinging onto me, with a face pale as a sheet and lips turning blue from the cold – Kenshin.

As soon as Kenshin and I teleported from White Tiger City to the Black Tortoise City in the north, we felt an obvious drop in the temperature, so I bought two fur cloaks and we began to hurry toward Snow Village. As we walked, I gradually came to comprehend just how onerous my fate was. _Why? Why? Why is there a BLIZZARD?_

_Holy crap, it really is damn cold! _Even though I had put on or wrapped about my facepretty much everything from my pouch that could be worn, I continued to feel so cold that I found myself thinking, _If I were to spit, my saliva would hit the ground as a block_ _of ice; if I were to exhale from my mouth, the moisture in my breath would instantly hit my face as ice._

Next to me, Kenshin was even worse off. We had only just started making our way to Snow Village when he began to shiver non-stop. His condition didn't improve even after putting on his original _rurouni_ outfit, and in the end he was practically sticking onto me for warmth. _Looks like in the face of extreme cold, even the strongest swordsman will_ _fall!_

"Ken…shin, a- are we there yet…?" I croaked out with great difficulty.

"Al…most th-there."

Kenshin's face was turning blue from the cold. _…Hey, can you at least open your eyes_ _and actually take a look?_

Surrounded by heavy snow and raging winds in the middle of that blizzard, all I could see was an expanse of white in front of me. There was only my compass for directions as we made our way onward, and the hope that God, Buddha, and Allah would grant us their protection, seeing how I'm working so hard to save a person…I mean, an NPC.

"Ahhh!" My foot caught on something and I tripped, falling face down in the snow with my arms and legs outstretched, and that bastard Kenshin was stacked steadily on top of me.

"Ken. Shin! If you don't get up this second, I will throw you back into the Demon Cave to spend an eternity with Sunshine."

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"…" Kenshin's expression was cold as he reluctantly got off his "fireplace".

Without someone's weight pressing me down, I could finally get back on my feet slowly. In my heart, I thought plaintively, _Even if I am not being earnestly religious_ – _praying to_ _God on one hand, Buddha on the other, and even referring to the Quran on the side _–_ it's just because I think that the more I pray, the more protection there will be! Did You all have to punish me like this, and even make me trip when there's nothing to trip over in this ocean of snow?_

Kenshin looked at the ground with a frown and said, "You seemed to have tripped on a rock."

I hurriedly turned to look. _Odd, that arch-shaped rock seemed to resemble…a tombstone?_ _I actually stepped on a tombstone? Oh god, mister ghost, I didn't mean to step on the front door to your house, so please don't come looking for me for revenge at night… No, wait, that's not right, _I thought._ This is the game world; if we die, don't we get revived? Who on earth would need a tombstone… A tombstone?_

"Kaoru's grave?!" I exclaimed.

"Let's clear off the snow from the tombstone," I said as I pulled out my Black Dao to use as a shovel and began shoveling away the snow.

It required a lot of effort to work in the middle of a blizzard, but nonetheless the two of us shoveled away the snow zealously. However, each time I cleared away a shovelful of snow, yet another load of snow would fall. Even after laboring on it for half a day, Kenshin and I still couldn't see the words on the tombstone. As time trickled by, the look in Kenshin's eyes grew more and more frantic and hopeless. Seeing his agony, I continued to dig with renewed vigor, but it was all in vain.

In the end, I was exhausted, having no more strength to continue digging. I could only watch as Kenshin continued to dig like a man possessed, and the more I watched, the more miserable I became. _Even though Kenshin knows that the past is just a fiction_ _dictated by the system and has never really taken place, can he still not forget about Kaoru?_

As Kenshin continued to shovel away the snow that could never be fully cleared, his movements became more and more frenzied and erratic. His well-kept hair was already a mess, but still the snow continued to fall…

"Kaoru…" Kenshin cast aside his sword and wailed towards the heavens. His face was streaked with tears.

The snow stopped.

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As the clouds slowly dispersed, a ray of light shone down from between the clouds and illuminated Kaoru's tomb. In the small area where it shone, the snow began to melt.

"Here lies Kaoru, who will wait for her beloved husband forever."

Kenshin staggered toward the tombstones and suddenly dropped onto his knees. "Kaoru…"

I got to my feet and went to stand behind Kenshin silently, gazing at the tombstone together with him. Even though I already knew that this was how things would turn out, nonetheless I still felt an indescribable sorrow at the moment of truth. Rather than say that I grieved for Kaoru, who had passed away, it should be said that I grieved for Kenshin, who could not free himself of the fate that the system had laid in store for him.

"Should I not have come? If I didn't come, Kaoru would be able to live indefinitely," Kenshin shouted as he pounded the floor with his fists.

"Instead of waiting in anguish indefinitely, maybe she preferred to lie in her grave, waiting with the knowledge that you would come to see her," I said slowly. "Just like you, who preferred to come and find her, despite knowing that you could only see her grave."

Kenshin snapped out of his stupor and smiled bitterly. "Perhaps you're right."

"Let's go and get your revenge then. Even though your enmity isn't real, turn your sorrow into your motivation to fight, turn your agony into the energy to wield your sword, and fight to your heart's content. Go, and vent your emotions," I said, my eyes blazing with battle lust.

Kenshin's eyes, too, blazed. "Let's go." With that, he turned and, without even a backward glance, began to lead the way. The cold was forgotten.

_As I thought, he's someone who likes to fight too, _I thought, smiling._ I've found someone who shares my interest._

hg

"Kenshin, where is the Demonic Dark God? The blizzard might have stopped, but I'm very tired. If it's too far, can we go tomorrow instead?" I gave Kenshin my most pleading, helpless, and weary look. Unfortunately, Kenshin was clearly very different from Gui.

"It's in that cave halfway up the mountain. Come on," Kenshin said heartlessly, urging me to hasten even as he pointed at a cave entrance that was kind of far, but not quite _that_ far away.

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"Okay, okay…"

I wanted very much to grumble as I climbed up the snowy mountain behind Kenshin. As the cave drew closer, the unease in my heart grew greater and greater, as the terrifyingly enormous statue in front of the cave entrance became clearer and clearer. Aside from that, I also noticed that the cave entrance was so big that you could stuff five of me – stacked vertically – into the cave. _Five of me… That's almost nine meters, I think?_ I gulped at that thought. _That can't be, right? It's probably that just the cave's a tad oversized; it's_ _impossible that there's a monster that big, right?_

"Kenshin, do you know what the Demonic Dark God looks like?" I asked in a shaking voice.

Kenshin did not spare a backward glance, and merely replied as we hurried along, "From the image that the system gave me, it's colossal and heavily-built, wears a black robe, has a single horn on its head, and carries the incomparably huge Demonic Sword of Darkness."

"It sounds really terrifying!" _That description contained words like "huge" and "heavily-built". Plus there's that enormous cave entrance, _I thought, and suddenly felt that gettingKenshin and Sunshine might not be such a simple task after all…

"We're here," said Kenshin as he stopped abruptly.

"Are we going in now? First let me see if I can find something that we can use as markers, so that we won't get lost inside the cave…" I hurriedly began rummaging around in my pouch.

Kenshin, however, stood right in the middle of the cave entrance and suddenly bellowed, "Demonic Dark God, I, Kenshin, have come to claim the debt owed to me."

I froze and stared into the impenetrable darkness of the cave alongside Kenshin, but there was only silence, as though even the wind and snow did not dare to make a single sound. Burdened with an intense feeling of uneasiness, I immediately drew out Black Dao. The steely ringing made by my sword as it left its sheath seemed especially loud in the silence.

A small stone suddenly fell from the roof of the cave…after which, the ground began to shake violently, and a fierce gust of wind actually came from the depths of the cave, and I could barely keep standing. The interior of the cave, which was originally dark, was now shrouded in an eerie green glow.

I knew that the battle was about to commence and that the opponent for this battle would possibly be the strongest I had ever encountered. With a resolute heart, I went over and stood next to Kenshin and gazed at the cave entrance with a haughty look in my eyes.

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At long last, the Demonic Dark God appeared.

With a heavy heart, I opened my mouth to ask, "Kenshin, strength and size may not be directly proportionate to one another, but do you think it's possible that the Demonic Dark God might not even notice us, but just accidentally kill us by stepping on us?"

Kenshin looked up at the Demonic Dark God in front of us without a word.

_My god, it really lifted its leg, _I thought, and hastily scrambled further away, draggingKenshin along. _You've got to be kidding me, who on earth can even fight against this_ _monster that has to stoop just to get out of a nine-meter-high cave?_

"No, I _will_ avenge Kaoru," Kenshin said, wresting free of my hold and charging toward the Demonic Dark God unhesitatingly.

I watched as Kenshin charged toward the Demonic Dark God, and had no other choice but to run after him with a forced smile and furrowed brow. As I ran, I shouted, "Be careful, Kenshin! Don't confront it head on."

Kenshin seemed to have turned a deaf ear upon what I had said and instead rushed at the Demonic Dark God without so much as a word. As he neared the demon god, he jumped directly onto its kneecap, and then with a step on its muscle, he leapt into the air until he was directly in front of the demon god's face, drawing his sword in that second. Just as it seemed he was about to slash the demon god's face, its enormous hand came hurtling toward Kenshin's side. Kenshin had no choice but to leap backward, dodging the giant slap that might have otherwise cost him his life.

"Kenshin, I'll distract him. Go attack him from behind," I shouted as I swung my _dao_ down onto the Demonic Dark God's foot.

CLANG! _There was actually a sound of metal clashing when the sword and foot met?_ I lowered my head to take a look and gulped, not daring to believe that I couldn't even nick the demon god's skin. _Let's try again,_ I thought, and swung my sword down heavily again… _CLANG!_

"To think that my Black Dao can't even do any damage to the demon god, it looks like I need further training." I felt deeply frustrated. There I stood with my Black Dao in one hand, crestfallen, as several dead leaves were lifted into the air by a breeze…

"Prince, quick! Dodge it!" I heard Kenshin bellow.

I looked up and saw the so-called Demonic Sword of Darkness hurtling toward me with all the momentum of an airplane plummeting to the ground. I darted to one side with lightning speed, however, the airplane…the demon sword once again came slashing at me. _My god, I'm so small, but he can still slash at me horizontally? Isn't this_

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_unreasonable? Which retarded programmer… _I splayed out on the ground in a ratherpathetic manner, narrowly evading that demon sword.

I rapidly clambered to my feet and immediately took to my heels, trying to flee…I mean, trying to distract the demon god, so as to give Kenshin the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. As I fled for my life, I wanted very much to cry; I could sense the earth trembling with each step the demon god took. The airplane demon sword would also swing at my butt from time to time… _I wonder, will I be stepped on and reduced to offal, or will I be_ _diced and turned into meat paste?_

"Kenshin, hurry up with your sneak attack! If I'm turned into meat paste or offal, I guarantee that I will return to the Demon Cave and haunt you as a ghost!" I yelled desperately.

"I tried to cut him already, it didn't work," Kenshin replied, incensed.

"What?!" The color drained from my face. _Do the heavens want me dead this badly? But_ _I don't want to die such a gory death, _I thought, and shouted, "Kenshin, which way's thecliff?"

Upon hearing my words, Kenshin's dejection vanished and he rallied himself. "Turn left! Turn left, and it'll be straight ahead."

_Turn left? _For the first time in my life, I found turning left to be an extremely difficultaction to execute. "Kenshin, I can't turn left!" _I will be turned into meat paste if I do…_

"Demon god, your enemy is me!" Kenshin's enraged roar sounded from behind, and as soon as the words left his mouth, the Demonic Dark God that had been hot on my heels actually turned around and went for Kenshin instead.

Seeing Kenshin make a beeline for the cliff, I immediately ran after him. As I ran, I thought, _How on earth are we going to make the demon god fall off the cliff? Trip it? It_ _would probably step on me and turn me into a pancake and still not even register my presence!_

"Kenshin, how do you intend to make it fall off the cliff obediently?" Unable to get my thoughts straightened out, I could only open my mouth and yell desperately at Kenshin, who was in front of me.

"Prince, help me lure it to the precipice, as close to the edge as possible." After suddenly saying that, Kenshin stopped running and simply began to dodge the demon god's airplane sword, waiting for me to "take the next shift".

"Can I refuse?" I asked, tears brimming in my eyes.

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"No," Kenshin replied coldly.

_Waaah… _I braced myself for whatever was coming and leapt at the demon god, slashingdown at its kneecap mid-leap. As before, there was a loud "clang". I turned and began sprinting frantically toward the cliff, and all I prayed for was for Kenshin to actually _have_ a plan.

With the demon god hot on my heels, as the time spent on evading it grew longer and longer, I began to feel rather worn out. On several occasions, I only managed to dodge the blade narrowly, and was even cut multiple times by the fierce wind that followed in the wake of each swing of the giant blade. Combining the fatigue with the pain, I began to feel like I could keel over any time. Still, I forced myself to hang in there. _Sunshine's_ _still waiting for me to complete the quest, and I have to bring him back with me to the Central Continent!_

_Give up? I don't know those words!_

Upon finally reaching the precipice, I nearly burst into tears. _To think a cliff, the same_ _geographical structure that I have fallen off twice, would actually now save my life! Fate is truly unpredictable._

_No matter, _I thought. Now that the cliff was right in front of me, I yelled frantically atKenshin, "Kenshin, I'm at the cliff! If you have a trick up your sleeve then hurry up and do it, otherwise I'm about to go free falling with the demon god!"

Kenshin merely followed behind us, and the calm expression on his face seemed to hint at the calm before a storm. His right hand had long since been placed on his sword hilt.

_Timing! He's waiting for the perfect time to finish off his most hated enemy._

_Hmm, looks like I'm three centimeters away from a fate involving falling off a cliff… _Iturned my head and looked at the immense expanse of empty air beyond the precipice, and then turned to look at the enormous demon god. _That's odd! Why am I always being_ _forced to choose between falling to my death and being stomped to death? Could we try something new next time? _As I traded stares helplessly with the demon god, I spied fromthe corner of my eye a human figure leaping to a height that was about level with the demon god's head… _Although he did make use of several nearby trees, Kenshin's jump_ _power is still incredibly amazing_, I mentally noted, impressed.

"_Air Shattering Strike_!" Kenshin bellowed in an incomparably powerful voice and unsheathed his sword at lightning speed, slashing toward the back of the demon god's head… _This looks like it's a move based on the sword-drawing technique?__24_ I thought,

24** Sword-drawing technique: **Kenshin fans may be more familiar with the Japanese term for this –"_battoujutsu"_. As the name implies, the types of moves based on this technique often involves (to varying degrees) the drawing of the sword, such as using the movement to build up momentum for the actual attack. See Wikipedia ( wiki/Batt%C5%8Djutsu) for more information.

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and saw the gust of air following in the sword's wake press down the demon god's hair, followed by a resounding "CLANG!". Although I didn't know if the demon god was injured or not, I could see at least that Kenshin's strength was sufficient to cause the demon god to fall forward.

_Looks like it's just a matter of time before it falls off the cliff, _I thought, once againimpressed by Kenshin… _But why has the sky suddenly gone dark?_ I raised my head to take a look, and found myself gaping, wide-eyed, at the behemoth…the Demonic Dark God that was toppling over onto me!

_Dear heavens, you should really lose some weight, demon god! With a body mass like that, I can't even find a place to escape to… My god! _With a tear-streaked face, Imentally bemoaned my fate as I fell off a cliff for the third time…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, clenching my eyes shut tightly as I braced myself for the excruciating pain of hitting the ground. "AHHHHH…"

"Can you shut up?" Kenshin's cold voice suddenly came from above me.

"Ahhhhh…?" I raised my head and Kenshin's face came into view. I froze, and saw that Kenshin held in his hands the ends of a red length of cloth which was tightly wrapped about my waist, and…that Kenshin's pants had slipped to his knees as his belt was missing.

"Kenshin, is a loincloth comfortable?" I asked seriously. _It's something I've been_ _wondering about ever since my last "accidental" peek._

"What's a loincloth?" Kenshin asked with a frown.

"That's the cloth you're wearing right now to cover your important area."

Kenshin lowered his head to look at the cloth, evidently puzzled. "Don't you wear this?"

"No, I don't, I wear boxers," I denied solemnly. _I most definitely do not wear loincloths._

"What's the difference?"

"Hmmm, I would love to discuss with you the differences between loincloths and boxers, but…" I trailed off, frowning. "You know, it's really not very…sanitary to be discussing the matter of underwear while dangling in mid-air, and besides, I'm not really used to not having both feet firmly planted on the ground."

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I rolled my eyes. "As such, could you kindly pull me up first? I promise that I will clearly list out every type of underwear available to you, and then explain each of them in detail, okay?"

I climbed over the edge of the cliff and sat down on the ground, not quite daring to believe that I'd managed to avoid dying by falling off a cliff yet again.

System notice: Prince has received a human-type pet. Please give your pet a name.

"Kenshin," I said lazily.

Pet owner: Prince | Pet name: Kenshin | Level: 100 | Health: 10,000 | Mana: 1,500

Attributes – Strength: 300 | Physique: 150 | Agility: 150 | Intelligence: 50 | Willpower: 50 | Wisdom: 0

Techniques: Sword Drawing Technique / Continual Strike / Air Shattering Strike / Dragon Flight of Heaven / Void Piercer / Light Movement / Aerial Leap / Instant Ignition25

Special notes: Quest pet, unable to level up, unable to learn new techniques

"Even if we set aside the fact that you're level 100, your stats are simply too terrifying. No wonder you're so strong," I said, looking at his stats with envy.

"It's a shame that you can't level up, though. The system is quite a cheapskate; I put in so much effort to get you," I couldn't resist grumbling under my breath.

Kenshin shot me a cold look and said mildly, "Running a few steps can also be considered a lot of effort?"

Hearing his words, I immediately jumped to my feet and retorted, "What do you mean, 'running a few steps'? I'll have you know that I came all the way from the Central Continent, and had to help Jing and Yun level up for so many days before I could be pushed off a cliff by them. In addition, I had to brave a blizzard to get to Snow Village, and I even tripped and fell… Hey, Kenshin, don't go yet, I'm not done talking! What's with that cold stare? Don't you realize that I'm your owner? Hey, don't you ignore me!"

hg

"What are we supposed to do next?" Kenshin and I had teleported to the White Tiger City

25** Kenshin's techniques: **Note that Kenshin here only has a few of his moves from_Rurouni Kenshin_suchas _Dragon Flight of Heaven_ (also known as _Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki_). Most of the other moves are not from the _Rurouni Kenshin_ universe.

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in the west. _Just what exactly are we supposed to do to free Sunshine, who's still stuck in_ _the Demon Cave? I really can't remember._

"We have to go to the Adventurers' Guild and receive the prophets' quest."

"Right." I understood.

After that, I eagerly stepped into the Adventurers' Guild. I wanted to finish the quest quickly and then bring the strong Kenshin and elegant Sunshine back with me to the Central Continent. _Sigh, I really miss everyone in Odd Squad._

After receiving the quest, I looked at the piece of paper in my hands and felt rather dizzy.

_What is this? Why is it that, on the map given to me by the Adventurers' Guild, the location of the three great prophets are pretty much just three points that would form a giant triangle when connected on the entire Eastern Continent? Wouldn't they be really hard to locate, even if I actually had a sense of direction?_

_Never mind, _I thought, and suddenly got back my nerve._ There's still Kenshin here with me. What am I scared of? _"Hey, Kenshin, it should be a piece of cake for you to locatethe three great prophets, right?"

Kenshin slowly turned to look at me, his expression stoic as ever. "I don't know the location of anything aside from Kaoru's Snow Village!"

_…Looks like this quest's difficulty might very well increase by three levels because of two people who have absolutely no sense of direction, _I thought, heaving a sigh, and resignedmyself to staring at the map. _Let's start with the nearest! This nearest point seems to be_ _in the lower left corner; looks like it's in White Tiger City._

"No matter, we'll just keep heading left and down," I said, and began to walk forward briskly.

"Prince." Kenshin, who had been following silently all this while, suddenly called out my name.

I continued to walk and only glanced back at him. "What?"

"You still haven't explained to me about underwear," Kenshin replied with a dead serious expression.

"Hmmm, underwear…" _I only know that there are low-rise ones, ones with girdles, lacy_ _ones, thongs… I wonder if guys have other types of underwear aside from boxers and briefs? Waaah, how would I know anyway? I can't possibly recommend lace underwear to Kenshin, can I? Oh shit, I really kind of want to do so. Kenshin wearing lace underwear… Heh! Hmmm, it might be worth a try._

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"Never mind," Kenshin said abruptly.

I felt crestfallen. I looked at Kenshin with shining eyes and pleaded, "Why? I really want to discuss it with you. Let me tell you about it, _pleeease_?"

Kenshin fired another cold look my way. "For some reason, I simply didn't want to know after seeing your smile."

"…" I scratched my face. _So it was my smile that gave it away. Next time I must_ _remember not to smile. Mission "Get Kenshin to Wear Lace Underwear" – failed… Such a pity._

"Is this the sea?" Kenshin suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at the sea dumbly, as though he had never seen such a sight before. On his face was a complicated mix of delight and awe.

As for me, my feelings toward the sea weren't half as pleasant. The memory of being trapped on the ocean, bored to the point of talking to Meatbun, and even forced to work as a deckswabber and clean off seagulls' droppings in order to pay for my meals…is really not something I want to remember.

"Can we get closer to look at it?" Kenshin asked hesitantly, even awkwardly.

I flashed a pearly smile at him. "Of course."

On the surface, Kenshin was calm as ever, but his footsteps quickened noticeably. I grinned and followed him. _To think that the stoic Kenshin would actually feel shy!_

Kenshin stopped before the sky-blue expanse of water, and I walked up silently to stand next to him. After a moment, I said, "It's very beautiful, isn't it? Wait till we rescue Sunshine and go to the Central Continent! You two will definitely see many more beautiful scenes like this."

"Mm." A ghost of a smile appeared on Kenshin's face at last.

I glanced around at our surroundings. _Why does this place feel rather familiar?_ I looked to the left and an extremely familiar-looking ship came into my view, as well as an extremely familiar-looking harbor… _We've actually ended up at the harbor?_ I whipped out the map and checked it again, only to discover that I'd strayed by about forty-five degrees or so. _What a disaster!_ I thought. _If I can't even reach the nearest point on the_ _map, then how on earth am I going to find all three great prophets?_

"Sigh, I can't find the way," I said, frowning.

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Kenshin tore his gaze away from the sea and suggested, "There are a lot of people over there. Shall we ask them for directions?"

"A lot of people?" I turned and saw that there really was a quite a crowd. _It seems like_ _they're all watching something? Interesting, _I thought, and enthusiastically draggedKenshin along toward the crowd. "Come on, let's check out the commotion."

"Commotion? Is it even more beautiful than the sea?"

"Err… It depends on your taste."

_This is really quite a lot of people…plus, it looks like the atmosphere is pretty tense? _Ilooked at the crowd that had gathered, most of whom were clenching their fists and cracking their knuckles, with livid expressions on their face, and some had even drawn their weapons. _What's going on?_ I peered left and right, desperate to see just what was going on at the center of the crowd.

"Local mob boss Huang Wei," blurted out the person next to me all of a sudden, and his voice was even shaking.

"Huang Wei?" _That name sure sounds familiar._

"Lü Jing, are you going to be my wife or not? I'm telling you, I've already posted my people at all the rebirth points. If you say no, I will definitely kill this kid over and over until he hits level one again," said a familiar voice – the kind that begs to be thrashed – from the middle of the crowd.

As soon as I heard it, my face darkened. _Huang Wei, you lowlife; you actually dare to_ _pick on my best friends again and even try to force Jing to marry you? You obviously underestimated me._

I shoved aside the gradually retreating crowd in front of me and immediately saw Jing, whose face was white as a sheet, and Yun, who was being held down by several other players. Rage boiled in my veins, and I said in an incomparably frosty voice, "If she'll marry you, I'll swallow my _dao_ whole."

All eyes fell uponēisme,anandelf alrightYunexclaimed agitatedly, saying, "Elf? Dàg .

Is thatē?" you, Dàg

I smiled. "Aside from me, which other elf would be sightseeing here on the Eastern

Continent?"

"Dàgē…" There was a complicated look on Jing's pale face as she cried out to me

hesitantly.

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I shifted my attention to Huang Wei, who was as shiny and as unbelievably crass as before, and spoke in an icily calm voice that belied my fury. "Huang Wei, right? Looks like the lesson I gave you the last time around wasn't enough."

"You…!" Huang Wei's face contorted with anger and, to a lesser extent, terror. "God damn it, don't think that I'm really scared of you. Last time you snuck up on me, but it won't be that easy this time. Boys, get him! Whoever kills him will be heavily rewarded," Huang Wei roared.

"The fight's started, Kenshin," I remarked to Kenshin, who was next to me, with a faint smile. I was feeling rather eager. _I had to endure so much frustration in the fight with the_ _demon god. How can I pass up on this opportunity now that I've finally met someone whom I can bully?!_

Kenshin's face was expressionless as he gave a curt nod.

I drew Black Dao, and smiled coldly as I looked at Huang Wei, who had retreated behind his henchmen, thinking, _You think that I can't get to you just because you're hiding at the_ _back? _Kenshin and I darted forward simultaneously, completely unconcerned by thepresence of eight thugs in front of us. We moved at lightning speed between their blades, my Black Dao and Kenshin's sword were so fast that all that could be seen of them was a black shadow and silver gleam respectively, followed by blood spurting everywhere…

I leaped and darted about nonstop, feeling refreshed, not seeing the eight thugs as threats at all. _Heck, last time I dared to challenge them on my own, and this time I have a level_ _100 terror, Kenshin, by my side. It might be quite an insult to some, but to me, this fight is really just a game to get rid of my itch to fight._

I left the last two guys to Kenshin to deal with and sauntered toward Huang Wei with a bland smile. "Huang Wei, listen to me carefully. Don't ever let me catch you bullying these twoē. Otherwise,peoplewhonocallmattermeDàghow much trash you bring with

you, to me, they will still just be flies buzzing around."

"As for you, I will definitely kill you without fail." With a flick of my weapon, I knocked that flashy but utterly useless gold sword from Huang Wei's hand and sent it skidding far away.

_Nine-headed Dragon Strike!_

I threw back my head and laughed wildly as I watched streaks of white light shoot into the sky. After a long while, I stopped laughing and a sudden realization hit me upon catching sight of Kenshin, who had finished off the remaining two thugs a while ago.

_Hmmm… I'd just used Kenshin's move right before him, hadn't I? But…Kenshin's techniques didn't include the _Nine-headed Dragon Strike,_ so it should be fine, right? *sweat*_

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"Are you guys alright?" I looked worriedly at Yun and Jing. Fortunately, aside from their pale faces, the two of them looked unharmed.

"Dàgē…" Yun walked up to me, regret evident on his face. Stan ding in front of me, he

sudden droppedē." onto his knees. "I'm sorry, Dàg

I looked at him, bug-eyed, thinking, _Yun, this fellow who hates to lose face, is actually_ _kneeling before me in front of this crowd?_

"Dàgē,we've deceived you so many times. Why do y ou still help us?" Jing asked as she

came up to me, hesitation written all over her face.

I shrugged. "I said it before, I don't do things that I will regret, and once I've decided to do something, I won't regret it. I've already decided to help the two of you, and so I'll help you till the end."

"Dàgē,"Yun and Jing said in unison, and the two seemed to have made up their mind about something. "We beg of you, please let us stay by your side."

"Huh?" I frowned. "The two of you should have enough money to go to the Central Continent now. Don't bother about me and go there first. I still have some business to take care of here."

Their faces suddenlyē,areturnedyou pasty, and Yun asked in a trembling voice, "Dàg unwilling to let us stay by your side? I can swear that we will never betray you again."

"It's not like that…" My brow creased with thought as I wondered, _Should I let them_ _follow me? _I couldn't decide._ It _would_ be good to have them along, especially since Yun's and Jing's sense of direction is definitely way better than mine…but if they come along, I will have to explain to them about Kenshin and Sunshine._

"Demon king?" Jing suddenly exclaimed softly as she stared at Kenshin dumbly.

Yun too, turned to look at Kenshin, an incredulous expression on his face.

I paled slightly, and hastily said, "Don't say anything first, just follow me."

hg

Jing and Yun led Kenshin and me to a restaurant and charged into a random booth. The two of them promptly sat down and two pairs of eyes began staring intently at Kenshin's expressionless face. Amused, I deliberately picked up the menu slowly and leisurely ordered dish after dish, as though I hadn't noticed their agitation… _Heh! I'm about to die_ _from stifling my laughter. To think that I can tease them like this in-game; usually they're the ones who team up to pick on me._

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"For the last dish, we'll have…" _What should I order?_

"_Wontons_ in chiliē?"oil,Yunright,said Dàgwith a che eky grin. "I've fallen in love with

_wontons _in chiliē'soiltaste inwellfood.Dàgis the best!"

I raised my eyebrows. _I must admit that when it comes to food, I'm definitely the_ _connoisseur of our group. After all, aren't I the one who always decides where to eat and what to order every time we eat out? _"Then_ wontons _in chili oil it is."

As soon as the waiter left the booth, Jing and Yun immediately fixed their eyes on Kenshin again, clearly determined to get to the bottom of the truth.

I sighed, and said sternly, "Jing, Yun, what I'm about to tell you two now is something very important. I want the two of you to promise never to tell anyone, and never to mention the matter again."

Jing and Yun exchangedē,Iam a resolute look, and Yun said firmly, "Dàg willing to swear that ēfromwithoutthisē ,usI willDàgnottoobey Dàg

speak of the matter, the two of us will not so much as breathe a word about it."

"IfēisDàgstill skeptical, then there's no need to even explain the ma tter to us. We won't

object," Jing said as well.

I looked at Kenshin inquiringly. After all, it was his business. I had no right to decide for him.

"Tell them. I have no desire for them to treat me like any other NPC," Kenshin replied coolly.

Jing and Yun stared at him blankly for three seconds, and then Yun stammered, "You…you've attained self-awareness? Can it be true? This kind of thing that only happens in sci-fi novels is actually happening?"

"That's precisely how it is." I scratched my face, thinking, _So Yun's actually smarter_ _than I thought he was. He actually managed to figure out the truth just like that._

"Kenshin's not the only one. There's another one called Sunshine. I'm currently trying to figure out a way to rescue him as well."

"There's another one?" Yun and Jing were stunned.

"Yeah. I have to finish another quest, only then can I get Sunshine out of the Demon Cave." I frowned. "There's something I need your help with, though. I'm not too good at reading the map provided for the quest…"

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"Let me take a look." As expected of Jing, she'd gotten over the shock pretty quickly and calmly asked for the map.

I took out the extremely confusing map and passed it to her. Jing stared at the map, frowning, and then took out a protractor… _How professional,_ I thought in admiration. _No_ _wonder they never get lost. I should learn from them, but first, how do you use a protractor?_

"Head twenty degrees east-south-east from the harbor and travel for approximately fifteen kilometers," Jing pronounced as she stowed away her protractor.

"Oh…" I replied indifferently as I chewed on my food. _After all, with them to lead the_ _way – since Jing and Yun already said that they would follow me – I wouldn't have to bother with this "east-south-east" or whatever._

I picked up a meat bun from the table and stared at it mutely for a while. _I haven't fed_ _Meatbun for a few days now, right? _I thought, breaking out in cold sweat._ CRAP! _Notcaring if Jing and Yun were still present, I hurriedly reached into my pouch and fished out Meatbun…

"Mamaaaaa!" Meatbun's eyes were visibly swollen from crying, but as soon as it saw me, its face seemed to light up with joy. "Meatbun-bun missed Mama so badly, Meatbun-bun's tum-tum is also very hungry-hungry!"

I couldn't even begin to express the heartache and regret I felt. _To think that I'd actually_ _forgotten to feed it… _I hurriedly fed Meatbun the edible meat bun in my hand. As I fed it,I apologized, saying, "I'm really sorry, Meatbun, I really forgot. It's my fault for making you hungry for so long."

"Mmmph, mmmph!" Meatbun's mouth was completely stuffed with food, but it continued to look at me with happiness shining in its eyes.

Seeing that Meatbun was eating happily, I felt relieved and once again raised my chopsticks, ready to fill my own stomach…only to see three pairs of eyes looking on, stunned.

"A meat bun with eyes…" Yun said, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"A talking meat bun…" Jing gulped.

"…" Kenshin said nothing.

I chuckled. "This is my pet. It's called Meatbun. Meatbun, say hello to everyone."

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Meatbun swallowed the large meat bun in its mouth and hopped onto the table, saying, "Hello, everyone-one! Meatbun-bun's name is Meatbun. Meatbun-bun is Mama's pet."

"Mama?" Three pairs of eyes turned to look at me inquisitively.

"Meatbun's not too good at distinguishing gender and always likes to call me 'Mama'," I replied, sweating furiously. _This is a complete lie. There's probably nobody in this world_ _as good at distinguishing gender as Meatbun…_

"Dàgē'spets are really special," Yun said with a helpless smile.

_Hmmm, let me think. My first pet's a meat bun with eyes, the second's Kenshin, a manga character who's attained self-awareness, and after rescuing Sunshine, won't my third pet be an Arabic prince who's gained self-awareness? They certainly are very special… *sweat*!_

hg

"So you like to eat meat buns, Meatbun-bun? That's really unusual," Yun said to Meatbun, which was "sitting" on his shoulder.

"Meat buns, yummy!" Meatbun replied, bouncing on its perch delightedly.

"Meat buns are pretty tasty. When did you start to speak?"

"After fighting with fire birdie."

"What's a fire birdie?"

"It's Gui-gui's pet."

"And what is a 'gui-gui'?"

"Gui-gui is…" Meatbun tilted its big head to one side in thought. "A thing like Mama."

"Oh…another elf warrior," Yun remarked, suddenly seeing the light. "Then…"

"…" _No comment._

Along the way to the first prophet, two of us humans – Jing and myself – and an NPC listened speechlessly to the nonsensical conversation between another human and a meat bun. _Looks like Yun and Meatbun clicked together quite easily. Neither of them can stop_ _talking – so they'd just keep talking to one another!_

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"Jing, how much further is it?" I asked exasperatedly. _If I keep listening to the two of_ _them chatter on, I'm afraid I will really end up with neurasthenia!_

Jing held the map in her left hand and a compass in her right. "It should be around here, Dàgē."

"Let's search around here, then."

_Thwack! _My foot met some resistance mid-step._ Was there some obstacle? _I wondered,and looked down… _I actually kicked an elderly beggar's bowl and sent it flying five_ _meters away? _I gaped._ My god, what have I done? _I hurriedly picked up the bowl andapologized profusely, saying, "I'm really sorry, uncle. Here is your bowl."

Seeing there wasn't much of a reaction from the elderly beggar, I thought for a brief moment and then reached into my pouch and fished out several gold coins and placed them in his bowl. "Uncle, these gold coins are for you. I'm really sorry for knocking over your bowl."

With the matter settled, I was just about to continue walking when I saw Jing and Yun staring at me in astonishment. "What is it?" I felt my face. _Nope, my mask is still in_ _place! So what are they staring at me for?_

"Nothing,ē'sattitudeit'sjusttowards…Dàg NPCs is r eally unusual," Yun replied in a

tone of surprise.

Jing took a deep breath and said, "No wonder Kenshin and Sunshine chose you to take on their quest."

"…" Kenshin's impassive face suddenly twitched. _*Sweat* If I recall correctly, the_ _reason why they chose me seemed to have to do with the fact that no one else has fallen off that cliff before…_

Still, I had to keep up my appearance, and so I coughed twice and in a falsely stern tone, said, "Since when did Kenshin have a quest for me to take on? What are you two babbling about?"

The two of themē.Weimmediatelydidn'tsayanythingpanicked.". "Sorry, Dàg

I nodded and said in a relaxed tone, "Let's hurry and locate the prophet."

"Yes,ē." Dàg

A weak voice came from where the elderly beggar was kneeling on the ground, saying, "Why do you seek the prophet?"

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We turned to look at him. "We wish to learn about the prophecy inscribed upon the peak of the Azure Mountain," I replied hesitantly.

The beggar sighed faintly and got to his feet slowly. "Looks like I can't hide forever! I am one of the three great prophets."

"Ah?" All of us were dumbfounded. _Is he for real? Is it so tough to be a prophet that he_ _has to resort to begging in order to eat?_

"Young man, seeing that you're a good person, I won't make things hard for you. I was originally going to ask you to do something in order to prove that you are a righteous man," said the prophet with a benign smile. "Now, I shall hand this piece of the map of the Azure Mountain to you unconditionally."

I accepted the map piece from him, feeling a bit stunned. _We got the first fragment this_ _easily?_

"Excuse me, mister prophet, but what were you going to ask us to do initially?" Jing asked curiously.

"Challenge the Fierce Tigers' stronghold on Tiger Mountain and kill their three leaders," the prophet replied lightly.

Jing's and Yun's jaws were hanging open in a most inelegant fashion. "The Fierce Tigers' stronghold… That's an area no less dangerous than the Demon Cave, and we would have to kill the three bosses?"

After a long while, Yun finally managed to close his mouth. He turned to look me reverentlyē,Ireallyndăodìsaid,amwillin"Dà from

your example, and have a noble heart which does not deign to serve as a healer of the masses."

_Hey, can you not abuse proverbs like that? Healer of the masses indeed! And to think that you're majoring in Chinese literature like me, _I thought, scratching my face._ Still, it's truly unexpected that such a small action would actually save us so much trouble. Just as well; this way, the time until I get to see everyone in Odd Squad again will be even shorter._

I turned toward the elderly prophet-beggar. "Thank you for the map piece, uncle prophet. We'll be on our way now to look for the second prophet."

The prophet smiled. "Such a polite fellow. Then let me give you yet another hint. The northern prophet often appears at that place with chickens, ducks, fish, meat, green vegetables, and carrots." After saying that, he knelt down once again and resumed being a beggar.

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"The wet market?" I mused, scratching my face. _The designs for the prophets sure are_ _weird. Here I thought they would all be hiding like hermits in the mountains or other secluded places with only birds and beasts for company. _"Then let's go to the NorthernTortoise City to look for the northern prophet!"

"Yes,ē."JingDàgand Yun looked at me more worshipfully than ever.

"Looks like this quest will be easier than I thought." _Right?_ I thought confidently.

_Members of Odd Squad, I'll be coming home soon!_

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**Chapter 7: The Battle Begins **

"Yu Lian, are we still lacking a lot of money?" Ugly Wolf asked. He looked at his wife – whose brows had been locked in a permanent furrow for the past few days – with some distress.

"A lot, a lot." The furrow between Yu Lian's eyebrows deepened as she discussed the financial accounts with Ice Phoenix. Both of them looked very pale.

"This isn't working. We won't last for much longer, not unless we come up with other ways of earning money soon," said Ice Phoenix. She threw down a stack of documents and began massaging her temples.

"But we've already sent all the people who could be spared out to earn money. In another two weeks, the game admin will be withdrawing all the NPC guards, and then the members of the Righteous Blades who are out earning money will definitely have to return to protect Infinite City. At that time, our finances will be in an even worse state," Yu Lian said, troubled.

"But won't there be players visiting and spending money in our city at that time?" Ugly Wolf asked.

"No, the city would only just be starting out, so we definitely won't be breaking even for some time. We don't have enough people to work as shopkeepers, peacekeepers, or soldiers either, therefore we must continue to expand our staff… Just these expenses alone are shocking enough, not to mention the fact that we have to continue the construction of the city. The hundred thousand or so crystal coins that we have right now won't be enough for our purposes," analyzed Phoenix.

Ugly Wolf tilted his head to one side as he mulled the information over. "Gui's blueprint of the city is almost done. Shall we send him to the other three cities to perform on the streets for tips?"

"Mm!" Yu Lian noted down the new method of increasing the city's income with a serious look on her face.

"So how much money did you manage to swindle out of other players, Lolidragon?" Ugly Wolf asked Lolidragon, who was lounging nearby.

"The hundred thousand crystal coins I got from swindling others have been used up a long time ago," Lolidragon replied. She rolled her eyes at Ugly Wolf. "I'm already a wanted fugitive. My appearance and methods are pretty much common knowledge throughout Sun, Moon, and Star Cities by now. It's impossible to con them anymore."

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"What a pity…"

"If Prince was here, he could tag along with Gui to perform on the streets," Lolidragon raised her eyebrows. "His voice is _really_ good, and with that face of his, he would definitely earn a lot."

"Does Prince sing very well?" Phoenix immersed herself in her imagination…

"Then when Prince is back, we'll send him off to perform on the streets. With his abilities, if he takes the task assigned to him seriously and earns money, and if we sell a few small treasures, we should be able to earn all the money back!" Yu Lian calculated.

"The problem is, will that guy take the task assigned to him seriously?" Lolidragon disagreed.

_…That is another big problem!_

"We're in trouble," Nan Gong Zui said as he slowly walked in, his face somber.

"Can you not use such a shocking opening line? We all know that we're in trouble with things the way they are," Lolidragon said, rolling her eyes at Nan Gong Zui.

Nan Gong Zui ignored Lolidragon. There was a trace of anger in his voice as he explained, "Fan is recruiting soldiers. They'll be invading Infinite City once the NPC guards are gone."

"Fan?" Upon hearing her ex-lover's name, Phoenix's eyebrows furrowed, and a complicated feeling welled up in her heart.

"One disaster after another." Yu Lian's expression darkened. "Now we'll have to recruit more soldiers as well."

"Prince isn't back yet?" Nan Gong Zui asked calmly.

"Uhhh, about that…" The members of Odd Squad began to stammer.

Nan Gong Zui turned to face Ice Phoenix. In a kind but firm voice, he said, "Phoenix, leave the room for a moment. There are some things which I have to discuss with the members of Odd Squad."

Although she was reluctant to leave, Phoenix knew better than to argue. In a small voice she said "okay" and then obediently left the room.

Nan Gong Zui watched as Phoenix closed the door, and then turned around to face the members of Odd Squad.

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"What exactly happened to Prince? Tell me."

There was a long silence in the room…

"I am aware that although Prince is remarkably strong and values his friends and honor greatly, he is also scatter-brained, a little silly, plus he has no sense of direction." Nan Gong Zui said steadily.

"You should've told us earlier!" Everyone else breathed a relieved sigh.

"So you already knew about Prince's true personality; you should've told us earlier, we were worried half to death!" Lolidragon patted her chest, having yet to recover from her fright.

"Where exactly is Prince?" Nan Gong Zui asked again patiently.

"He's on the Eastern Continent," Ugly Wolf replied without hesitation now that there was no need to conceal the truth.

Nan Gong Zui frowned uncomprehendingly. "What is he doing there?"

"The result of his lack of a sense of direction and drinking." Lolidragon's expression darkened.

"…" Even though he was already aware of Prince's true personality, Nan Gong Zui couldn't help being stunned for a moment. "When will he be back?"

"We don't know," Lolidragon answered honestly.

"You guys don't seem to care much about Prince." Nan Gong Zui said mildly, but dissatisfaction was evident in his tone.

"It's not that we don't care, it's just that we don't want to imprison him yet," Lolidragon replied calmly.

Nan Gong Zui gave her an uncomprehending look.

"You will understand in the time to come," Yu Lian added with a smile.

Just then, Gui entered the room. The very first phrase to leave his mouth was "Bad news."

He received several glares in response.

"What happened this time?" Lolidragon asked lazily.

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"Wicked said that Prince might have to delay his return," said Gui, clearly tormented by the news.

"Just what _is_ that guy doing?" A vein popped on Lolidragon's forehead.

Wicked, who had entered the room after Gui, was frowning. "He refused to say, but it seems to be of great importance. He said that he will hurry back as soon as possible."

"As soon as possible? The enemy's almost knocking on our door, yet our liege lord is still wandering around on the Eastern Continent?" Lolidragon stood up abruptly. "No, Wicked, tell him that he must board the ship within three days, no matter what he's doing. How are we supposed to fight this war when our liege lord isn't even around?"

"I will relay your message," Wicked said with a nod, but after a moment's thought, he added, "But I cannot predict what he will do."

"That guy can't even predict his own actions, so how could you?" Lolidragon replied, massaging her temples. In a weary tone, she continued, "We can only hope that he will return before Fan reaches the city. After all, Prince is still the heart of Infinite City."

hg

"Hahaha!" I laughed to myself, thinking, _The map fragments sure were a piece of cake to_ _collect. All I had to do was answer a few questions of the northern prophet in the wet market, and then win against the eastern prophet in a game of _Sic Bo26_ at the gambling den, and the three map fragments were all mine. This quest is so easy!_

"How is it possible that somebody can actually differentiate twenty different kinds of vegetables and ten different kinds of fish meat from one another? And even spell out the names?" Yun asked disbelievingly. All the fish meat had looked exactly the same to him, and they even tasted alike.

"How can somebody manage to win ten games in a row of _Sic Bo_?" Cold sweat dripped down Jing's forehead. Dumb luck couldn't even begin to cover it.

"Kenshin, this map is too difficult to assemble. Help me piece it together and then pass it to Jing," I said after trying in vain for while to piece together the three map fragments and tossed them to Kenshin to deal with.

26** Sic Bo: **A gambling game originating from ancient China. Basically, you roll three dice and then bet onthe total outcome. There are a number of bets you can place, but the two most common bets are "big" (that the sum of the dice is greater than ten and less than eighteen) and "small" (that the sum of the dice is greater than three and less than eleven) See Wikipedia ( wiki/Sic_bo) for more information.

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_Yet this person can't even piece together three pieces of a map… _Jing and Yun thought,staring dumbfounded at their companion. _Isn't this a bit too far-fetched?_

Kenshin caught the map pieces and tossed them onto the table. Just when he was about to begin piecing them together…

"Wow, Kenshin, you've already pieced them together. That's quick," I said, staring at the completed map that was laid out on the table, and hastily beckoned Jing over. "Jing, quick, take a look and see where this is."

"…" Kenshin looked at the already completed map and frowned, not saying a word.

"I can roughly tell where the location is," Jing said thoughtfully.

"That's good, let's set off then." My brow creased with thought. According to Zhuo-gēge, I had only about three days left to complete my quest and pick up Sunshine. I had to hurry.

"It's so tall." Standing at the foot of Azure Peak, which was so tall that its peaks were lost in the clouds, I had a dark premonition in my heart… _With our skill, climbing a mountain_ _shouldn't be a very difficult thing to do. Right? I hope so…_

I turned to Jing and Yun. "Since you two aren't warriors, it might be rather difficult for you to scale this mountain, so just set up a camp here and wait for Kenshin and me to return."

"Yes,ē."JingDàgand Yun nodded.

"Let's go, Kenshin." Kenshin too, gave me a nod, and I lifted a leg, ready to climb this mountain, but just then… I suddenly turned around and said to Yun, "Hey, return Meatbun to me."

Shock, disappointment, anguish, and reluctance appeared on Yun's face, and he bit back tears as he handed Meatbun back to me. "Meatbun-bun, you must return quickly, otherwise I will be very bored."

"Meatbun-bun will return quickly. Don't cry-cry, Yun-yun." Meatbun's eyes too, were filled with tears.

The atmosphere was that of a sorrowful parting. In this fashion, a human and a bun gazed at each other heartbreakingly, as though they were a couple who were being forced to separate. From time to time, they would even throw me pleading looks, as if they were begging me – the heartless murderer who was brutally separating two lovers – to show mercy and let them off… _To hell with you!_ I gave Yun a smack on the head.

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"Let's go, Meatbun." Two veins popped on my forehead as I turned and left.

"Yes, Mama." Meatbun hopped after me, its eyes filled with happiness, leaving behind a plaintive Yun who kept shooting resentful looks at me.

"Right, let's start climbing." I gazed up at Azure Peak, and what I saw was not the cloud banks, but the faces of my teammates in Odd Squad.

hg

"How much longer?" Nan Gong Zui asked Kong Kong and Lolidragon calmly.

"They'll definitely be here in half a day." Kong Kong replied angrily.

"Fan brought around seven hundred people. Warriors make up around two thirds of the force; the rest are mostly mages and priests. They're very high on offense power. It's going to be hard," analyzed Lolidragon.

Nan Gong Zui's thought went to Infinite City's defense force, which had around two hundred warriors, fifty archers, fifty mages, twenty priests, and twenty thieves… and thought that if not for the fact that his opponent was Fan, whom he detested the most, he

– Zui – would probably have surrendered right away.

Nan Gong Zui sighed softly. No matter what, he had to defend Infinite City for Prince. After all, the Righteous Blades had poured in so much of their heart and soul into building the city. "White Bird, here, chair the meeting."

White Bird too, was frowning slightly. The situation did bode ill, but as they say, it's easy to defend a city and hard to lay siege. She believed that so long as they planned carefully, capturing Infinite City would definitely be no easy task.

"All groups, report on your situation."

"The eastern, western, and southern gates have been walled up and they definitely can't be opened. Aside from the northern gate, the only other way Fan's forces could enter Infinite City is by scaling the city walls, but we've prepared and placed hot oil on them. What I fear is that we won't have enough oil for Fan's forces…" Gui's brow furrowed deeply with thought. "We've only finished the gates recently… Sigh, the cost for reopening the three gates and reconstruction alone when this war is over will be sufficiently alarming."

In contrast to her usual willful self, Fairsky wore a pair of glasses with a black frame and held in her right hand a scroll of information, which was so long that it trailed along on the ground. In her left hand she held an abacus and she analyzed meticulously, "Fortunately, we've allocated an adequate amount of money to the construction of the

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city's foundations. The city walls will definitely hold out. With a force of five hundred, it would take… about a month, fifteen days, three hours and forty-six minutes to break through the wall, but since this is a game, I seriously doubt that anyone can sleep for an entire month with the game helmet on without complications. Also, the city gate is extremely strong. Even taking into account magical attacks, it can last for at least several days."

Yu Lian sighed and massaged her temples. "Where are we going to get the money for the three gates from?! Sigh, Phoenix, you guys report on your status. I need to get a cup of tea to calm my nerves."

Phoenix hastened to speak. "Due to a severe lack of archers, every warrior has been equipped with a mid-level crossbow and arrows. Although their damage would be nothing compared to real archers', they should be able to make up for it with their strength and maim or kill the enemy from atop the city walls… even though this increases the burdens of the finance department." Phoenix too, felt faint when she finished her report.

"What about supplies and ammunitions?" White Bird asked thoughtfully. Regardless of the state of their finances, they had to have supplies and ammunitions. Without even just that much, there would be no way for them to win the battle outnumbered as they were.

"We've followed the list given by the military department and made the necessary purchases." When they'd first received the list – which was as long and as horrifying as the cloth used to bind old grannies' feet in ancient China – Phoenix and Yu Lian had just stopped short of huddling together and weeping. However, they were forced by the harsh reality (or rather, White Bird's despotic rule) and could only force Lolidragon to head out and con more people yet again…

"How about the mages?"

In a gentle yet firm tone, Rose said, "I've already let the mages know that their main duty is to maintain the defensive barrier and prevent Fan's mages from destroying the city gates, but I think we may not have enough mages compared to Fan's forces. However, I can guarantee that all our mages are top-notch."

"Even if they have to drink mana potions like water, they must hang in there," White Bird said fiercely.

Both Rose and Phoenix sighed, but still they answered, "Understood."

"Do we have any reinforcements, foreign affairs department?" White Bird asked, although she knew better than to hope for any help from that quarter.

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Feng Wu Qing shook his head with a sigh as he fanned himself. "It's not so easy to find reinforcements. Right now, Infinite City has nothing to offer, so how many people would be willing to come to our aid?"

A vein popped on Lolidragon's forehead. "You jerk, were you just fooling around outside the city while I was being pressed into hard labor by the finance department? You couldn't find even a single reinforcement?"

Feng Wu Qing replied coldly, "Hard labor? More like serving as a fox spirit!"27

"You!" Just as Lolidragon was about to throttle Feng Wu Qing, Ugly Wolf grabbed her by the collar, so she was unable to strangle Wu Qing to death.

Feng Wu Qing's cold expression thawed as he grinned slightly. "I didn't find much by way of reinforcement, just a hundred and twenty warriors, thirty mages, and then some priests!" _It's a pity Sis refused to help; otherwise I would definitely have the help of yet_ _another brother-in-law. She's such a selfish sister to refuse to just help defend a city._

Lolidragon's mouth immediately formed an "O" shape. She leveled a trembling finger at Feng Wu Qing and said, "You… you… Where did you manage to find that many players?"

Feng Wu Qing rubbed his nose and then admitted, "My parents also play this game, plus my mom's a writer, so she summoned her loyal readers to help out."

"Lazy fellow," Lolidragon replied disdainfully.

"You…"

"How did the trap-setting go?" White Bird ignored the bickering duo and turned to ask the thief Kong Kong.

Kong Kong nodded and said, "I've already gathered all the thieves beforehand and we've laid countless traps around Infinite City, only leaving a few narrow routes past them. Hmph, if that playboy Fan dares to draw close to Infinite City, I guarantee that he will either be blown to bits or buried alive."

"Next is the most important group – our military department," said White Bird as she turned to look at Nan gong Zui, Wicked, Broken Sword, and Ugly Wolf.

27** Fox spirit: **While fox spirits do appear in a number of oriental mythologies, the fox spirits of Chinesemythology are rather unique. For one, they often adopt human appearances – to be precise, they often appear as beautiful young women and, occasionally, beautiful young men. In many myths, the fox spirits utilize their good looks to seduce or bewitch humans. This is possibly a contributing factor to the impression that fox spirits (in Chinese mythology) are often evil and unscrupulous. See Wikipedia ( wiki/Huli_jing) for more information.

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"The Righteous Blades have been training hard ever since we arrived in the Infinite City. Although the members who joined later are not as skilled or as united as the original members of the group, they've made tremendous improvement this past month. Their average level is fifty or so, which is pretty good," Nan Gong Zui reported dutifully.

Ugly Wolf said confidently, "I've placed the extra men that Wu Qing recruited on top of the northern gate. Even if the gate is breached, these hundred players can hold out until others come to reinforce them. The remaining players will be positioned upon the city wall and defend it using magic and ranged attacks with their bows, thus slowing the enemy's advance. Together with fifty selected strong players, Odd Squad and Dark Emperor will defend the central tower."

Broken Sword looked at Legolas, and the latter nodded. "Legolas and I have already made sure that the warriors have learned basic archery skills. Although their accuracy and strength cannot compare with actual archers, they'll have no trouble with bending a bow and shooting arrows."

"I have already divided the players into smaller teams, taking into consideration how well they work together as well as other factors. I believe this will prove very useful during melee combat," Wicked reported on his progress with a serious expression.

Seeing that all the departments were done with their reports, White Bird began to explain the strategy for the upcoming battle. "First and foremost, I want to say that during the battle, Infinite City's rebirth point will be shut down to prevent enemies from resurrecting inside our walls, which would be very dangerous to us. Although shutting down our rebirth point will also prevent _our_ players from getting back in, this is a necessary move. Does everyone understand?"

All the people present nodded.

White Bird continued with her explanation. "There's another thing everyone has to note: We are the defenders, so our most important duty is to defend the city center. No matter what, we must protect the central tower and the Infinite City gemstone, as once it's shattered Infinite City will no longer belong to us. I believe everyone understands the severity of this matter, so we must defend the gemstone to the death."

(Author's note: All player-owned cities will have a central tower. Within it is the city's gemstone. Usually, the central tower cannot be entered, but during a siege, players can shatter the gemstone by force. Whoever shatters the gemstone will take over the city as its liege lord, and the original ruler will lose his/her control over the city.)

"Defend the gemstone to the death!" everybody roared.

Finally, White Bird couldn't resist raising a question which Zui had forbidden her from asking. "Will the liege lord be returning?"

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Everybody looked at the members of Odd Squad, who turned to look at Wicked in unison. Wicked merely said, "I don't know."

White Bird's voice was filled with suppressed frustration as she said, "It's one thing if the liege lord doesn't show his face for an entire month, but to actually be absent when somebody's laying siege to the city? Isn't that too much?"

"Prince will be back, he definitely will." Lolidragon gave White Bird a firm look.

White Bird too, looked steadily at Lolidragon. "Let's hope so."

_Let's hope so… _Although Lolidragon's gaze did not waver, her back was wet with sweat.

_May the heavens protect Prince from getting lost again!_

hg

"There must be around a thousand players in this crowd." Even the calm and fearless Madame White Bird could not help turning pale at the sight of the alarmingly large force formed up neatly in ranks and dressed and armed with superior equipment and weapons that glimmered under the sun. In addition, there was a giant siege engine and nearly ten scaling ladders… If the shock was any bigger, she would probably have just jumped off the city wall straightaway.

Their faces were all pale, but Nan Gong Zui said coolly, "We have to hang in there. I don't wish to disappoint Prince."

Wicked raised his eyebrows. "I will never let disappointment show in his eyes."

"A disappointed look does not suit Prince," Gui said coldly.

Nan Gong Zui walked to a place where everyone could see him and then drew his sword abruptly. The ringing of cold steel calmed down the agitated defenders. After surveying them once with his eyes, Nan Gong Zui roared emphatically, "For our Infinite City, we shall fight to the death!"

"TO THE DEATH!" the warriors roared, echoing his words.

Nan Gong Zui stared at Fan, who was also staring at him from far away, and muttered, "Come on then, Fan. Let's finish this."

"Archers, nock your bows and wait behind the arrowslit for the signal. Get ready for the first volley of arrows," ordered Legolas, who was the commander of the archers.

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"Warriors, move the cauldron of oil into place and then attack using your bows first! Once someone begins to scale the walls, pour the hot oil on them immediately. Also, protect the archers and the mages well," ordered Wicked swiftly and composedly.

"Mages, put up the barrier!" Yu Lian and the other mages immediately took their positions well behind the city walls, combining their power to cast a protective barrier large enough to envelop the entire Infinite City.

The battle was about to begin at any moment!

"Prince, I will bring you down from your position as the lord of Infinite City." Although Fan was still smiling gently, those who were familiar with him could tell that there was an icy look and a deep thirst for vengeance blazing in his eyes.

"All men, prepare to attack. Infinite City will be ours!" Fan ordered as his forces advanced upon Infinite City, like a celestial general leading his immortal soldiers into battle.

"Quick, hurry! Pour the hot oil to stop them from climbing up," Wicked bellowed frantically as he moved among the defenders. "Yu Lian, hurry and get the mages to help destroy the scaling ladders."

Yu Lian hurriedly replied, "Right. Phoenix, stay here and take command of those maintaining the barrier. Team one, and you, Ming Huang, follow me."

"God damn it, the difference in numbers is just too big." _To think that Fan actually had_ _so many men skilled at dismantling traps; those traps were placed for nothing, _Nan GongZui thought, swearing silently to himself as he looked at the densely-packed horde of enemy players – like a colony of ants – attacking the city walls. He could only forcibly suppress the rising panic in his chest and ask everyone else, in a steady tone, to remain calm, and then desperately fire arrow after arrow, hoping that he could take down a few more enemy players… Occasionally, he would raise his head and gaze into the distance as though he could see Fan's face – impassive but for the trace of a smile that seemed to say that the city was already his.

"Zui, they're about to breach the city gates," Ugly Wolf said, struggling not to panic.

"What?!" Nan Gong Zui exclaimed. "Didn't the mages get rid of the enemies in front of the city gates?"

"They did. Maybe it's because the enemy has too many mages… I don't get why the city gates were destroyed so quickly either; perhaps Gui and Fairsky estimated wrongly?" Ugly Wolf frowned. "In any case, we should redirect some of the players to defend the city gates now."

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"The defenders are already having a hard time fending off the players scaling the walls. There's no way we can redirect anybody to guarding the gates," Nan Gong Zui replied, panicking inwardly. Or should they get those defending the central tower to defend the gates instead? But no, the central tower was simply too important. There was no way they could decrease the number of players guarding it… but it would also be a disaster if the city gates were breached.

Ugly Wolf watched with empathy as Nan Gong Zui's expression grew more and more troubled. After all, he too, couldn't think of a solution, which was why he came to ask Zui, hoping that a miracle would appear, that he could think of a solution. "Zui… is there a way?"

"…" Nan Gong Zui stared at the sky and could not suppress a sigh. "If I had another month's time or twice the funds, Infinite City's forces and defense wouldn't be in such a sorry state."

Ugly Wolf scratched the fur on his head upon hearing that. "Hopefully that fellow Prince will hurry back in time."

Nan Gong Zui smiled bitterly. "Even if Prince returns, we will only have one more defender. What difference would it make?"

"I don't know," Ugly Wolf replied as he scratched his face, "But… Prince himself is a synonym for a miracle."

Nan Gong Zui frowned uncomprehending and gave Ugly Wolf a questioning look.

Ugly Wolf smiled. "Didn't you come to Infinite City because of Prince's miracles as well?"

Nan Gong Zui smiled as he shook his head. "Sigh, we can't hope for a miracle this time."

Wicked approached them from one side, and he seemed oddly calm in the midst of the chaos of war. "We've run out of oil, we're losing the city wall, and the city gates are almost completely breached. I suggest we retreat and defend the central tower."

Wicked and Ugly Wolf both looked at Nan Gong Zui questioningly.

With a heavy heart, Nan Gong Zui commanded, "All troops, retreat to the central tower!"

Upon receiving the order, all the various teams began to make their way reluctantly to the central tower. At this point, the benefit of training in smaller groups became clearly visible as team members smoothly assumed their respective roles in the team. Shielded and protected by the warriors, the archers and mages continued to attack the enemy even as they retreated, and even managed to take down quite a number of enemy players.

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Moreover, the teams could cover for one another and provide support for other teams that were having a hard time. In this fashion, the soldiers of Infinite City fought and retreated to the plaza in front of the central tower, putting up a final stand against those enemy players who had come to take over Infinite City.

"Archers, volley!" Nan Gong Zui had already lost count of the number of times he had given the command to fire. The streaks of white light in the skies were practically like fireworks, yet the number of enemy players didn't seem to diminish at all. _A thousand_ _men? I'm afraid it's more than that_, he thought, troubled.

"You should just surrender, Nan Gong Zui. If you do, I might just consider giving you a small position." The benevolent smile on Fan's face held a trace of rage.

"Hmph!" Nan Gong Zui merely sneered. Although Fan's troops greatly outnumbered Infinite City's, he was still the invader. All those cauldrons of hot oil would definitely have cost him countless men. Besides, the members of the Righteous Blades had all received extensive training in large-scale fighting, so the situation wasn't necessarily in Fan's favor. With that thought, Nan Gong Zui's spirits lifted.

"So you choose the hard way," Fan said coldly. "Kill him!"

Just as suspicion entered his mind, Nan Gong Zui was suddenly sent sprawling to the ground. His shoulder went numb for a moment, and then flared with pain. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the one who'd pushed him down was Lolidragon, while Madame White Bird was looking incredulously at a panicky Phoenix. Nan Gong Zui sighed. "Phoenix, you…"

"Phoenix, what are you doing?" White Bird demanded, staring at her own sister in disbelief. Phoenix actually tried to kill Nan Gong Zui? And she was clearly listening to Fan's order; hadn't she already transferred her affections to Prince?

"I…" Although she'd panicked when she saw that Nan Gong Zui was still alive, her spirits lifted after she took a look at Fan, and once again, she fired a bolt of magic at Nan Gong Zui…

"Do you take me for a corpse?" Lolidragon coolly sent Phoenix sprawling with a kick, and then calmly pinned the latter to the ground.

Nan Gong Zui got to his feet without a word, his heart gripped in ice. He'd always sincerely treated Phoenix as his godsister, forgiving her mistakes time after time, protecting her, worrying that she would feel guilty, feel upset… yet the result was still like this.

"Zui…" White Bird looked guiltily at the dispirited Nan Gong Zui, and then at her sister, whose face was almost buried in the ground. She could only sigh yet again. Why did this

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sister of hers always have to choose to sacrifice everything else for her love? To even become a spy…

"You sabotaged the city gates, didn't you?" Although it was phrased as a question, Gui's tone was one of certainty. He knew that there could not have been a mistake in his calculations, so someone must have sabotaged them; otherwise, they would never have been breached so quickly.

Upon hearing Gui's question, as all those present turned to look in sudden realization and anguish at Phoenix, the latter buried her face even more deeply into the ground.

Everybody had worked hard, pouring in their efforts to defend the city, and yet there was a spy, and it was actually somebody so close to them. At that thought, the defenders of Infinite City grew disheartened. Fan seized the opportunity and began the attack. It seemed that the defense of Infinite City was in a critical situation, as cracks appeared in the defense surrounding the central tower. Nan Gong Zui and his team were in particularly low spirits, wracked with guilt and uncertainty…

Uncharacteristically enough, Fan led the charge, and the defenders of Infinite City were actually so dispirited that the enemy managed to charge right up to Zui.

"Nan Gong Zui, in the end, you've lost," Fan said lightly, a satisfied smile on his face.

Nan Gong Zui looked at Fan bleakly and said in a hoarse voice, "I can take whatever revenge you throw my way; just let Phoenix off!"

Fan broke into maniacal laughter. "Let Phoenix off? Hahaha, she doesn't want me to let her off! As for _you_, Nan Gong Zui, I definitely will—"

"Wahhh! Whoever's down there, make way!" A piteous cry from above could suddenly be heard. Why did the voice sound rather familiar?

hg

_WHAM!_

_Damn it, if I'd known, I wouldn't have stood up as I pleased. So when they tell you to "sit on an airplane"__28__, you should really sit and not "stand on an airplane"; the same holds true for flying carpets! I want to cry; my entire body feels like it's about to break… _Ilooked up into the sky at the crowd sitting on the flying carpet. Kenshin and Sunshine were idly sipping their tea, while Jing and Yun were staring dumbly at me, who had fallen off the plane… I mean, the carpet.

28** Sit on an airplane: **Just to clarify, this is the Chinese way of saying "take an airplane". We're notreferring to the act of sitting on airplane, but the act of taking the airplane as a mode of transportation.

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_Oh, by the way, I should mention that such a uniquely Arabic object as a flying carpet is obviously a treasure belonging to Sunshine. It's all thanks to that carpet that I could come back so quickly to Infinite City._

My entire body ached as I stood up slowly, only to see everyone from Infinite City staring at me. I said slowly, "Whew, good thing the ground was soft; I almost fell to my death."

Everyone stared at me blankly, and then suddenly shifted their gaze to my feet. After a moment of confusion, I too, looked down at my feet… _Oh, so I crushed a human cushion_ _to death. Doesn't this human cushion look rather familiar? _I yanked the cushion dude'shead backward by the hair in order to see his face. _Fan?_ I thought, scratching my head.

_So it's him. Whew, my conscience can finally be at ease, then. Crushing this sort of person to death isn't worth agonizing over._

"Prince!" Fan snarled, glaring at me as he spat a mouthful of blood.

"It's you again!" I interjected quickly. "I'm sick of that opening line; can't you change it to something else?

"Don't glare at me like that. It's not like I know why I'm always making things hell for you. Maybe it's our fate?" I cocked my head to one side, thinking, _Is it just me, or am I_ _always subduing Fan? Maybe it's because he's called "rice"__29__, so he's destined to be cooked by me? _"Oh yeah, what are you doing in Infinite City anyway? Sight-seeing? Thecity's open to the public already?" I asked uncertainly.

"…" Everyone continued to stare at me wordlessly.

Lolidragon rolled her eyes and bellowed irritably, "He came to attack the city!"

"Our idiotic liege lord has finally found his way home," Ming Huang – who could never say anything useful – shouted idly.

"Ohhh!" My eyes narrowed. _He dares to attack our city? What nerve!_ I immediately threw a punch at Fan and sent him sprawling. Seeing that he was about to reach into his pouch for a health potion, I raised my eyebrows and then stomped on the back of his hand with one foot.

"You cowardly bastard; fight me one-on-one if you've got the balls!" Fan yelled desperately, seeing that he might be killed any time.

I gave him a bloodthirsty smile and then said nonchalantly, "One-on-one? Sure, just wait till I've cleaned up your friends."

29** He's called "rice": **No, Fan's name doesn't mean "rice", it's just that "rice" is also pronounced as "fan".

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I looked at Fan's forces and then suddenly remembered what Zhuo-gēge had told me over the phone, about how Lolidragon wanted me to put on the façade of the Blood Elf when I got back… _Sigh! I'm not too keen on the idea, but since when have I been able to disobey_ _Lolidragon? I'm resigned to my fate… _So I drew my Black Dao and ran my tongue overthe blade lightly, without forgetting to smile slightly. "So many people for me to kill, that's great!"

I watched the enemy with satisfaction, seeing that some of them had widened their eyes, while others gulped… _Hey, you, over there, is there need to wet your pants? Am I really_ _that terrifying? I'm only twenty and in the prime of my youth, not to mention lovely and charming…_

"Prince, the atmosphere over here on our side – among the defenders of Infinite City – isn't too good. You should do something about it first," Lolidragon told me over a PM suddenly, interrupting my moment of narcissism. Since she rarely uses such a serious tone, something major must have happened.

"What happened?"

"Phoenix didn't really fall in love with you, only pretended to do so. Her aim was to serve as a spy in Infinite City. She sabotaged the city gates and nearly killed Nan Gong Zui," Lolidragon said heavily. "Prince, if you can, try and make Fan look bad by beating him up some more. Perhaps this way, Phoenix might really transfer her affections to you."

I broke out in cold sweat. _Phoenix… your luck with the opposite sex is about as "good"_ _as mine; you have to fall for either a dastardly playboy or me, a transvestite? _Still, as Isaid, there was simply no way I could disobey Lolidragon's orders.

I looked at Nan Gong Zui. As expected, he looked as though he had lost all will to live, which seriously pissed me off. I stomped on both of Fan's hands a couple of times to prevent him from secretly taking a drink from his health potions, and then marched up to Nan Gong Zui and, ignoring the astonished looks on everyone's faces, I gave him a punch. Completely caught off guard, Nan Gong Zui hit the ground hard as a result and stared at me blankly.

I raised an eyebrow. "I'll settle the business with your sister later, so just kill these guys and vent your hatred together with me first!"

Nan Gong Zui got to his feet with a forced smile, thinking, _What can Prince do when it's_ _a matter of a person's feelings? _However, he was more than happy to vent his hatred bykilling Fan's soldiers. "Right."

"Hey, up there, are you guys done with your tea? Coming down yet? The fighting's about to start!" I said casually.

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The flying carpet drifted down slowly. Sunshine, Jing, and Yun retreated to the rear while Kenshin, Zui, Broken Sword, Wicked, and I, being warriors, stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the front. With a smile, I said, "Game, start!"

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**Extra Chapter: Companions for Eternity **

"Thisēwilltime,surelyDàgregret it, right?" Lü Jing smiled bitterly.

"We hinted at it to him before," Yun Fei retorted half-heartedly.

"Yeah, we did hint at it, but he still chose to believe in us…" Lü Jing suddenly turned to yell into theē,whyabyssarebeyondyousuct**h**eancliff,idiot?!""Dàg

Yun Fei, too, couldn't hold his feelings in any longer and yelled angrily into the pitch-black darkness beneath. "You're a complete idiot! You didn't even realize that we'd set everything up right from the start. We'd noticed you fighting mobs on your own for a few days, saw that you were a strong player and wanted you to power-level us, so we deliberately aggroed the Flaming Skeletons and got them to chase after us. How could you not have figured it out? How could you not have realized that it's impossible that Jing, who only knows _True Thrice-Concealed Flames_, would attack mobs of the same element like the Flaming Skeletons?"

"It should have been obvious that I held a grudge against the owner of Oriental House, so why did we still deliberately choose to go there to eat? You don't need a brain to know that I wanted you to deal with that bastard Huang Wei for me." Jing's expression was fierce.

"We knew full well that no one has ever managed to complete this quest for the hair tie. In fact, that no one has even _survived_ it, but seeing that the reward money was ten thousand crystal coins, we still brought you here on a suicide mission, just to try our luck. And you just followed us like this, without even bothering to ask us about the quest details?" Contempt was evident on Yun's face.

"You saw for yourself how strong the Demon King was, but you still didn't suspect us, and even entrusted the hair tie to Yun so easily? And you walked to the edge of the cliff? Even when Yun grabbed you by the ankles, you still managed to look so puzzled." Jing began to laugh wildly. "How could anyone on Earth be this naïve, this foolish?"

The two of them finished yelling, their chests heaving with the effort, as though they had screamed out all of the frustrations weighing on their minds. Their expressions were identical – identically lost and numbed.

After a long while, Jing said quietly, "Let's go. The Central Continent awaits us. Don't forget, Xiao Lan is there as well."

"Yeah," Yun said, casting one last look back at the cliff, his emotions so complicated that even he himself couldn't tell what they were.

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hg

"Now that we've got the tickets, let's get something to eat while we wait for the ship." Lü Jing's face was still as hard as stone.

"Yeah," Yun Fei answered, and then frowned. "Though do we have to leave so soon? I wish we could stay on the Eastern Continent a little longer."

"Don't be silly,"ēwillLüsurelyJingsaidreturnfiercelytoWhite."Don't forget, Dàg

Tiger City. It'll be a blessing enough if we don't bump into him while we're waiting for the ship, and here you are, thinking of staying a little longer?"

Yun Fei didn't reply and merely followed Jing into a nondescript inn silently.

"Owner, two plates of fried noodles, a plate of green vegetables, and a bowl of fish soup," Yun said as he looked at the menu, ordering Jing's – who wasn't a picky eater – share in addition to his own as per usual.

"Yes, sir, coming right up," said an NPC dressed as a waiter with a smile. He left to give the cook their orders.

Yun Fei suddenly remembered something and hurriedly shouted, "Ah, right, I forgot the _wontons _in chili oil – Waiter! We also want a plate of…" Yun Fei's face went white mid-yell.

"And a plate of?" The waiter returned and asked dutifully.

Lü Jing looked at Yun Fei, who had fallen silent, but she merely said indifferently, "And a plate stir-fried shredded meat."

"Sure, coming right up."

Yun Fei remained silent until the food arrived, but when he raised his chopsticks, he discovered that he had no appetite at all. His stomach felt heavy, as though a rock had been stuffed into it, and his heart was filled with a myriad of nameless emotions. Finally, he sighed, put down his chopsticks, and looked at Lü Jing, who was eating the fried noodles at a steady pace. "Jing, I don't like the way things are."

"You think that I like it any better?" Lü Jing, too, put down her chopsticks, a stiff look on her face. "Besides, wasn't it you who planned this entire thing, right from the beginning to the end?"

"But I didn't think that all of those schemes would be used on the same person; I thought that no one would helpē us twice," Yun Fei said, frustrated. "How on Earth does a Dàg who's dumb to such an extreme even exist?"

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"It's precisely because he was so dumb that he was tricked by us. It's a good thing, in a way; let this be a lesson to him, so that he won't be tricked again," Lü Jing said quietly, and then she quickly began to eat again, making it clear that she wasn't in the mood to discuss the matter any further.

Yun Fei could only sigh as he gazed out of the restaurant, as though he fervently hoped that someone would suddenly barge in.

A figure really appeared in the doorway. Yun Fei was startled, but also a tad worried, and he wonderedēwouldforgiveifDàg them this time. In his heart, he secretly wished that

Dàgēwould be so foolish that he would continue to forgive them.

"I've finally found you two adulterers! This time, that cloaked fellow won't be around to get in my way!" the person said as he came through the doorway, and Yun Fei and Lü Jing recognized Huang Wei's venomous tone as well.

"Huang Wei." Lü Jing blanched.

"Yes, it's me, your most beloved husband, Jing-Jing, my sweetie-pie," Huang Wei said, leering at Lü Jing.

There was no way Yun Fei could simply watch idly as his best friend was being harassed. "Huang Wei, don't think that we're still newbies. It's not going to be so easy for you to bully us now."

"And just what exactly can a barrier master do, going up against my lackeys?" Huang Wei looked coldly at Yun Fei. "To think that you're actually stupid enough to choose to be a barrier master, a rubbish class."

"What did you say?!" Yun Fei was enraged. What he hated more than anything else was other people belittling the barrier master class; these people didn't even have the faintest clue as to how useful a barrier master could be in defending a city. He just hadn't managed to find anyone wise enough to appreciate his decision yet.

"I said, you piece of trash, stay the hell away from my wife," Huang Wei drew his shiny gold _dao_, and swung it at Yun Fei mercilessly.

"Yun!" Lü Jing shoved Yun Fei aside and the gold _dao_ bit into Jing's body brutally. Biting back a cry of pain, she glared at Huang Wei, then turned into a pillar of white light and shot into the sky.

"Jing…!" Yun Fei yelled, watching as the white light disappeared.

"Damn it, I got the wrong person," Huang Wei said, regarding Yun with spite. "You piece of shit, I know that you guys intend to run away. I also know that you've bought

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ship tickets, but I'm warning you, if you intend to run away, do so alone. Lü Jing will never be able to escape from the Eastern Continent and from my control."

"Hmph, the tickets are valid forever. Even if we can't take this ship, we can always take the next one," Yun Fei retorted, looking at Huang Wei coldly. "I don't believe that you have the ability to change _Second Life_'s rules."

Huang Wei began to laugh loudly, however. "I might not be able to change the rules, but I can arrange for my people to stand guard at the docks around the clock and kill you guys each time they catch sight of you. Let's see just how many levels you two have for my boys to rid you of."

Yun's face was white as a sheet. "You…"

"Listen, kid, I'm warning you, don't think about running away with Lü Jing. Don't even think about getting close to her again. If you do, I'll make you pay." Huang Wei turned around to his lackeys and commanded, "Give this kid a sound beating. Heal him up whenever he's about to die and then continue to beat him, and don't let him use death to escape. Beat him until he'll never dare to get close to Lü Jing again."

"Huang Wei, I'm telling you, I'll definitely bring Jing to the Central Continent, I definitely will!" Yun Fei bellowed. Unfortunately, facing several warriors, there was really nothing a barrier master could do…

hg

"God damn it!" Gu Yun Fei fled offline in a pathetic manner, only to find that the phone was ringing off the hook.

As soon as he pressed the "Answer" button, Lü Jing's frantic face instantly appeared on the screen. "Yun, are you alright? Why didn't you return to the rebirth point after so long?"

"Isn't it obvious? That bastard Huang Wei beat me up into a pulp and even got a priest to heal me, so that I couldn't just die. Finally, when I couldn't take it any longer, I logged off," Yun Fei replied. He couldn't resist touching his face; just a short while ago, his face had been left swollen by the beating he'd received in-game.

Lü Jing looked pale. "Why didn't you log off sooner, and instead let him continue to beat you up, you- you idiot?!"

"I have my pride!" Yun Fei muttered sullenly.

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"Forget Huang Wei, we'll just rush to the docks tomorrow immediately after logging on. Otherwise,ē… ifTheweconsequereallyruncesintowDàg on't be any better," Lü Jing said, distressed.

"Huang Wei said that he's going to get his people to stand guard at the docks around the clock." Yun Fei sighed.

"What?" Lü Jing's face grew even paler.

"What should we do now?" Yun Fei was deeply worried.

Lü Jing took a deep breath, and then calmed down. "Let's wait a few days before logging on. Huang Wei can't possibly have people standing guard there forever!"

"I hope so," Yun replied, although he still felt that Huang Wei seemed to be pretty deeply obsessed with Lü Jing.

hg

"Huang Wei, what on earth do you want?" Lü Jing was infuriated; she wanted to know how much longer this person intended to keep causing trouble. He had, true to his word, really kept a look-out for them at the docks for so many days.

"I want you to be my wife," Huang Wei replied, smirking.

"Stop dreaming," Yun Fei bellowed. "Jing wouldn't fall for a douche-bag like you, so save it!"

Contempt spread across Huang Wei's face, and he looked at Yun as though he had just seen a pile of dung. "You're really asking for it, and you even dare to be with _my_ Jing. Boys, let him have it."

"Huang Wei, stop it!" Lü Jing turned pale with fright.

"Sure – if you agree to be my wife, Lü Jing." There was a cold look on Huang Wei's face. "Don't choose the hard way, Jing. I've gone soft on you for too long already."

"Jing, don't agree to it!" Yun Fei was being restrained by a few players. Even when faced with the prospect of being beaten up yet again, he still tried to stop Jing.

Seeing that Yun Fei was being restrained, doubt appeared on Lü Jing's face. Biting back tears, she looked utterly miserable and pitiful as she said, "Why must you coerce me like this? How can something like love be forced?"

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Huang Wei stiffened. "If I say it can, it can. What's so bad about marrying me? I'll provide food, clothes, and lots of spending money. What more can you ask for?"

Lü Jing's suffering was clear on her face, and her tears finally began to fall. "Is giving me lots of spending money the same as love? That's not what I want!"

By this point, a crowd had gathered on the docks. There were, of course, plenty of onlookers, and when they saw such a lovely girl weeping from being forced into a marriage, many of them began to voice their disapproval, and other onlookers – who could not stand by idly – began to clench their fists and crack their knuckles. The atmosphere was increasingly volatile.

Huang Wei turned toward the crowd with an ominous look in his eyes. "Damn it, shut the hell up! Make any more noise and I'll bloody well chop you all up too."

Upon hearing that, the noise only grew louder and people began yelling angrily.

"Damn you! Being that cocky even though you're snatching someone's bride?"

"Chop me up? I'll chop _you_ guys up first!"

"He's too much, how could he coerce a girl like that!"

"Poor thing; the girl's already crying."

Huang Wei didn't back down in the face of the crowd's anger; in fact, he became even more arrogant. "Damn it, you people think you can get away with it just because there're more of you? Don't think that I, Huang Wei, only have so few men. Just wait till I call for ten of my boys to come and take care of you guys; we'll see if you dare to make a peep then."

"Mob boss Huang Wei?" someone in the crowd exclaimed. Anyone who had stayed in White Tiger City for any period of time would probably have heard of White Tiger City's tyrant, Huang Wei, who would – with the support of his eight lackeys – bully others, use money to suppress his dissenters, kill players whom he didn't like, and flirt shamelessly with any pretty girl who caught his eye. Huang Wei had uncountable crimes listed against his name, but for the sake of money, there were still a huge number of people willing to work for him. No one dared to do anything to Huang Wei as long as all those warriors continued to work for him.

Those among the crowd who were about to intervene began to hesitate upon realizing that the cruel person in front of them was actually Huang Wei. After all, Huang Wei's power within White Tiger City was something they were all deeply familiar with. No one wanted to make things awkward for themselves, not if they wanted to remain in White Tiger City…

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Yun Fei and Lü Jing had originally pinned their hopes on the indignant audience coming to their aid; they had not expected that Huang Wei's name alone could scare the crowd like this. Their spirits sank.

"As expected,ēwouldonlydo somethinganidiotlikefoolishDàg like upholding

justice," Yun Fei said with a bitter laugh before he lapsed back into silence. It seemed to him that it would be a very, very long time before he and Jing would be able to go to the Central Continent to look for Xiao Lan.

"…" Lü Jing's tears had long since stopped. She could only sigh in resignation as she looked at the crowd of people, none of whom dared to step up in their defense. It looked like she and Yun would have to go missing from _Second Life_ for a period of time.

Huang Wei looked satisfactorily at the now-silent audience, before turning to Yun Fei and Lü Jing. "Lü Jing, are you going to be my wife or not? I'm telling you, I've already positioned men at all the rebirth points. If you say no, I'll definitely have this kid killed over and over again until he hits level one."

Yun Fei's and Lü Jing's faces were both bone-white. Lü Jing opened her mouth, but the words refused to leave her mouth…

"If she'll marry you, I'll swallow my _dao_ whole," a familiar voice said. Yun's and Jing's hearts skipped a beat as they thought, _Dàg__ē_ ?

Yun looked ecstatically toward the source of the voice. At that moment, the person had also walked out from the crowd – it was a masked white-haired elf. In an emotional voice, Yunēis anexcelfaimed,ē?"alright"Elf?.IsthatDàgyou, Dàg

The elf smiled slightly. "Aside from me, which other elf would be sightseeing here on the Eastern Continent?" True, only an elf like him with his level 100 "ability" to get lost would be wandering around here…

"Dàgē…" Jing's expression was beyond complicated.

The elf looked toward Huang Wei and said softly in a voice laced with the threat of an imminent storm. "Huang Wei, right? Looks like the lesson I gave you the last time around wasn't enough."

"You…!" Although he was livid with rage, Huang Wei had not forgotten the fright he'd received from the elf during their last encounter. It was precisely because he knew that Yun Fei and Lü Jing were no longer traveling with that person that he had dared to stall the duo, but now he'd bumped into this formidable elf, whom he had no intention of riling, yet again.

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"God damn it, don't think that I'm really scared of you. Last time you snuck up on me, but it won't be that easy this time. Boys, get him! Whoever kills him will be heavily rewarded!" In front of a crowd, there was no way Huang Wei would willingly back down and lose face. Besides, the elf only managed to win the last time around by using a sneak attack; this time, he – Huang Wei – would be well-prepared. He would have his revenge!

"The fight's started, Kenshin," the elf remarked smilingly to the red-haired warrior next to him, who looked like a newbie. The red-haired warrior only nodded, his face an icy mask.

Two figures streaked toward Huang Wei and his men at lightning speed…

"Dàgē…" Yun Fei wasē astonished; he'd never thought that Dàg would once again help

them withoutētreatnotherthem sowordwell?.WhyEvendidafterDàghe and Jing had

pushed him off a cliff, snatched the hair tie from him, and were planning to run away, Dàgēwould still help them unconditionally. _This__ē_ _Dàgrea lly such a fool_, Yun thought, but in spite of his words, he was deeply touched, and warmth enveloped his heart.

"Jing, let'sētotheaccompCentr**a**nylContinent,Dàg okay?" Yun said calmly to Jing,

but while it was phrased as a question, he stated it like it was a matter of course. "After we look up Xiaoē.LanIdon'tinthewantCentralto Continent, I want to follow Dàg

look for the professor and Prince anymore."

"Yeah," Jing replied without hesitation as she looked at the two figures engaging Huang Wei in combat. She, too, knew that they would be the real idiots not to follow someone likeē. Dàg

After the elf and the red-haired warrior had thoroughly taken care of the eight thugs and Huang Wei, the elf threw back his head and laughed for a long time, clearly astonishing the surrounding crowd with his arrogant demeanor.

"Dàgē,we're definitely following you." Yun Fei's and Lü Jing's eyes glittered with determination and there were broad smiles on their faces.

½Prince Volume 3 : Reality and Fantasy

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½Prince Volume 3 : Records of the Vagabond

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SYNOPSIS:

The Adventurers' Tournament is finally over, although the last survivor was someone rather unexpected. In any case, Odd Squad can be considered the victors. Unfortunately, now there's a rather pressing matter at hand – that is, we're going to build a city!

Looks like everyone has a field of expertise, except me, waaah! So I was sent on a "simple mission" and given the responsibility to rope in, rope in, and rope in all the people we knew well into helping out with the construction of the city. Let me think for a moment about who I should look for… There's Dark Emperor, Nan Gong Zui, and Rose Team, whom I haven't met in a while…

Unexpectedly, my first time drinking led to a huge problem – I actually drank until I got lost! God, just tell me straight: Where on earth am I? Please don't torture this poor soul

– who can reach the South Pole by following the North Star – any longer…

Aiyah! To actually meet someone I whom I know from the real world, and it's not one but two persons. Is this good luck or bad luck?

Hmm… This NPC in front of my eyes looks rather… familiar?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Yu Wo:

Who am I? Sometimes I am like a warrior, wielding a sword on the battlefield with limitless passion and energy. At other times, I resemble a mage, with a mind devoted to research, completely absorbed in the things I like. Or I might be like a thief, leading a free and easy life, letting fate lead me to distant and unfamiliar lands. Occasionally, however I am similar to a priest, with a gentle heart, filled with compassion towards the living things of this world. Ultimately, I am a kindly Fantastical world.

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Records of a Vagabond Prince

HALF PRINCE VOL. 3

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我 (Yu Wo)

Table of Contents

Disclaimer ... 4  
Chapter 1: The Final Victor ... 6  
Chapter 2: Infinite City ... 15  
Chapter 3: Everyone has Assembled ... 27  
Chapter 4: Jing and Yun ... 35  
Chapter 5: Demon King Kenshin ... 58  
Chapter 6: The Demonic Dark God ... 79  
Chapter 7: The Battle Begins ... 99  
Extra Chapter: Companions for Eternity ... 116 

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Disclaimer

Please take note of the following:

- The followi½PrincegtranslationisbyPrinceof Revolution! and is a "by fans, for fans" translation.

- This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this, you have been ripped off!

- Prince Revolution! does NOT ask for donations, payment, or anything else of the sort. We do not benefit monetarily from our translations AT ALL.

- We only ask that you do NOT steal credit or attempt to profit monetarily from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across any individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translation.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthels are held by Yu W o, the author of the novels.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthel artworks are held by Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu,

the cover artists for the first and second editions of the novels respectively.

- Copyrights½Princetomanhuathe artwork are held by Cai Hong Z hong, the

artist½Princeforthemanhua.

- Prince Revolution! has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novels into English. However, this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

- As such, please cease distribution of this PDF once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

Links

Prince Revolution!

Yuʼs WoBlg

.cc/blog/kim1984429

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CREDITS

Translators:

Eilinel (chapters 3-4)  
Erihppas (chapter 5)  
Samuki (chapters 1-2 and 8)  
Spence (chapter 6)  
Desiree (chapter 7)

Proofreaders:

Bridget (chapters 4-5 and 7-8)  
EvlNabiki (chapters 3-4 and 6-7)  
Hopehime4 (chapters 5-6)  
Iskeirka (chapters 3 and 8)  
ShadowRebirth (chapters 1-3 and 5-8)

C/E Editors:

Erialis (chapters 1-8)

PDF and eBook Formatter

Katerina

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Chapter 1: The Final Victor

"Let's get started, Wicked. Don't make me repeat myself," my voice, laced with anger, rang out.

Wicked gazed at me solemnly, a trace of melancholy in his eyes. At long last he drew his sword and said, "Then, before that – I want to duel Zui. I can't let you keep hogging the limelight."

I scratched my cheek, wondering, Had I really been hogging the limelight? Okay…maybe just a little. "As you wish."

I glanced over at Zui and Fan, just in time to see Fan being forced into a corner before being cut in half by Zui. Seems like Fan isn't Zui's match in one-to-one combat, despite being his superior when it comes to strategy and tactics… (Or should I say Fan's a sneakier bastard?) Could it be that it was very cruel of me to have forcibly hauled Fan back from the brink of death, only to let Zui beat him to death? …Never mind! At the very least, it's better for him this way than being beaten to death by me instead.

After finishing Fan off, Nan Gong Zui walked slowly toward me. It can't be that he wants to challenge me to a duel, can it? Interesting! I thought. With a faint smile I raised Black Dao, readying myself. I watched as Nan Gong Zui drew closer to me with each step. He's about to attack! I tensed up…

"Thank you, Prince," Zui said suddenly.

"…Huh?" I froze. Thank me? I massacred all his allies and still the man wants to thank me?

"You gave Fan and I the chance for a fair duel to the death," Nan Gong Zui hastened to clarify as he eyed my unconvinced expression. "Besides, that was the main reason why I entered the tournament in the first place."

"Oh… Ah, right, Wicked said that he wants to fight you first." I pointed over at Wicked.

Nan Gong Zui simply smiled upon hearing that. "There's no need; I'm the only one left in my alliance, so there's no point in fighting on. Besides, I have more important matters to settle, so you might as well kill me now, Prince," he said, a deep melancholy in his eyes.

His gloomy mood rubbed off on me, and I said softly, "All right then…"

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Before I had even finished what I was saying, a sword's blade suddenly pierced through Zui's chest –and the owner of the sword was none other than Wicked. Wicked wore an irate expression as he looked at Zui.

I can overlook the fact that this fellow became friends with Xiao Lan, he thought, and it's no big deal if he had the opportunity to be carried by Xiao Lan in her arms. But now he actually dares to ask Xiao Lan to kill him? Why can't he just go and find some place to die quietly by himself?

"Wicked, what are you doing?" I exclaimed, deeply displeased. "Zui already said he wanted me to kill him!"

A flicker of realization darted across Nan Gong Zui's face as he looked at Wicked's resentful gaze. "Never mind, it doesn't matter, Prince," Zui said. "After I've settled my business, I'll look you up for a drink…"

The conversation was once again interrupted as a translucent arrow was fired from behind me, on my right, landing squarely in the middle of Nan Gong Zui's forehead. The culprit, Gui, threw a cold glance at Nan Gong Zui. I thought, I guess you could say that Gui was more chivalrous than Wicked; at least he waited for Nan Gong Zui to say that he would come back to look for me before he finished him off!

Watching as Nan Gong Zui's pillar of white light shot off into the sky, Gui and Wicked both revealed sinister, satisfied smiles as they thought, Who asked that slightly handsome bastard to get close to Prince!?

"Since when were the two of you on such good terms?" Even their smiles are identical, I thought as I looked suspiciously at those two butchers. However, as soon as I said that they immediately stopped smiling, and even glared hatefully at each other.

"Two weirdoes…" I muttered to myself.

I hefted my Black Dao and leveled it at Wicked. "Whatever the case, it's now time for us to fight to the death once again, Wicked. I really missed your longsword – and your moves that seem to come out of nowhere!"

"Prince…" Xiao Lan…thought Wicked, pained. How could he possibly turn his blade on his beloved Xiao Lan? Originally, Wicked had planned to perish together with Nan Gong Zui, so that Xiao Lan would be spared from having to kill her friend, and also so that he wouldn't have to swing his sword at his own beloved girl — even though it would mean letting down his friends in Dark Emperor!

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Wicked looked towards his teammates and they returned his gaze expectantly, waiting for him to draw his sword. As for Feng Wu Qing, he had long since drawn his own rapier…

Feng Wu Qing, if you knew that this was your own sister, would you still be able to attack her?

(Feng Lan: You don't have to worry about that, he'll be more than happy to thrash his sister – who stole his women from him – till kingdom come…)

I waited for Wicked to draw his sword, but for a long time he didn't move an inch…

Could it be that Zhuo-gēge wants to let me attack first? I frowned, feeling extremely ticked off. I want to win, but not this way! I roared, "Draw your sword!"

My fury only blazed more fiercely still as Wicked continued to look at me hesitantly.

What's this supposed to mean? That I can only win if people go easy on me? I—

Suddenly, Gui rested a hand on my shoulder and the look in his eyes seemed to be telling me to calm down. He walked up next to Wicked and murmured by the latter's ear, "If you don't want to lose Prince forever, then you'd better draw your sword. Any kind of concession on your part will only further agitate him. Do you still not understand what he's like, even though you've known him for eight years?"

The problem is, Wicked thought, Xiao Lan didn't use to be like this. In the game The World, she had always hidden behind him, and was always cajoling him to buy things for her. Wicked felt nostalgic as he recollected Xiao Lan's impish antics, but… Now she's really grown up. Now she's always at the front of her team, always laughing delightedly even as she fights, weapon in hand; now she knows how to work hard for what she wants. Prince isn't the old Xiao Lan anymore.

"I admire the current Prince…" But I miss the Xiao Lan from before, Wicked added silently in his heart.

Wicked looked steadily at Gui. "Watch your own back; even if you've just helped me, we're still love rivals. Just you wait; I'll still gut you like an animal later."

Gui's lips curled upwards slightly. "My words exactly."

Wicked finally drew his sword, and I gave a satisfied swing of my Black Dao. Both teams began to prepare for the battle ahead. Wolf-dàgēhurriedly told Doll to summon her skeletal minions and then directed us to take up our positions. When the members of both teams had taken up their positions, the skeletons and I stood in a fan-shaped formation in front to protect the rest of the team, while Dark Emperor had Wicked and Feng Wu Qing at the fore.

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Wolf-dàgēreminded us, "Everyone, the outcome of the battle w ill be determined the moment the mages cast their large-scale spells. As such, we have to either cast our spell first, or take down Ming Huang. Lolidragon, you'll go and distract Playboy Lord, and no matter what you must not let them kill Yu Lian. If you can, finish Ming Huang off. Gui, you'll have to pay attention to the enemy archer. Doll, you hide at the back as much as you can and keep the number of skeletons up. Your job is to stay alive. Last of all, Prince, your duty is to protect all the team members."

All of us gave Wolf-dàgēan "OK" sign.

Wolf-dàgēobserved Dark Emperor for a moment, and after making sure that their preparations were ready, he tore a corner off the hem of his shirt and threw it into the air. Everyone watched as it slowly drifted to the ground – and landed!

Both sides went into action simultaneously.

After releasing his breath explosively, the commentator Xiao Li exclaimed, "The final battle has begun at last! It's a showdown between Odd Squad and Dark Emperor — which team will be the victors of the Adventurers' Tournament? Presently, we can see the Blood Elf Prince engaged in battle with the dark elf Wicked, as well as the human swordsman Feng Wu Qing. The movement of their weapons is so rapid that I, Xiao Li, can't even begin describing their moves.

"Prince is now executing a series of attacks, following it up with a flying kick, then a low kick… Wicked isn't backing down either, crouching and whirling around quickly to evade Prince's attack. Now it's Wicked's turn on the offensive with a Z-shaped attack, almost hitting Prince… Has it appeared; is that Prince's ultimate attack? Heavens, a series of blows, all laced with flames, what an amazing move! But did it hit Wicked at all? Pity… Only one attack landed and once again there is a clash of blades. How will this contest between longsword and dao end?

"Next, let's take a look at how Feng Wu Qing is decimating the ranks of skeletons with his rapier —he seems to be holding his own against eight skeletons! The way he handles his rapier is simply incredible; all of his attacks are deadly. The speed with which the skeletons' HP is going down has left the necromancer in a fluster… Wait a minute! Everyone quick, look at the battle between the thieves; it's like a fight between wind and wind. Did you see that? The two shadows are darting about the stadium relentlessly, drawing close to Odd Squad at times, forced back toward Dark Emperor at others, so quickly that I, Xiao Li, cannot differentiate one from the other!

"As for the mages on both sides… Are they preparing to cast large-scale magic? No, they're both now maintaining shielding spells over their teams. It looks like neither mage is able to execute such attacks for fear of the long-range attackers on the opposing team.

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The mages and long-range attackers have come to a stalemate; it looks like they can only sit tight and hope that their warriors at the frontline will triumph, or that their thieves will be able to successfully assassinate members of the other team."

I see, so it all depends on the warriors and thieves huh? I smiled. I definitely cannot lose to Lolidragon; otherwise she'll use her piercingly shrill laughter to make jabs at me. I decided to step up the pace, increasing the speed of my attacks.

I wonder if you can still manage to keep up so effortlessly, Wicked? I smiled slightly.

"Ugh…!" A sudden flare of pain in my knee – Impossible! I'd clearly dodged all of Wicked's blows! I looked down and saw that it was actually an arrow, its head buried in my knee. I raised my head to look at Ambusher and sure enough, he was smirking at me. Worse still, a whole volley of arrows was flying toward me. With an effort, I managed to roll away, but an arrow still found its mark in my left shoulder. Cold sweat poured down my back even as pain washed over me. Luckily, Wolf-dàgēimmediately restored a large amount of the HP that I'd lost, so I was able to get back to my feet, but only with considerable effort on my part.

I turned around hurriedly to face Wicked in case he was going to make use of the opportunity to attack me…but he was just standing there with a look of reluctance on his face. I glared furiously at him and even swung my Black Dao in front of his face a couple of times. I think I must be the first person on Earth who's ever had to remind the enemy in the middle of a fight to not hesitate to attack, and even to take advantage of the opportunity to land a sneak attack!

Wicked seemed to have finally decided to quit dawdling. "Flawless Circle of Profundity

– True Blade of the Solitary Man."

What a bizarre-sounding move… Of course, I'm not going to lose to you. "Watch me! Ringing Blade, Frenzied Strike!"

My Black Dao seemed to morph into a thousand copies, each blade striking Wicked from a different direction. Blood spurted as wounds appeared all over Wicked's body, but…

True Blade of the Solitary Man indeed, I thought. I see. It's completely different from my Ringing Blade, Frenzied Strike. That move of Wicked's was designed to pierce just one time, but to hit a vital point in the process.

Unfortunately, due my wounded knee, I was only just barely able to prevent the attack from piercing my heart by shifting slightly. My dao was around twenty centimeters away from Wicked's neck, whereas his longsword was buried deeply in the right side of my

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chest. Moreover, the point of the blade was angled towards the left side of my chest, at my heart. No matter how you look at it, it seems that I'll be dead before him…

Back to main fight, neither Yu Lian, who was maintaining the protective shield, nor Gui, who was waiting for the opportunity to strike, had expected the enemy archer to leave the safety of his team's shield to spring an attack on Prince. It was clearly a kamikaze strategy…but what was still more frustrating for them was that even though Yu Lian immediately dropped the protective shield, letting Gui rain a barrage of arrows on Ambusher, the archer continued to fire a number of shots at Prince before he died.

Gui quickly turned to check on Prince's condition. Upon seeing the situation, his heart almost stopped, but lucky his hand continued to reflexively fire arrows. Wicked, who had not noticed Gui, was hit squarely in the middle of his forehead by an arrow. He looked at Gui with astonishment in his eyes before turning into a pillar of white light and shooting away into the sky.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but instantly the pain in the right side of my chest nearly overwhelmed me. Gripping my chest tightly, I forced myself to endure the agony as I waited for Wolf-dàgēto finish the incantation for the healing spell. I have to get rid of Ming Huang while he's still casting the spell for the large-scale magic…

"Urgh!" I looked down disbelievingly at the blade that had just emerged from between my ribs, and then turned my head to look at the owner of the rapier… It's a really complicated feeling, dying at the hands of your own brother! I thought. Feng Wu Qing, you bastard, you sure chose a good time to kill your sister!

"Prince…!" Gui gave an ear-shattering roar, but could only watch on helplessly as I followed in Wicked's footsteps and turned into a pillar of light.

Ugly Wolf, who wasn't able to cast the healing spell in time, could only direct the team to change tactics. "Doll, block Feng Wu Qing. Gui, get rid of the mage. Yu Lian…" Ugly Wolf turned toward Yu Lian, about to ask her to begin the incantation for her large-scale magic, but Yu Lian had already seen Ming Huang chanting the incantation and begun chanting her own.

Feng Wu Qing could see that the situation had turned against Dark Emperor. Should he hurry back and protect Ming Huang, or should he go up to Odd Squad and kill off their mage?

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"Playboy, quit fooling around over there and come over here to help!" he roared, even as he backed up to Ming Huang, using his body to shield the latter and frantically deflecting Gui's Supersonic Soul-chasing Arrows with his rapier.

Playboy Lord only smiled bitterly as he thought, Does Wu Qing think that I actually want to fool around? If he hadn't been following that elf thief – who was fast as the wind and could burrow into the ground – closely, she would have assassinated heaven only knows how many members of Dark Emperor already. Still, as the situation seemed to call for a different strategy, Playboy Lord gave up on pursuing Lolidragon and turned his attention to the other members of Odd Squad.

Lolidragon and Playboy Lord were locked in a stalemate as they circled Yu Lian continuously. Playboy Lord knew that he would be unable to attack Yu Lian right in front of Lolidragon's eyes. He smiled coldly, and with a light step, retreated several meters. He turned around at the same time and the dagger in his hand scored a line across Doll's throat. Thus, adorable Doll was killed and the skeletons that had been about to pursue and attack Feng Wu Qing also crumbled into dust.

"Damn it!" With a single leap, Lolidragon jumped and landed right in front of Playboy Lord. Not caring that she was weaker than Playboy Lord in terms of physical strength, she attacked him in a flurry of dagger blows. Light danced and glinted off their daggers, and there was the sound of metal on metal as their blades met over and over again unrelentingly.

"… Wrath of the Nine Heavens!" Ming Huang spat out the final line of the incantation viciously.

"…Meteor Shower!" Yu Lian-dàsăowas only slower by a heartbeat.

Instantly, the earth and the skies began to heave violently…

"Shit," both teams thought at the same time.

As an aftereffect of death, I was a little fuzzy-headed when I stepped back into the stadium and stood next to Ambusher, who had arrived a long while ago. I'd returned just in time to witness an amazing sight – Ming Huang's lightning had consolidated into pillars of electricity, and there were so many meteors descending in Yu Lian-dàsăo's meteor shower that you could lose track of the number of wishes you'd made on them. I searched the arena for signs of survivors…but unfortunately, I couldn't see anyone.

"Don't tell me it's a draw again! Wicked and I survived the last time, but everyone perished this time around?" I remarked.

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I waited silently for the spells to dissipate and for the outcome to be decided. Just then, Wicked too came to stand beside me quietly…and then came Doll, with two streaks of tears on her cheeks, and was whining about the pain as she came up to me. The seconds seemed to tick by slowly, and we grew tenser with each passing moment.

The commentator Xiao Li seemed to be just as eager as the audience to know the outcome. "Members of the audience, this is the moment of the tournament that we've been anticipating most. Which team will be the ultimate champions of the Adventurers' Tournament, Dark Emperor or Odd Squad? Or were both teams annihilated? Ah… The spells have faded away. There seems to be figure in the midst of all that smoke; let's see which side he or she belongs to. That's, that's… The person lying on the floor is Feng Wu Qing, the human swordsman from Dark Emperor! Although he's close to death, he is still alive. The winning team has emerged!"

"Ah! It's Wu Qing!" I couldn't help feeling a little crestfallen, but it made sense that the sole survivor of the deadly storm of magic would be the warrior, with the highest HP and strongest defense. I turned to Wicked. "Congratulations on winning."

The audience went into a frenzy of roars and cheers. Xiao Li's voice was like the sound of pigs being butchered as he shrieked, "Dark Emperor! Dark Emperor has emerged victorious!"

A hand appeared! From the arena's dirt floor, a hand abruptly shot out. At first only a few spectators stared at it in silence with mouths gaping wide open, but like a contagious disease, that silence soon spread across the rest of the audience as everyone stared at the hand sticking out of the ground… The entire stadium was engulfed in silence!

"What is that thing?" I went numb all over, thinking, Don't tell me it's the fourteenth day of the seventh lunar month… Could it be a haunting? No way! Do those things also play online games?1

Following that, another hand shot up through the ground. More than a few members of the audience couldn't take the terror and were already screaming…

"Whew… It's a good thing I'd taken the pains to learn Burrowing," Lolidragon muttered to herself as she clambered up from the ground and began dusting off the dirt from her clothes.

1 Fourteenth day of the seventh lunar month: This is more commonly known as the "Ghost Festival", a traditional Chinese festival that takes place on the fourteenth day of the seventh lunar month every year and is usually celebrated by Taoists and Buddhists. The seventh lunar month in general is known as the Ghost Month, during which the gates between the realm of the living and the realms of the dead are believed to be opened such that the dead may freely walk the earth. The fourteenth day is known as the Ghost Day and it is on that day in particular that deceased ancestors would visit their living relatives.

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I paid no mind to my image as I gaped at the sight. However, my mouth wasn't gaping that widely compared to the members of Dark Emperor, the audience, and Xiao Li.

When Lolidragon had finally finished patting off the dirt, she sauntered over to Feng Wu Qing with an intolerably smug smirk on her face. "Yooou look like you're about to die!" The evil smile on her face was definitely Satan's own; it was a bewitchingly charming smile, but one which you would definitely not want to see twice!

Lolidragon raised her dagger, but lowered it after a moment as the smile on her face grew even smugger. She lifted her foot lightly and then stomped forcefully on Feng Wu Qing's solar plexus. As she grinded her foot into his chest, she remarked coyly, "As the saying goes, 'dying under the peony, a gallant hero even as a ghost'.2 Isn't that right, great hero Chu Liu Xiang?"

Finally, Feng Wu Qing vomited a huge mouthful of blood and then turned into a pillar of white light which shot into the sky… I really can't tell, was he stomped to death, or infuriated to death?

"Odd Squad, victory!" yelled the referee.

2 Dying under the peony, a gallant hero even as a ghost: This is actually a line from a poem, which has also become a well-known saying. What "dying under the peony" actually means is "to be killed by a beautiful woman". Thus, the saying's meaning is actually along the lines of "a gallant hero should act like a man and not mind dying at the hands of a beautiful woman". (In case anyone's forgotten, Chu Liu Xiang is the fictional character that Wu Qing loves to emulate. He's supposedly a gallant hero but also a huge flirt as well.)

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Chapter 2: Infinite City

"Why must I be the liege lord?" I grumbled, malcontented. I don't even have the foggiest notion of what to do as a liege lord; wouldn't it be better if the position was given to Wolf-dàgē?Making me the liege lord! I'm not even sure what to do with our new

territory. What are we going to do with it, farm?

"Let me ask you, Prince," said Lolidragon in an interrogative manner as she jabbed a finger at my nose, "Do you know how to devise strategies or command troops like Wolf-dàgē,and so be put in charge of the military department?"

I cocked my head to one side, thinking, Me, handle military matters? I don't even know what the difference between strategies and tactics is… "I don't know how to."

"Or are you by some chance like Yulian-dàsăo, with the talent to manage finances and accounts with incomparable skill, able to use money to generate more money, and so manage the finance department? Are you, in addition, a mage, and so able to take charge of the mages' department as well?"

"No, I can't." It's already an achievement in itself if I don't spend all of my money, and besides, I'm not a mage, I thought, feeling sorry for myself.

"Then do you have a brain as good as Gui's? Are you able to come up with the blueprints for the entire territory and even supervise the entire construction process?"

I went to a corner to be gloomy. "About drawing… People have always said that the dogs I draw looked more like cats."

"Then do you have my technical knowledge, to be able to lay traps around the territory to prevent monsters or other players from attacking?"

"Not stepping on one of those traps myself, that can already be considered a blessing…" There were now two ghost fires floating next to me.

"Then are you by any chance able to summon skeletons like Doll, to help with the construction?" Lolidragon questioned, dealing me a final blow.

I didn't expect…that even Doll's more useful than I am! I want to weep… "If I'm so useless, why do you still want me to be the liege lord?" I pouted, sulking.

Lolidragon gave me a pat on my shoulder, her face the picture of kindness – or was it faux kindness? – as she looked at me. "That's precisely why we want you to be the liege lord! After all, the only thing you can be is the liege lord, who doesn't need to do

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anything except be good-looking, be presentable, and not do anything to damage our territory's reputation!"

"So that's how it is! So it's because I don't know how to do anything that I can only be the liege lord…" My eyes filled with two large, glistening tears and I whimpered. "I must apply myself to learning some skills from now on, otherwise I'll never amount to anything more than a liege lord."

…Is being the liege lord really such a sad thing? wondered the remaining members of Odd Squad.

Backtracking a little, back on that day when Lolidragon used Burrowing to safely sit out the havoc wrought by the two large-scale AOE spells, stomped Feng Wu Qing to death, and then snatched victory back for Odd Squad in the Adventurers' Tournament, we went onstage happily to claim our prize as a team. We drank in the deafening cheers of the crowd and admired the remarkable sight of the members of Dark Emperor standing stock-still, mouths gaping in shock for an entire hour…until the headaches began.

Of all the prizes, the most significant one was a piece of land, which we were suddenly saddled with for no reason. According to hearsay, it could compare with Sun, Moon, and Star cities in terms of size, and so we had no choice but to start discussing how to manage this piece of trouble…

"This land of ours is really no small burden. Sun, Moon and Star cities are spread out along the fringes of this continent in a triangular formation; as the cities are quite far from one another, and as teleportation fees are expensive, most players will usually opt to make one of the three cities their base camp and then train in its vicinity. Our territory lies right smack in the middle of the entire continent, however, and the amount of time needed to travel from our land to any of the key areas on this continent is pretty much the same.

"As such, if we play our cards right, we'll definitely be able to lure most of the players away from Sun, Moon, and Star cities and get them to settle down here. However, for the same reason there will be many people eyeing this piece of land…and that will probably be much scarier than an attack by mobs," Lolidragon mused, frowning. "Although the developers have provided us with NPC guards for the moment, once the time's up, they will be removed, after which we will have to defend the city on our own. While we can hire NPC guards, they're overly expensive and, after all, they're not human players. They lack adaptability and thus cannot be the main pillar of our defense. We must organize our own defense force, create a vibrant economy, and design our city well…"

That was how we began to divide the work among us… And, as you can see, because there's nothing special about me except my good looks, I ended up as an ornament – the liege lord!

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"Although the liege lord is supposedly nothing more than an ornament, Prince, I have an assignment for you, to keep you from dying of boredom." Wolf-dàgēcleared his throat. "We have a serious shortage of manpower, so you have to recruit some help."

"Who am I going to recruit…?" My fan club? You've got to be kidding me!

"Rose Team." Lolidragon said as she tapped her chin with a finger thoughtfully. Upon seeing me flinch, she hurried to add, "Even though there was some unhappiness the last time we met, they're good people. I don't think they really felt that what happened was your fault. Besides, there are quite a few talented individuals in Rose Team."

"The big brothers and sisters from Dark Emperor too!" Doll exclaimed delighted. "They're all good people!"

"Nan Gong Zui!" Yulian-dàsăoadded, even as Gui's face hardened upon hearing that name. (His objections were overruled, however.) "To have been one of the head honchos of the three major alliances in the tournament, he must have considerable influence. If you can get him to join us, Prince, our force's numbers will be greatly bolstered."

"That's right, it's basically these people for now," Wolf-dàgēsaid with a nod. "While  
we're pouring our sweat and blood into constructing the city, Prince you should make use of the time to chat with them and do some networking, and then get them to join us while you're at it. Oh, by the way, it'll be great if you can find other talented individuals as well. What do you think? Isn't your assignment quite simple?"

Biting my index finger, with my head tilted to one side, I thought, It seems to be…quite easy?!

"Okay, then I'll get going. It'll be tough on you guys!" I felt a little guilty. Everyone else will be working hard on construction, whereas I'm running off to chit-chat… Sigh! It's all because I don't know how to do anything, that's why I'm so useless.

Everyone waved cheerfully at me as I left. I too waved back at them enthusiastically, and then embarked on my "chatting" journey…

It was not until they could no longer see Prince that the smiles, which had been plastered on the faces of the remaining Odd Squad members, finally came off.

"Hmm… I feel a little guilty. We've tricked Prince into carrying the toughest job; I wonder if he'll be okay?" Wolf-dàgēremarked, looking slightly worried.

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"Don't worry about it; that fellow has extremely good luck with people in general. Besides, I don't have a conscience to speak of, so I don't feel the least bit guilty," Lolidragon said with an evil smile.

"Prince is the liege lord after all, so one way or another he has to have a little responsibility!" Yu Lian-dàsăosmiled, stretching her index finger and thumb as far apart as possible as she said "a little".

In a troubled tone, Gui asked, "But will Prince lose his way?"

…That is the most worrying question indeed!

"Who should I look for first?" I agonized. "Oh well, I guess I'll look for Dark Emperor first; since Zhuo-gēge is there, it shouldn't be that difficult to recruit them, right?!"

I made up my mind and immediately PMed Wicked, saying, "Wicked, where are you guys? There's something I'd like to talk over with you all!"

"…We're in Star City, but it's better if you don't come over now." Upon receiving her message, Wicked was initially delighted at the prospect of being able to see Xiao Lan. However, after he took one long look at his drunken teammates sprawled about in the restaurant booth and thought of how they had been talking about hacking the members of Odd Squad into a million pieces just a moment ago while drinking, Wicked thought the better of letting Xiao Lan come over. "What's up?"

"I want to rope you guys into managing the territory!" I went straight to the point.

"Hmm… I'll talk things over with my teammates, but they're too angry to think straight right now, so it'll be better if you don't come over first."

"Oh, then I guess I'll look for Nan Gong Zui first," I replied, even as I thought, Rose Team… I guess I'll look for them last. I still felt a little guilty about what happened, so I wasn't ready to meet them yet.

Unbeknownst to Prince, Wicked's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're going to look for Nan Gong Zui?! That fellow Gui actually didn't try to stop you?"

"Yeah, he did. I have no idea why he was objecting, but after Lolidragon got him in a chokehold, he didn't object anymore." (Or perhaps it was because he had no way to voice his objections?) Seriously, Gui gets jealous over just about anything. Are all gays this troublesome? He gets agitated if anyone approaches me, never mind whether they're male or female… He's such a poor thing!

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"Don't look for Nan Gong Zui! I guarantee you that Dark Emperor will join you guys!" Wicked looked menacingly at his teammates on the floor; woe betide any naysayers!

"I knew you're the best, Zhuo-gēge! It's a done deal then; you have to join us!" I said happily, thinking, One team down already, looks like I'll be back with my Odd Squad teammates in no time! "I'll go look for Nan Gong Zui now then."

"Hey—!"

I closed my private channel with Wicked and PMed Nan Gong Zui for the first time ever. "Nan Gong Zui, paging for Nan Gong Zui!"

"Who is it?"

"Prince," I reported my name cheerfully.

"…The Blood Elf?" Nan Gong Zui sounded somewhat startled.

"Just call me Prince." Why does Nan Gong Zui like calling me "the Blood Elf" so much?

"Oh, Prince. Is something the matter?" Nan Gong Zui asked enthusiastically. "Looking for me to go drinking together?"

"Erm…something like that, and there's some other stuff I want to discuss with you."

"No problem; come over first! I'm in Moon City, just let me know before you arrive," Nan Gong Zui replied, and his voice became tinged with frustration. "I still have to settle that problem with my godsister Ice Phoenix first."

"Sure. It might take me a few days to reach, as I'm still pretty far from Moon City, so take your time to settle things," I replied.

So, my destination is Moon City? I unfolded the map and saw that Moon City was on the west side of the continent. Which way is west? I looked blankly at the huge moon and the sky full of stars, thinking, Gui told me before that if I can find the North Star, I'll be able to tell which way's north…but what did he say about finding the North Star again? First I have to locate the Big Dipper…but what is the Big Dipper? My head slumped to one side, uncomprehending. (Gui: I couldn't get you to understand in the end, but didn't I give you a compass?)

"Phoenix, do you mean to infuriate me to death?" Nan Gong Zui was on the verge of exploding with anger as he looked at his godsister. "Fan is clearly deceiving you; can you still not see that? Why did you foolishly send him yet another present?"

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Ice Phoenixē,is smileditreallysorrowfullywrongto."Dàglove a person, to want to  
make sacrifices for his sake, to want to dedicate yourself to him? I believe that his heart will be truly moved by me one day."

"You, you…!" Nan Gong Zui gave an exasperated sigh as he wondered, How is it that women can be this foolish?

"I have loved Fan deeply since the moment I first laid eyes on him," Phoenix said. There was an intoxicated expression on her face as she recollected, "He is just like a perfect god. Back then, when he walked towards me, I even thought that I was looking at the most handsome Sun God, Apollo! I believe that there is no other person in the world who can rival his perfection."

Goose pimples broke out all over Nan Gong Zui's body. Fan certainly is quite good-looking… I wonder, between him and Prince, which one of them would Phoenix prefer?

"Ah… Fan's PMing me, I've got to hurry over," Phoenix said, almost beside herself with joy upon receiving Fan's message.

"I forbid you to go—" Before he could finish speaking, his godsister was already gone, and so Nan gong Zui had no choice but to hurriedly chase after his godsister's disappearing figure.

In the end, I still took the wrong path. I inadvertently walked to the East instead, and thus wound up in Star City…after which I chose to simply travel to Moon City via the teleportation station. As it turns out, Moon City was actually a Chinese-styled city. As I wandered through the city, I happily admired the bamboo buildings, red lanterns, and the streets full of fan-waving swordsmen.

Talk about how the culture of a city influences the character of the people living in it… That's odd, why did my brother, that Chu Liu Xiang-wannabe, end up in Star City instead? I mused as I gnawed on a stick of candied haws that I had just bought.

"Stop right there, Phoenix!" Nan Gong Zui grabbed Phoenix's hand angrily.

"Let ē;goletofmeme,lookDàgfor Fan!" Phoenix wailed.

I chewed another candied haw as I watched the scene unfold before my eyes, thinking,

Looks like my luck's pretty good; I found Nan Gong Zui without even having to PM him!

Fan sauntered over slowly towards the duo from the other end of the street with a smile on his face. "Nan Gong Zui, don't you think that your behavior's rather unsightly? You couldn't win your godsister's heart, so you're resorting to brute force now?"

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"What did you say? Don't spout nonsense, I just don't want her to be deceived by a bastard like you," Nan Gong Zui roared, enraged.

"Nan Gong Zui, you should be more careful about what you're saying. Who's deceiving her? Phoenix, have I ever tried to deceive you?" Fan asked, and his expression was one of confidence. "I made everything clear to you, including the fact that you're only one of the women I'm seeing."

"I know. It's okay, I don't mind at all," Phoenix replied, mesmerized by Fan's handsome side profile.

Fan shrugged and gave Nan Gong Zui a helpless look.

"You…" Nan Gong Zui was so furious that he had drawn his sword and was about to charge forward and duel Fan.

Terrified for her beloved, Phoenix hurried forward to bar Nan Gong Zui's path. "Stop it, Gēge! I won't allow you to harm Fan!"

Nan Gong Zui's expression revealed how wounded he was by her action. "Phoenix, you…"

"Dàgē,I…" Phoenix was wracked with guilt, but also unwilling to budge.

The atmosphere grew heavy as the situation stalemated. I swallowed the last candied haw, licked my lips, and tossed the remaining bamboo skewer into the trash bin.

…An infatuated woman, a worried brother, and a heartless and dissolute playboy; this is quite the detestable soap opera. Allow me to break up this meaningless drama! I thought with a devilish smirk.

I straightened my posture, affixed a slight smile to my face, elegance oozing from every pore. Right now I am…the most perfect Lord Prince! In a low and warm voice, I said, "Nan Gong Zui, is that you?"

All those present turned to gaze at me – or more accurately, stared at me, blushing fiercely, their hearts thumping furiously – and I saw with satisfaction that even Ice Phoenix was looking at me infatuatedly. With elegant steps, I walked up to Nan Gong Zui, remarking, "My apologies, I arrived early. I'd meant to take a look around first and then pay you a visit. I hope it's not too much trouble?"

"It's not…" Nan Gong Zui looked at me with uncertainty. In his head, Nan Gong Zui was thinking, The Prince here today seems…quite different from before?

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"Hmm, this lady here… She must be your godsister, Ice Phoenix, correct?" I turned towards the stunned-looking Phoenix and flashed my most brilliant and peerless smile – one which could mesmerize both women and men – at her. "Nan Gong Zui often mentions you!"

"Re- really?" Phoenix stammered as she stared fixedly at my face, enraptured.

"You're just as adorable as he described!" Inching my face closer and closer towards her as I spoke, I could almost hear her heart as it thumped wildly in her chest. Finally I took her hand lightly in mine, raised it to my lips, and brushed the back of her hand with a kiss.

Phoenix breathed in sharply, and then actually fainted… Now I know that I'm hot enough to make people faint, I thought, as I carried the unconscious girl in my arms, mildly exasperated. "Nan Gong Zui, come and claim your sister!"

"…" Nan Gong Zui came over and took Ice Phoenix from me wordlessly.

"It's you again, Prince!" Fan snarled. The mask of serenity that he had been wearing was starting to crumble away.

I grinned maliciously at him. "What? You wanted to see me that badly?"

"Who would want to see you?" Fan's face had become twisted with hatred.

"Aiyah! Still trying to act tough?" I walked up to Fan with slow, deliberate steps, not forgetting to give him an ambiguous smile. "If you wanted to see me you just have to say so. I guarantee you that I'll look you up whenever I'm free."

"Get away from me," Fan said, backing up three paces, and he even remembered to draw his sword and point it at me.

I laughed coldly. Placing my hands on my hip in a show of magnificent unconcern, I said, "You sure you want to fight me?"

Hearing that, Fan hesitated. He hadn't forgotten the Blood Elf's prowess on the battlefield, but there was no way for him to back out when his own reputation was at stake, and so his sword remained leveled at me unwaveringly.

My expression changed, growing severe within an instant. "Don't ever come near Ice Phoenix again. You should know that from this day on, her heart no longer belongs to you."

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Fan's face became almost mottled with rage, and he laughed mockingly before saying, "Blood Elf, aren't you a little too nosy? What happens between Phoenix and I is really none of your business."

"Hmph, Nan Gong Zui is my friend, his sister is my sister, so how can I stand by idly and watch as Phoenix gets played by a beast like you?" I drew my Black Dao and watched with considerable satisfaction as Fan paled, which made me decide to challenge him further. "If you want to fight, cut the crap and come at me!"

Fan looked at me with a sick expression, and then deliberately glanced at Nan Gong Zui, who was standing nearby. "Planning to fight me two on one, is it?"

I replied coldly, "Quit looking for excuses, you know very well that Nan Gong Zui won't interfere."

"That's hard to say!" Fan retorted nastily, sheathing his sword. "I've no interest in being ganged up on by two people!"

I said no more and only looked coldly at Fan. After all, I didn't really intend to fight him here on the streets, especially not for a reason like competing for a woman's heart…

Fan shot me an icy look before he turned to leave. "One day, I will exact from you everything you owe me, Blood Elf."

I lifted an eyebrow. "I'll be waiting."

Sigh, this visit to Nan Gong Zui has left me with yet another beauty for a suitor and earned me the enmity of a formidable rival… If he still refuses to join us, even if he's a friend, I will definitely turn him into mincemeat. With that thought, I turned to look at Nan Gong Zui menacingly, but he continued to look at me with innocent confusion.

"Nan Gong Zui, are you going to join me or not?" I demanded, grabbing his collar.

"Huh?"

In Nan Gong Zui's house…

"I see, so it's about the territory you won!" Nan Gong Zui smiled. "Have you decided on the name for your city yet?"

I was taking a long sip of my bubble tea, but I immediately froze upon hearing Zui's question. "My city's…name?"

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"What? You guys haven't decided on it yet?" Nan Gong Zui's astonishment was evident.

I cocked my head to one side, thinking, Maybe they have already decided on it but forgot to tell me? "Wait a minute, let me ask them."

"Wolf-dàgē,does our city have a name yet?"

"…Oh no, we clean forgot about that. Prince, since you're the liege lord, you think of one!" was Wolf-dàgē'sirresponsible reply. "After you've come up with a name, you might as well go and register it with the Office of Land Development in the city. That's all."

Why is it like this… I frowned. "They asked me to think of name myself! Nan Gong Zui, help me come up with a name."

"…This kind of heavy responsibility is best left to you, the liege lord!"

I thought and thought, turning my head inside out and back again as I racked my brain for an idea, any idea…but I collapsed on the floor in tears in the end. Uwaaah, I just can't think of anything! I turned my tearful gaze to Nan Gong Zui in a silent plea…

"…Why not call it Infinite City, to represent the limitless potential of the future?" Nan Gong Zui pronounced after mulling over it briefly.

"Excellent name!" I dashed up to Nan Gong Zui and clasped his hands. Looking at him with gratitude-filled eyes, I said cajolingly, "Since you've already helped with the founding of Infinite City, you can't run away now! You have to join us, okay? Please,

Zuiiiiii…"

"…I think we should be able to join you guys. I've no problem with it, and our team's Phoenix is definitely going to follow you, which means that her older sister will too. Her sister's husband is our team's priest, and his younger brother is our team's thief, and the remaining person in the team will probably come along as well."

"…It's agreed then, I- I have other people to look for still, so I'll leave it to you to meet up with my teammates in Infinite City." The smile on my face had stiffened. What Zui just said…did he mean that if I don't take responsibility for Phoenix, her sister and two brothers-in-law will definitely hunt me down? Sigh, how am I going to survive in the future? I considered getting Gui to design a secret room for me to hide in.

"Sure! No problem at all."

"Thanks, Zui," I smiled cheerfully, thinking, That's another assignment completed!

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Nan Gong Zui gave me a friendly knock on my chest and said, "Don't sweat it, what are friends for! Come on, let's go register your city's name and then go for a drink."

I smiled foolishly… Will I actually be able hold my liquor?

"This is the only thief in my group, Kong Kong," Nan Gong Zui introduced the drinking companion that he'd invited along, the petite thief Kong Kong.

"Hello, I'm Prince," I introduced myself politely.

"Don't be fooled by how thin and small Kong Kong is; he can handle even a thousand drinks. You should watch out, Prince," Nan Gong Zui said with a hearty laugh.

I joined in and laughed heartily as well…but inwardly I felt really helpless! I've never gone drinking before and I'll be in a drinking competition with two men the first time I go drinking? Dear heavens! Isn't that asking a little too much from me? Waaah… I don't care anymore! It's not my problem no matter how things pan out!

"Let us first toast to Prince for successfully clinching victory! Cheers!" Nan Gong Zui yelled.

"Cheers!" Kong Kong too, lifted his cup and yelled.

"Cheers!" I could only follow their lead. I stared at the liquid in my cup for three seconds, gritted my teeth, and then gulped down the contents of my cup… It burns! I fought to hold back the tears. Don't tell me I'm going to have to guzzle down a whole lot more of this in a moment? It can't be, right? I want to cry…

After three hours…

"Another round!" I bellowed, swaying unsteadily as I held up my cup.

"Urgh… I can't, Prince. You're just too strong, let's stop drinking…" Kong Kong groaned from where he sat, half-sprawled out on the table. "If we keep drinking, I'll really die…"

"Hahahahaha, you can't out-drink me!" I laughed wildly, but my body was swaying uncontrollably. "And you still say you can handle a thousand, a thousand drinks?!"

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"That's because you, you won't collapse even after ten thousand drinks, Prince." Zui, who had passed out earlier, suddenly woke up and said. He massaged his temples. "Let's stop drinking and go back!"

"Okay…" I replied, feeling a little sullen.

The three of us staggered along the moonlight-flooded street. A faint feeling of melancholy wrapped about my heart and I suddenly felt the urge to draw my weapon and vent my feelings. Without sparing another thought, I drew my Black Dao and, like a person possessed, I swung and hacked and slashed, leaping and dodging furiously, roaring…until I was too exhausted to continue my rampage. I stood still, panting, all the moves that I'd executed up until now in the game flashing through my mind.

Eventually, I began to dance, the techniques melding together into a seamless flow, a dance. Bathed in the clear, icy moonlight, hearing only the delightful sound of my Black Dao whistling through the air, I felt euphoric and a smile crept onto my face, growing wider and wider. The moonlight, the blade, the slender, flitting figure, and the arrogant yet refined laugh – which only an elf could be capable of – wove together into an achingly beautiful melody which echoed throughout the rustic Moon City.

"Hahahaha…haha!" I laughed wildly.

"Excellent! An excellently proud swordsman," Nan Gong Zui roared approvingly. "Let's test how good you are, Prince!" With that, he drew his sword and leapt in front of me. Our blades met with a resounding clang, like a song of steel crashing down on the silence of the night.

"Here I come as well!" Kong Kong couldn't resist drawing his dagger and joining the fray, swift as a wind.

I aimed a kick at Kong Kong even as my dao continued to fend off Nan Gong Zui's sword, and then followed up with a twist in mid-air, evading their combined attack. The three of us were like children fooling about on the street, dodging here and darting there, striking out at one another with our weapons from time to time. We fooled about in this fashion and had a whale of a time…until we reached Nan Gong Zui's place.

After waving goodbye to Zui, I looked up at the star-studded sky, suddenly filled with the desire to explore the ends of the earth! And so my legs carried me toward an unknown street…

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Chapter 3: Everyone has Assembled

"Sheesh, Prince hasn't been replying to my PMs for a few days now," Lolidragon complained.

"Well, you know that he's a really careless person. He probably just didn't notice the messages," Ugly Wolf replied absently. "How's the trap-setting coming along?"

"We've only covered one-quarter of the perimeter. Honestly, this city is too large," Lolidragon answered, her brow furrowing.

Ugly Wolf turned toward his wife. "Yu Lian, do we still have sufficient funds?"

Yu Lian's brow was also deeply furrowed. She replied, "If we build according to Gui's blueprint, we won't be able to complete the construction of the city just by depending on the tournament's prize money. I plan to build half the city first and open that part of the city to the public, and then continue to build the rest of the city with the tax income."

"Can't we just ask Gui to amend the blueprint?" Ugly Wolf asked with some anxiety.

"We can do that, but in my opinion, if we want to operate this city for a long period of time, or even make this city the largest city on the Central Continent, then Gui's blueprint is perfect." Yu Lian eyes shone as she spoke. She added, "I'm certain that we will not regret it in the future, even if we have to work harder now."

"You're probably right. As expected, you are more farsighted than I am," Ugly Wolf said with an affectionate look at his beloved wife.

"Wolf…" said Yu Lian bashfully, and the two of them gazed at each other with eyes full of love…

"I'll go and check up on Doll and Gui!" Lolidragon said quickly and walked away, looking rather embarrassed.

Lolidragon left the building, which was still under construction, and strode towards Doll, who was working hard to direct her skeletal minions to build a wall, and Gui, who was supervising the remaining NPCs and player workers.

"How's the situation? Is everything coming along alright?" Lolidragon asked.

"We're slightly behind schedule," Gui replied, not looking altogether pleased. "Sigh… It can't be helped since we simply don't have enough funds, so we can't hire more workers. If not for Doll's skeletons, the construction would probably go on for months."

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"Sigh… It would be nice if Prince could quickly find us some recruits and hurry back. Every little bit of help counts," Lolidragon said as she sat down, propping her chin on her hands in worry.

Doll suddenly came dashing over with a delighted expression on her face. "Wicked-gēge is here and all the big brothers and sisters from Dark Emperor have arrived as well."

As usual, Wicked was at the fore of his team. They walked up to Gui and Lolidragon and stopped.

"You're finally here," Gui said, raising his eyebrows and looking as though he wasn't in the least bit surprised to see Wicked.

"Where's Prince?" Wicked asked, frowning.

"Not back yet…" Gui replied, troubled.

"He's still at Nan Gong Zui's?" Wicked demanded as a vein popped on his temple. "And you didn't do anything to stop him?"

"Prince isn't my prisoner; on what grounds am I supposed to stop him?" Gui retorted acidly, and then added, "Besides, we really do need Nan Gong Zui's help." Although what Gui had said was the truth, Wicked still continued to glare fiercely at Gui.

As for Doll, she was happily holding both Ming Huang's – whose face was black as a thundercloud – and Wu Qing's hands. "Yay! Doll missed all of you big brothers and sisters very much! Did Ming Huang-gēge and Wu Qing -gēge miss me too?"

Feng Wu Qing's face softened, his disgruntled expression slowly replaced by a smile as he patted Doll's head and said, "Yes, I missed you very much! It's just that there was a certain someone whom I really didn't want to see." When he mentioned "a certain someone", Wu Qing fixed a glare at the female thief who was busy feigning innocence.

Ming Huang's expression of annoyance had started to slip as well, and when Doll turned to peer at him with her large, guileless eyes, he instantly surrendered. "Yes, yes, I did miss you," he said reluctantly.

"Playboy-gēge, Black Lily -jiějie," Do ll greeted the two smiling individuals and gave them each a peck on the cheek.

Just then, Ugly Wolf and Yu Lian emerged from the temporary headquarters and approached Dark Emperor with evident delight. "You guys are here, that's great! I was really worried at first that Dark Emperor might not be willing to help us." Ugly Wolf shook hands with Wicked.

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"We would not be so churlish. So long as we lost the showdown in a fair and square way, why should there be any resentment from us?" Feng Wu Qing said as he gently fanned himself, sounding for all the world like a perfect gentleman… Then who was that person who got drunk and said that he wanted to kill everyone from Odd Squad, especially Lolidragon? The remaining members of Dark Emperor looked at Feng Wu Qing helplessly.

"Nevertheless, thank you all very much for your willingness to come and help out. It'll really help to lighten our workload," Ugly Wolf said with a broad smile.

Yu Lian mumbled to herself, frowning, "It's still not enough people. I wonder if Prince will be able to convince Rose Team and Nan Gong Zui to help out."

"Of course he can!" A voice roared from the city gate, which was still under construction, causing the members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor to look sharply in that direction. A cloud of dust, accompanied by hoof beats, approached them swiftly and the person in the lead was none other than Nan Gong Zui himself. He rode up to Odd Squad, then abruptly stopped and dismounted. The one hundred and fifty riders at his back dismounted as well. "Prince isn't back yet?"

"Not yet…" The two teams answered in unison and stared dazedly at the ranks of a hundred and fifty riders and a hundred and fifty horses.

"I see. Then I'll have to wait until he returns to introduce our liege lord to my fellows. Here, let me introduce you all. This is my adventurers' group – The Righteous Blades. It consists almost entirely of warriors, plus a handful of priests and mages. As you can see, it's an adventurers' group with very high offensive power." Nan Gong Zui could not conceal a look of pride as he regarded the group which he had founded.

"An adventurers' group!" Lolidragon exclaimed, moved by the impressive sight of The Righteous Blades. She added, "I knew that the strength of Prince's dumb luck and popularity is nothing common. To think that he even managed to recruit an entire adventurers' group!"

The members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor nodded in agreement unconsciously…

Prince is definitely unusually popular.

Nan Gong Zui only gave a small smile when he heard what Lolidragon said. He said, "The sole reason that I came here is because Prince is truly a person worthy of respect. My adventurers' group and I deeply admire the way he treats his friends and his martial prowess. All of us are very pleased to become a part of Infinite City."

"'Infinite City'?" Ugly Wolf asked, feeling slightly bewildered.

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"Huh? Hasn't Prince told you guys yet? I helped him to decide on 'Infinite City' as the name for the city. We've already registered it," Nan Gong Zui asked, puzzled.

"Infinite City! I can't believe that the last people to know the name of the city are us, the ones who own it! Where on earth did Prince run off to?" Lolidragon exclaimed totally losing her cool.

Yu Lian rubbed her temple and said, "Could it be that he didn't dare to look for Rose Team and was afraid of getting scolded by us, and so he decided to simply go missing instead?"

"I don't think he would go that far; shouldn't he already be accustomed to getting scolded by us?" Ugly Wolf said, sounding a tad worried. "Maybe he was rejected by Rose Team and felt so hurt that he decided to hide somewhere?"

"Don't tell me he lost his way and fell from some cliff again!" Gui said, his face white as a sheet, and even Wicked looked worried upon hearing that.

"What? Did he really fall from a cliff?" Ice Phoenix – who was standing next to Nan Gong Zui – demanded anxiously upon hearing Gui's words.

"Who are you?" Gui and Wicked turned their heads in unison to look at Phoenix, their eyes narrowing dangerously.

Before Phoenix could answer, a person who looked like a thief suddenly interjected, "It's not possible for Prince to do something as silly as falling off a cliff."

"And who might you be?" Gui and Wicked once again turned to shoot a glare each at the speaker.

Nan Gong Zui immediately introduced them, "This is a mage in my adventurers' group, Ice Phoenix, and the other is a thief, Kong Kong. Kong Kong has gone drinking together with Prince and I before. Additionally, this is Phoenix's older sister, Madame White Bird. She is the strongest female warrior in my group and my second-in-command. Her husband, Chuang Wai, is one of the priests in the group."

"From what I've just heard, why does it seem like Prince is a muddle-headed sort of person?" Madame White Bird remarked, not wholly pleased. She did not wish to see her sister, Phoenix, fall in love with yet another weird person. Turning to Kong Kong, she demanded, "Kong Kong, it was you who said that Prince is strong, proud, and possesses extraordinary martial skill. You said that he is gentlemanly in his attitude toward women and is both frank and loyal towards his friends, a veritable man amongst men, which was why I did not object to the decision to become part of Infinite City. So why does Prince's character seem very different according to what they've just said?"

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Kong Kong instantly retorted, "I don't know why they spoke of Prince in such a way, but I've seen with my own eyes that Prince is exactly like how I've described him to be. After all, I've gone drinking with him and exchanged blows with him before. He is prideful and his martial prowess is at such a high level that even Captain Nan Gong and I couldn't win against him together. He always treats girls with a tender smile on his face; you can ask Phoenix about this. As for friends, you have all seen it for yourselves that day on the battlefield. Did he not go to Captain's rescue, even though they were opponents at the time?"

"Is that really the case?" Madame White Bird asked doubtfully as she looked at the members of Odd Squad.

"That's right. Prince is indeed as all of you have described. We were just joking around to lighten the atmosphere, please don't take it seriously," Ugly Wolf answered with a serious face… Overall, it wasn't a lie. Their description did fit Prince, and as for the other aspects of him, since they didn't ask…then there was no reason to mention them!

"Nan Gong, is that really the case?" Madame White Bird looked at Nan Gong Zui sternly.

Nan Gong Zui nodded. "Yeah. Moreover, although he may appear proud, he is actually quite easy-going and is easy to get along with." He hesitated for a moment and thought,

That's how it is, right? Although Prince does do some pretty weird things at times! Still, that probably doesn't need to be mentioned…

Madame White Bird's expression softened and she looked at Odd Squad apologetically, saying, "My apologies for having doubted your liege lord, but I had to be certain about this since the matter concerns the whole of The Righteous Blades." Besides, the happiness of my worrisome little sister is also at stake here. Phoenix always falls in love with some unsuitable person or another, making me worry. Still, this time it seems like she's finally fallen in love with the right person, White Bird thought, and felt a knot of worry undo in her chest.

"No problem at all, you should be vigilant indeed," Ugly Wolf said even as he ignored the voice of his conscience.

"When will we be able to meet the liege lord?" Madame White Bird asked.

"With regard to that, our liege lord is currently travelling around in the hopes of recruiting more people to help us construct and manage the city. I'm afraid all of you will have to wait for a while before we can introduce him to everyone." On the surface, Yu Lian answered Madame White Bird's question calmly and unhesitatingly. Privately, however, Yu Lian said through clenched teeth over team channel, "PM Prince straight away and don't stop PMing him until he replies. If they catch sight of Prince in his muddle-headed state, I'm afraid we'll lose this hard-to-come-by adventurers' group."

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She's right, thought the rest of Odd Squad. Their thoughts went to the sight of Prince biting his index finger and looking muddle-headed. If the members of The Righteous Blades see that sight, things will definitely get real messy. With that thought, everyone began to spam Prince with PMs.

"I see. It must be hard for our liege lord," Madame White Bird said, nodding her head understandingly.

"Then let us discuss about the placement of everyone first, and about the personnel who will take up the key officers' job." Ugly Wolf voiced his opinion.

"Sure, no problem," Madame White Bird replied unhesitatingly.

Just as they were all about to enter the temporary headquarters, Doll suddenly caught sight of some very familiar-looking people at the city gates. "Eh! It's Rose-jiējie and the others," she cried out.

The members of Odd Squad turned to look. Sure enough, loitering by the city gates was none other than Rose Team. All of them looked slightly embarrassed as soon as they realized that Odd Squad had spotted them.

Ugly Wolf promptly walked toward Rose Team, saying, "So Prince found you guys; that's great!"

"Prince?" Broken Sword asked, looking a bit taken aback by Ugly Wolf's words.

"Wasn't it Prince who recruited you guys to help with the construction of Infinite City?" Ugly Wolf asked with uncertainty in his voice. His expression had also changed visibly.

Everyone from Rose Team looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Rose said apprehensively, "We didn't encounter Prince… We heard that you guys had won the tournament, so we wanted to come and apologize for the incident that happened last time, and also to see if you needed any help."

"So that's how it is. Then where on earth has Prince run off to…?" Ugly Wolf said, feeling a headache come up. However, as soon as he remembered that at his back stood the members of The Righteous Blades, he immediately said loudly, "It looks like you came here before Prince could even find you guys! That's great; we really need Rose Team's help."

"But, the last time, I vented my anger out on Prince. I'm really sorry about that," Broken Sword said, remorse clear on his face. "It really wasn't his fault at all."

"And I shouldn't have forced my feelings on Prince like that, and even…kissed him," Rose said, lowering her head. Her cheeks were flushed.

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Fairsky poked her head out from behind Li'l Strong's broad body, teary-eyed. "It's entirely my fault; I shouldn't have used those wrong ways to court Prince. I really know that I've behaved wrongly. I won't do it again."

Yu Lian patted Fairsky's head gently and enfolded the younger woman in her arms. Fairsky immediately began to sob softly. "Don't worry; Prince has never blamed you guys. He always wanted to reconcile with everyone from Rose Team. When he returns, I'm sure he'll be delighted to see all of you."

Upon hearing Yu Lian's gentle explanation, everyone from Rose Team heaved a sigh of relief, and smiles finally appeared on their face.

"Rose, Fairsky… Are the two of you still in love with Prince?" Lolidragon asked worriedly. These two girls had already suffered too much anguish over Prince, so much so that even Lolidragon felt sorry for them.

The members of Rose Team suddenly looked at Rose with uncertainty, while Rose merely lowered her head bashfully. Next to her, Broken Sword placed an arm around her shoulder and said with a smile, "Rose is my wife now, so of course she doesn't like Prince anymore."

"That's debatable, actually," For Healing Only jibed playfully, causing Broken Sword to give him the evil eye.

"I won't give up on Prince," Fairsky suddenly shouted loudly as she pulled away from Yu Lian's arms, two streaks of tears coursing down her face. Her loud announcement surprised everyone. "I know that my past methods were wrong, but I've improved since then. I'll definitely move Prince's heart with my patience and deep love."

Hearing her words, Ice Phoenix came forward and demanded, "You like Prince too?"

Fairsky looked at Phoenix doubtfully. "You said 'too'? Don't tell me that you are also in love with Prince?"

"That's right, and I will never give up either." Phoenix said firmly, pronouncing each word clearly. There was the crackle of electricity as lightning bolts appeared between Fairsky and Phoenix.

In an incomparably icy voice, Gui said, "Prince is mine!"

While everyone else was trying to wrap their shocked minds about Gui's sentence, Wicked had begun to glare at Gui fiercely. "Nonsense, Prince is mine!" There was another crackle of lightning…

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All the people present gaped as they watched two men fight over another man, with the exception of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor's members. Most of them had knowing expressions on their face; in particular, Ming Huang had pursed his lips and was glaring at his brother, Wicked, with an indignant expression.

Seeing that her sister's face was turning pale, Madame White Bird turned to Odd Squad, and demanded fiercely, "Prince, he's…he's a…"

"Prince is definitely not a homo!" Lolidragon guaranteed with a stern look on her face. It's the truth too! "It's just that Prince is simply too handsome, so even guys want him for themselves," she explained. This is simply too much fun! Lolidragon thought, collapsing with laughter inwardly. She couldn't wait for Prince to come back and see this messy situation… Hehehe!

Both Phoenix and Fairsky heaved a sigh of relief, and then they glared at the two gays and said in unison, "I warn you, don't you dare lead Prince astray! He's mine!" Then the two girls turned to glare at one another again.

"No, he's mine!" Both men roared, and then they joined ranks of those glaring at one another.

"Not baaad at all; they have enough people for a game of mah-jong, and they even have a common topic to chat over," Lolidragon said nonchalantly.

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Chapter 4: Jing and Yun

As soon as I opened my eyes, I couldn't help but exclaim admiringly, "Such a blue sky!"

I lay there lazily for a while, marveling at the sky blue expanse before my eyes. When I stood up reluctantly at long last, I peered around at my surroundings and bit my index finger, puzzled. "Where on earth is this place?"

Wow, there are seagulls here! Pleasantly surprised, I watched as an entire flock of seagulls flew by… Eh? Is that a sail? I've never seen such a large sail before… This thing underneath my feet, I think it's called a "deck"?

I walked up dazedly to the ship's railing and gazed into the distance.

What a blue sea, and there's a salty-tasting sea wind blowing this way. Hoho, it's so comfortable, I thought, grinning foolishly for a full ten seconds, and then realization hit me… Wait a moment! I looked left and then right. My god! It's a blue ocean as far as the eye can see. Where has my beloved land disappeared to? Why am I on a ship? Where am I heading to?

Don't panic, don't panic! I tried to calm down. There must be some reason as to why I am here.

I attempted to recall what had happened. I remember that I was drinking with Nan Gong Zui and Kong Kong; the liquor burned as it went down my throat and was very hard to drink…and then? I held my head in my hands and thought as hard as I could, but simply couldn't remember a thing. Just what exactly happened after that?

Suddenly, I spied someone from the corner of my eye. I rushed over and seized him by the arm. "Excuse me, big brother, but could you tell me where this ship is heading to, please?" I asked worriedly.

"This ship is the Star of the Ocean, which sails from the Central Continent to the Eastern Continent. Didn't you know that?" The man, who resembled a sailor, wore a questioning expression on his face as he answered me.

The Eastern Continent? I stared at him blankly. "The Eastern Continent? Since when did Second Life have so many continents?"

"…This world has a total of five continents: the Eastern, Western, Southern, Northern, and Central Continents. This should be common knowledge!" The sailor stared at me as though as I was a freak.

So that's how it is? "Then where am I from?"

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"Judging from the ship's course, you're probably from the Central Continent, right?"

I rubbed the back of my head, grinning foolishly. "You're probably right!" I exclaimed.

"So how can I get back to the Central Continent?" Although sailing on a ship is quite an interesting experience, I'll definitely get a dressing down from my teammates in Odd Squad if I don't hurry and look for Rose Team.

"You can take another ship back when you reach the Eastern Continent."

"How much longer will it be until we reach the Eastern Continent then?"

"Probably another five more days or so! Can't chat with you anymore; I've got work to do." The sailor walked away, muttering to himself, "What a weirdo; the ship fare is this expensive and yet he wants to return even before he's reached the Eastern Continent…"

Wait a second!

"Five days, then including the return trip, it'll be ten days altogether?" I want to cry, it'll be a miracle if I don't get scolded to death this time.

I sighed. "I guess I might as well tell my teammates first."

"Guys, I have something to tell everyone…" Why aren't they responding?

"Paging Odd Squad, paging Odd Squad…" Still no response from them? That's impossible! Shouldn't there be at least someone online at this time? I grew panicked and hastily grabbed the Sailor-dàgēagainē,why."Dàgam I unable to reach my teammates

via the messaging system?"

Having been forcibly stopped by me, the sailor asked me exasperatedly, "Where are your teammates?"

"On the Central Continent," I answered obediently.

"Players on different continents cannot use the PM channel to communicate with one another; this includes the team channel as well. While you're at sea, you can only PM players who are also on the ship."

My jaw hung slack with shock. "I'm in deep shit this time."

There was nothing else that I could do, however, so I simply sat woodenly on board the ship. At first, I could still look at the blue sky and the ocean, but I nearly went mad with boredom eventually. The sailor-dàgētold me that it's the off season right now, with very

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few players taking ships, not to mention ships that leave in the small hours before dawn, so I'm the only player on board this ship, waaaaah!

I rolled forward, backward, to the side… I'm so booooored! God! What on earth am I going to do? Even the NPC sailor-dàgēhas gone into hiding after being pestered so much by me, so there's no one around for me to talk to. I buried my head between my knees plaintively, my eyes red with incipient tears. "Waaah, Lolidragon, Wolf-dàgē,Gui, Doll, and Yu Lian-dàsăo, I miss you all so much, waaah!" I'd realized only now how lonely I was without the rest of Odd Squad around.

"Mama, why cry-cry?" A child-like voice came from my pouch.

I froze for a moment, and then quickly opened my pouch. "MEATBUUUUUN!"

I took Meatbun out and hugged it tightly, showering it with kisses, pinches, and cuddles. "I forgot that I still have you."

"Mama, Meatbun-bun feels pain- pain!" My hand had gone on a rampage, pinching Meatbun all over and causing the latter's bun skin to turn red. Just like before, Meatbun – which was afraid of pain – began to cry, with mega-huge teardrops falling from its eyes.

Erk! Shit. I hastened to console Meatbun in a kindly manner. It wasn't very effective, however, and Meatbun still ended up crying like two faucet taps turned on at full blast…

Erk! This is really bad, I'm afraid I'm about to be the first player to find out whether NPC ships can sink or not. With Meatbun cupped in my hands, I tilted my head to one side and thought, Hmm, the situation probably won't be as bad as I thought. At least I know how to swim doggy-style.

"Although our liege lord is away on business, this city still requires managing, so we'll just assign each person their position first. If Prince is dissatisfied with the arrangement when he returns, we can reshuffle the positions." Ugly Wolf looked at all the people below him. Although we don't know where Prince has run off to, we still have to get everyone settled in first! I only hope that nobody will resent the arrangements. He heaved a sigh at that thought. Really, where on earth has Prince vanished to?

"Let's do that then," Nan Gong Zui said calmly.

"As I am unfamiliar with where all of your expertise lies, I will first assign positions to those whose abilities I am familiar with. Team leaders, please inform me if I miss anyone out." Ugly Wolf began to list out names seriously. "Nan Gong Zui, Broken Sword, Wicked, and I will be in the military department, Yu Lian in the finance department. Gui and Lolidragon will be in the construction department for city planning and military

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infrastructure – such as laying traps around the city – respectively. Lolidragon will also serve in the foreign affairs department, together with Doll."

Nan Gong Zui smiled slightly. "I think I can only take charge of training the troops. I usually leave the task of coming up with military policies and battle strategies to White Bird; she is an expert at that."

Madame White Bird raised her eyebrows and remarked, "A person who can lead troops into battle and a person with the talent to map out strategies and command battles from afar are often not one and the same. I suggest that the military department be further divided into two sections, one for coming up with strategies and another for commanding troops – that is to say, having two different types of positions: generals and military advisors. This will make things clearer for everyone."

Ugly Wolf considered it for a moment, and then replied, "What you say makes sense; we'll do it that way then. Nan Gong Zui, Broken Sword, and Wicked shall each be one of the three Generals, while Madame White Bird and I will act as the Left and Right Advisor respectively. Is there any other question regarding the military department?"

Seeing that no one else had any opinions on the matter, Ugly Wolf went on to the next issue. "As for the finance department, I really have no idea who else has expertise in this area aside from Yu Lian from my team, so may I ask if the other teams have experts in this field?"

"My team recommends Rose," said Broken Sword, and everyone in Rose Team grinned at Rose as he added, "Rose isn't any ordinary expert in this field; she's practically the goddess of financial management!"

"I wish to join the finance department. I'm not an ordinary expert at minding money either," Ice Phoenix said with a confident smile while the members of The Righteous Blades nodded their heads wildly in agreement.

Ugly Wolf nodded his head happily. "That's great, Yu Lian won't have to run finance department all by herself then."

"Next, apart from Gui and Lolidragon who have been assigned to the construction department, I hope that all the thieves can aid Lolidragon in setting up traps. After all, this city is simply too big, and it'll be impossible to rely on Lolidragon alone for this." Ugly Wolf looked at the thieves who were present, and both Playboy Lord and Kong Kong nodded.

"Is there anyone here who is familiar with city planning or overseeing the construction process?" Ugly Wolf asked, frowning.

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Fairsky pouted for a moment and then answered reluctantly, "I am, but I don't want to work with him." She glared at Gui fiercely.

"You should not mix your private affairs with work, Fairsky," said Broken Sword sternly.

"I'm sorry," said Fairsky with a stricken look. "Then I shall join the city planning section and do my best to help Gui out."

"All that's left is the foreign affairs department then. Is there anyone who wants to help Doll and Lolidragon?" Ugly Wolf asked.

Lolidragon said with a smile, "I recommend Feng Wu Qing."

Feng Wu Qing retorted, "Hmph. Why should I join the foreign affairs department? Especially if you're in it."

"Aiyah, is it possible that the great hero Feng Wu Qing is unable to distinguish his private affairs from work? Does he intend to waste his skill with language and let mold grow on it instead?" Lolidragon asked caustically. "Or is he afraid that his achievements will lose to mine, and so decided that he might as well not join?"

Feng Wu Qing gnashed his teeth with hatred. "Me? Lose to you? I will most certainly join the foreign affairs department, and then you can see for yourself who is the true expert at diplomacy."

This round, victory goes to Lolidragon! thought all the people present.

"Then we shall follow this arrangement for now!" Ugly Wolf finished up the personnel chart with satisfaction. "Next, we need to discuss the matter of The Righteous Blades. Although the city is currently being protected by the game admin, we will need to shoulder that responsibility on our own soon. As everyone knows, there are countless players eyeing our city for their own, so we must swiftly increase the number of players in our forces and decide on the method to manage them."

Ugly Wolf looked directly at Nan Gong Zui, meeting his gaze squarely. "I will say it straight. A city cannot have two lieges, and it seems that the entirety of our military defense depends on The Righteous Blades. Nan Gong3, are you certain that you are willing to let your own group serve Prince, that you are willing to be Prince's subordinate?"

Nan Gong Zui looked at Ugly Wolf, resolution clear in his eyes, and he said clearly, "If Prince were here, I could kneel down and swear my fealty to him in front of everyone from The Righteous Blades.

3 Nan Gong: This is not a typo. "Nan Gong" is Zui's last name.

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"I am not truly a good leader. I have known from the very beginning that I do not possess the aura of true ruler," Nan Gong Zui explained slowly. "Instead of letting The Righteous Blades remain an ordinary group beneath my leadership, I would much rather find a better leader than me to lead them. And now, I've found one."

"That fellow, Prince… I don't know why, but I always think that the sight of him smiling gives people a very comfortable sort of feeling," Broken Sword said with a grin. "I really want to see him standing on the city walls, laughing with that wild, arrogant laugh of his."

Legolas replied coolly, "Really? I always felt that that fellow, Prince, is something of an idiot…so long as you're a friend, he will trust you unhesitatingly, and will even be willing to throw his life away for you." As Legolas finished speaking, however, there was a slight smile on his face.

"His blade dance is a true feast for both the heart and the eyes," Kong Kong said, shaking his head with an admiring sigh.

Feng Wu Qing said awkwardly, "Although there was some unpleasantness between us earlier, his fighting prowess is really pretty impressive."

"All right, all right, everyone, please don't continue singing Prince's praises anymore. Otherwise, even if he isn't here, I think his backside will still stick up with conceit," Lolidragon hurriedly interrupted their praising. Sigh! Her head ached as she thought, If Prince doesn't show up with an image that lives up to their expectations when he returns, there will be big trouble.

Ugly Wolf too didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Anyway, let's get the development of Infinite City well under way before Prince comes back."

"No problem!" They were all filled with confidence, ready to prove themselves in front of their proud, mighty, and steadfast liege lord…

I knelt on all fours on the floor, scrubbing, scrubbing, and scrubbing the floor.

Uwaaaaaaah….

"How was I supposed to know that the ticket for the ship would be so expensive, actually costing five thousand crystal and three gold coins? I only had five thousand crystal, three gold, and ten copper coins, how was I to know that I wouldn't have enough for dinner?  
Actually making me, the only player on this ship, scrub the floor as payment, they're simply too heartless," I muttered to myself as I scrubbed the floor. "Sigh, Meatbun, why is it that you don't have arms? Otherwise you could be helping me with scrubbing the floor."

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Meatbun, which had been sitting obediently on top of my head from since the beginning, could not understand what I was muttering about at all, and so could only keep making the same reply, saying, "Yes, Mama."

I scrubbed, I scrubbed… Wait a second. No money? The return ticket has to be purchased right? This. Is. BAD!

My body turned weak as jelly. Five thousand crystal coins! That's the amount that I've saved up from the time I started playing the game until now. I did give some of my money to the team, but it'll still take a lot of time to earn five thousand crystal coins… What am I to do? Then that basically means that I won't be able to go back for a very long time. Plus, I can't message my friends; they'll probably be worried about me.

"Hey, we've arrived at the Eastern Continent," Sailor-dàgēshouted.

I looked at Sailor-dàgēdazedlyē,isthere."Dàgany other way to obtain a ship ticket other than by buying it?"

"No!"

Dazedly, I was shooed off the ship. Dazedly, I stood in the unfamiliar port. Only the smitten gazes directed my way were familiar. Looks like this face of mine is also pretty popular here on the Eastern Continent; don't tell me I should sell my body to earn money?

"Gururu…" growled my stomach. I'm so hungry. I want to eat, I thought. Hugging my stomach, I remembered that I didn't have a single copper coin on me and immediately my entire body went weak as jelly again… Looks like I'll starve to death before even getting around to selling my body for money!

Unable to endure the insistent grumbling of my stomach any longer, I made up my mind. "Time to go hunting!" I exclaimed, but…which way is it to the forest…?

After a moment's thought, I figured that any place that has trees should be a forest. By then I was so hungry that I had almost become a corpse, so it was with impatience that I rushed towards the forest. As expected, there I found my adorable little wolves…

"Meatbun, I don't have meat buns for you to eat right now, so just try and eat some wolf meat!" I stuffed wolf meat down Meatbun's tiny mouth even as I greedily devoured some myself.

Tears welled up in Meatbun's eyes as it reluctantly chewed the wolf meat. "Tastes bad, Mama."

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"Really? I think it's delicious!" Anything will taste good when you on the verge of starving to death, I thought. I swallowed the last piece of the tough wolf meat contentedly and then lay down on the grass on the lake bank, rubbing my stomach comfortably.

How on earth am I going to contact my teammates? I felt troubled. It's a pity that Lolidragon isn't here to answer my questions; only now do I realize that she's actually very useful… "So I finally have to rely on myself?" I remarked to the air sadly.

I watched the clouds in the skies as they scudded by, feeling somewhat stoned, somewhat lonely, somewhat lost. Closing my eyes, I muttered, "I don't like the feeling of being separated from everyone else."

My eyes flew open. I jumped to my feet and roared at the sky, "I WANT TO GO BACK!"

"Are we taking the ship now, Mama?" Meatbun asked happily.

"…Yep, we'll be able to take the ship once I've earned the last of that five thousand crystal coins," I replied. First, I should go and kill mobs for cash. As for selling my body…we'll talk about that again when I really have no other choice!

I'll fight stronger mobs, I thought. That way I'll earn money faster. I checked the contents of my pouch. Seeing that there were still a few health potions inside, my mind was set at ease and I began to make my way deeper into the forest. As my surroundings grew darker and darker, I cautiously rested my left hand on the hilt of my dao so that I could draw it at a moment's notice.

There's movement in the trees! I slowed my footsteps to a halt. Looking at the clearing in front of me, I could see that the silhouettes of a number of monsters. A smile crept onto my face and I drew my Black Dao. Looks like I'll be able to return to my team soon.

Day Two…

I sundered two mobs with one swipe of my blade and then sheathed my dao. "This is monster number…?"

"This is the five hundred and fifth one," Meatbun answered dutifully.

I exhaled. "How many gold coins do we have?"

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Meatbun turned its white and chubby body around and, with some effort, burrowed into the pouch. After a while, that white and chubby body wriggled out. "One hundred and thirty five gold coin-coin, Mama."

"Hmm, I've gotten used to the types of mobs they have here on the Eastern Continent, plus I also have enough money to buy health potions and mana potions, so I should be able to venture further in." I looked at the precipitous valley in the distance and wondered, Should I go there to look for higher level mobs? Higher level mobs have a higher chance of dropping rare items. If I can get several rare items, I might even be able to head back immediately.

"Right! Get ready, Meatbun. After you use Aroma Release, we might encounter a boss!" I was in high spirits.

"Meatbun-bun is ready!" Meatbun's tiny face was filled with childlike determination. It's so adorable!

After I placed Meatbun on top of my head, I began to make my way towards the unknown valley. As I walked, my surroundings grew darker, and there would be gusts of chilly, sinister wind from time to time… So cold, I thought. My teeth were chattering and I had no choice but to dig out a long-disused cloak from my pouch and put it on. When I felt warmer, I resumed walking toward my destination.

"Heeelp…" There suddenly came a cry for help. I froze for a moment and then began sprinting over to rescue that person.

When I arrived on the scene, I saw a girl being chased by around five or six Flaming Skeletons…. Odd, why does this scene look kind of familiar? I stopped to think. Don't tell me this is yet another necromancer who's been frightened by her own skeletal minions?

"Hang in there, Jing! I'll save you once I drink some potions." The male voice came from behind the girl.

The girl wailed, "Hurry up, Yun, I'm going to die!"

Jing? Yun? Why do these two names sound kind of familiar? I sank back into my thoughts once again…

Just then, the girl seemed to have caught sight of me. "Help, please help us kill these skeletons!" she cried.

That face belongs to Lü Jing…my best friend in real life— My god, Yun? Don't tell me it's Gu Yun Fei? I lifted my head to look at the guy behind her. No mistake about it! It really is Yun, I thought, rooted to the spot with astonishment. So Jing and Yun were on

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the Eastern Continent, and we met here by sheer coincidence; looks like my "good fortune" is not the run-of-the-mill sort.

"I beg you, could you save me, please?" Jing's eyes were glistening with unshed tears as she rushed towards me like a damsel in distress.

"Oh…" I replied somewhat dazedly. I grabbed Jing and pulled her behind me. Drawing Black Dao, I ducked and with a low slash, hacked both feet off a skeleton. Against the next one, I simply sundered it into two, and then separated the first skeleton's skull from its body with a reverse slash… Against mobs like Flaming Skeletons, I've long since been drilled by Doll to the point where I'm practically fighting out of reflex, and can make short work of a single skeleton. Before Yun even arrived at a run to help out, I had already dispatched the five Flaming Skeletons with great ease.

"Holy…you're really strong," Yun said, gaping at me.

Should I say something in reply? Will they figure out that I'm Feng Lan? I felt a little hesitant.

"You really are extremely strong, unlike the two of us, who are really weak…" There was a sorrowful look on Jing's face, and she even heaved a sigh.

You can save that act of fragility – which you use to lead people to their deaths with no intention of paying with your own life – for someone else, Jing! Against me, your best friend Feng Lan, that move is completely ineffective!

I chuckled to myself inwardly. About my best friend, Jing, I know her too well. Jing may look like a delicate, pitiful Lin Dai Yu4 on the surface, but…in reality, she's actually a peerless Taekwondo expert.

4 Lin Dai Yu: A famous female character in Chinese literature, Lin Dai Yu (林黛玉 prn. lín dài yù) is one of the main characters in the novel Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong Lou Meng). She is the epitome of the damsel in distress – beautiful, fragile, easily heartbroken, and ultimately, dead.

In the story, Dai Yu and her older cousin, Jia Bao Yu, the young master of the Jia house, fall in love. However, Dai Yu was not well-liked by members of the house as she came from a relatively impoverished branch of the family. She was also easily depressed, or sorrowful – for instance, she collected fallen flower petals and buried them, then asked, "Today, I buried these flowers. When I die, who will bury me?"

Jia Bao Yu and Lin Dai Yu's relationship was complicated by the fact that Bao Yu was being match- made to another cousin, Xue Bao Chai, who was comparatively more lively and sensible than Dai Yu. Bao Chai's family was also wealthy, thus Bao Yu's family favoured his match with her.

At the end of the story, Jia Bao Yu married Xue Bao Chai, but this was not by choice – he was deceived into believing that he was marrying Lin Dai Yu (since the bride's face is covered by a red veil till the night

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Yun too, sighed softly. "It's entirely my fault. I can't even protect you as a friend because my level's too low."

"Don't say that, Yun. I'm already very grateful that you're willing to help me level," Jing said, looking at Yun with "gratitude". "Sigh, I really wish that an expert player would be willing to help us with our training."

"It is unfortunate, but how could it be possible that an expert player would be willing to help total strangers like us?" Yun said with a downcast expression.

Once again Jing looked at me bashfully. "We are most grateful to you for saving our lives, Expert-dàgē.I am called Lü Jing, and this is my friend Yun Feiē. May we ask Dàg for his name?"

I could feel a tingling sensation in my scalp as I was being cajoled by Jing. Whenever Jing cajoles somebody, that person will inevitably suffer an unspeakably horrible fate.

After I failed to replyēisfor a while, Jing's eyes misted with tears. "Could it be that Dàg unwilling to tell even his name to Jing?"

What should I do? I thought, panicked. Should I tell them that I'm Prince? But Yun seems to know a lot about Prince; he probably found out that Prince is on the Central Continent before I did. How will I explain to them the reason for my appearance on the Eastern Continent, especially when I don't even know the reason myself?!

"Jing,ēis siuncewillinDàg to tell us his name, it's clear that he has no interest in small fries like us, ēsoanymore,"let'snot Dàg

Then quitē"…calling me "Dàg I thought, exasperated.

"But… Sigh!ēwhoIthoughtisapowerfulwe'vefinallyfighter,foundaman Dàgof his words, andēand Irighteouswill…" Theperson,blushandwhichthen hadDàg

mantled Jing's cheeks and the worshipful expression on her face suddenly gave way to incomparable disappointment,ēlooks and her voice sounded choked. "Since… Since Dàg down on Jing so, then…then…"

"Don't be disappointēdidn'tmeand, . I'mmustsureb that heDàghas  
something pressing to attend to, otherwise how could he possibly bear to leave us

of the marriage). In the end, it is revealed that Lin Dai Yu had passed away from illness. Upon learning the truth, Jia Bao Yu decided to become a monk.

For more information, refer to Wikipedia: wiki/Lin_Daiyu.

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behind…especially such an adorable beauty like you!" consoled Yun. Next to him, Jing continued to maintain her pose as a delicate and weak young woman.

*Sweat* I finally understand what they're trying to achieve, I thought. So they're trying to use Jing's beauty to lure this "Expert-dàgē"into training the two of them!

As we are best friends, in principle, I should help them in their training. However, I'm in a rather unusual situation right now. Not only am I worried that they'll find out that I'm Feng Lan, I'm also worried that they'll figure out that I'm Prince. How am I supposed to help them in such a situation? I heaved a helpless sigh.

"Whyē?"doJingyou asked,sigh,Dàgconcern in her voice.

I looked into Jing's eyes, which were filled with concern, and thought, Although I really can't tell if she's truly concerned about me or just faking it, I still feel a little moved… Oh forget it; I'll just help them out! After all, I've not shown them any concern ever since we started playing Second Life, and they've never complained either. If I continue to refuse to help them, I'm afraid I'll really have a guilty conscience.

Having made up my mind, I coughed a couple of times. Feigning the attitude of an Expert-dàgē,I said, "Ask not my name, meddle not in my business; follow me as you will!"

Listening intently, I could hear Yun muttering to himself, saying, "Wah… He really is a pro!"

As I walked, I suddenly remembered, How am I supposed to lead them when I still don't know their classes and levels?

"Your levels? Classes?" I threw the two questions at the two people who were following me closely.

Yun introducedē,Iamhimscalledlf enthusiasticalYunFei.I'mly,evel"Dàgforty -five,  
and I'm a human Barrier Master."5

"Xiăomèi's 6 name is Lü Jing. I'm level thirty, and I'm a human Exorcist," Jing replied shyly.7

5 Barrier Master: Possibly a reference to the manga Kekkaishi. Note that kekkaishi means "barrier master".  
6 Xiăomèi: This means "little sister". Though this is usually used to refer to females younger than oneself, it can be used to refer to oneself in a cutesy or humble sort of way.

7 An exorcist: Technically, the word should be translated as "a Taoist", but only because exorcisms of this sort are usually carried out by Taoists in fiction. Modern Taoists are not always exorcists, however, so in this case the specific (exorcist) is more accurate.

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Exorcist? Barrier Master? What sort of classes are those? Why have I never heard of them before? My footsteps slowed to a halt, and scratching my face, I had no choice but to admit my ignorance and ask, "Please explain your classes to me."

Yun grinned at meēprobablyashereplied,won't"Barrier Masters are pretty rare, so Dàg

be familiar with the class! As the name suggests, a Barrier Master's main job is to create barriers. The barriers have a multitude of uses; for instance, the most basic barrier is the Flat Barrier, which can block an attack from beyond. Some barriers can even reflect attacks, such as the Mirror Shot ability. Alternatively, I can create a three-dimensional barrier, inflicting all kinds of status conditions on players or mobs inside the barrier. For instance, I can cast Weakness Barrier, which will cause their attacks to deal less damage, or I can use Slow Barrier to cause mobs to move slower."

I nodded; his class is kind of like Gui's in the sense that they're both support classes. "Offensive abilities?"

"Barrier Masters don't have any offensive abilities," said Yun, still grinning at me.

No offensive abilities? I felt stunned for a long while. No wonder Yun leveled up so slowly; you can't train alone if you don't have offensive abilities! That's odd, he can't train by himself? Then Yun must have a team! But I've never heard him mention it before… I frowned. "Don't you need to return to your team?"

"I don't have a team." Yun laughed, embarrassed, and explained, "Most players don't really understand the Barrier Master class. And since they hear that my ability revolves around creating protective barriers, they would rather find themselves a mage. In addition, my level isn't high, so there are limits to the effectiveness of my barriers, which is why I still haven't found a team till now."

No wonder Yun, who is such a training freak, is still only at level forty-five, I realized. I really can't begin to guess how much time it took him to train all the way to level forty-five. A heavy feeling grew in my chest as soon as I thought of how I, his best friend, never even thought of helping him. It's time that I do my best to help Yun out, I thought.

"Dàgēshould be more familiar with the Exorcist class," Jing said with a smile. "Exorcists mainly use Fu8 to cast different kinds of spells."

8 Fu: As Prince notes in the next line, exorcists use bells to exorcise in most Chinese dramas. However, fus, which are usually special paper with characters written on them with an ink brush, are used usually to render a zombie immobile. This is how is the scene in Chinese period drama horror movies usually unfolds…

1. Zombie hops (in Chinese movies, they don't shamble, they hop) into the scene.

2. Exorcist chants or makes some weird motion and the fu paper flies from his hand and sticks itself to the zombie's forehead.

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Exorcist? I thought an exorcist would be using a bell to command zombies… From Jing's explanation, it doesn't seem too different from a mage… I continued walking with my head full of questions. However, I knew enough now that I understood that Jing could cast spells and that Yun's was a support-type class, so I stopped asking them questions, and began to think hard instead. What would be the best type of mob for us to train on? This is bad, I'm not that familiar with the mobs here on the Eastern Continent. Which type of mob exactly should we fight?

All of sudden, Yun'sē, smile became particularly fawning. "Dàg mightăodì Xi 9 be so

bold as to suggest a good place to train?"

I stopped in my tracks. Yun's suggestion had just solved my dilemma. "Say it."

"We can train on Lesser Demons. They yield high experience and have high drop rates for treasures. Plus, there are a number of quests involving them. They're great for leveling, getting gear, and earning money!" Yun said excitedly, and then embarrassment crept acrossēprobhisfacebly. "Buthasnoa proneedplayerformoneylikeDàg."

It might be true that I'm not lacking money, but I'm lacking a ship ticket that costs five thousand crystal coins.

"I really wonder when we will finally have enough money. Why is the ship ticket to the Central Continent so expensive?!" Jing said with a weary sigh.

I was astonished. How does Jing know that I need money for the ship ticket?

Yun and Jingē,actuallybothlookedwe'reembarrassedtryingtosave."Dàgupenough  
money to take the ship to the Central Continent. We intend to look for our friends there," explained Yun.

Ah, so I misunderstood them. Looks like Yun and Jing really plan on going to visit Professor Min Gui Wen and Prince…to visit me?

"There's no need to go; I'm already here for both of you to see," I couldn't resist muttering to myself.

"What?" Jing, who had sharp hearing, asked, puzzled.

I hurriedly cleared my throat. "Nothing."

3. Zombie stops moving (and sometimes combusts).

4. Exorcist rings the bell. The spirit leaves. If the person possessed is still alive, he/she will wake up.

9 Xiăodì: This means "little brother". Though this is usually used to refer to males younger than oneself, it can be used to refer to oneself in a cutesy or humble sort of way.

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"Oh?" Jing shot me a dubious look.

"Let's go and kill some Lesser Demons then!" I said, hastily changing the topic. "Let's get the quests first."

"Okay,ē,"YunDàgreplied me cheerfully, but…as Yun's best friend, even with the hood

of my cloak obstructing my gaze, I can still tell that there's something wrong with that overly-brilliant smile on his face. I have a bad feeling about this… I'm not going to die by my best friends' hands, am I?

I stood quietly outside the White Tiger City's Adventurers' Guild, waiting for the two people who had brought me to this city to be done with obtaining their

quests. Fortunately, there was a huge map of the Eastern Continent hanging outside the Adventurers' Guild, so I could finally see for myself the geography of the continent currently under my feet. I think it makes no difference if I see the map or not, though, I thought. After all, I can lose my way all the way to Star City when I'm really trying to go to Moon City, so how can I possibly hope that a map alone would allow me to go sightseeing on the Eastern Continent freely?

I raised my head and took a casual look at the map. The Eastern Continent, as the name implies, is a continent to the east of the Central Continent. There are four admin-controlled cities here, and they are located in the four cardinal directions: to the east, Green Dragon; west, White Tiger; south, Red Phoenix; north, Black Tortoise. The continent really has an Eastern feel to it. It's no wonder even the classes are extremely Eastern as well; even the food is Chinese!

Beneath the hood of my cloak, I was busily munching the xiaolongtangbao10 that I'd just bought. I'll buy some wontons in chili oil11 later, I decided.

10 Xiaolongtangbao: Xiaolongbaos are sometimes known also as soup dumplings. They have translucent flour skins as opposed to fluffy skins like meat buns or mantous, and they are usually small enough to fit into a Chinese soup spoon. The filling is usually a mix of minced pork, chopped spring onions, garlic, seasoned with various condiments, and then mixed with soup stock, after which it is frozen and takes on a gelatinous form. When steamed, the fillings melts and the xiaolongbao will become filled with soup. Fancier variants may even include crab meat and roe. For more information on the normal xiaolongbao, please refer to this Wikipedia article: wiki/Xiaolongbao.

What Prince is eating here is a variant of the soup dumpling, called the Xiaolongtangbao. It is a bit different from the usual xiaolongbao in that there is greater emphasis on the quality of the soup. (That's why the name has an extra "tang" – "tàng" is "soup" in Chinese!) We've dug around the internet looking for a couple of fairly simple recipes for the foodies out there and found two decent ones.

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This one has an English translation next to the Chinese recipe on the site. Ray has also kindly translated another version into English for the foodies (with much agony, it seems). The translated recipe is here below, but you should still take a look at the site if you're interested in pictures of the xiaolongtangbao. The recipe is as follows:

When making the Xiao Long Tang Bao, there are four important steps.

One of the Xiao Long Tang Bao's biggest specialties is that it is delicious with lots of soup, and the method of the making the pork skin is the key to having fillings with plenty of soup.

For those of you need a measurement converter, here's one ( from/kg/to/lb).

Ingredients: 500g of raw pig's skin, 500g of pork, 20g (or a large bunch) of spring onions/scallions (10g used for pig's skin, 10g for onion and ginger juice), 35g of ginger (15g for pig's skin, 20g for juice), 15ml of rice wine, 250g of flour, salt, MSG, pepper, sugar, soy sauce, lard, sesame oil

The first step: Making the frozen pork skin

1. Add cold water to the pig's skin in a pot and put over a high heat for 2 minutes.

2. Remove the fatty meat on the skin and pluck away the fur.

3. Put 1500ml of water in a sufficiently deep pot, and put 500g of raw pig's skin, 10g of spring onion/scallions, 15g of ginger, 15ml of rice wine, and add salt, MSG and pepper in suitable amounts. Cook over low heat for 90 minutes, until the meat is very, very soft and easily pulled off the skin.

4. Remove and chop the pig's skin.  
5. Put it back into the pot to cook for a short while.  
6. Leave the pork's skin in a large, broad bowl to cool off and solidify. You may put it into the fridge (but not the freezer) after it has cooled off sufficiently. (Eri: To those who don't know their way around the kitchen, refrain from putting a hot or even rather warm object in you fridge until it's cooled to about room temperature.)

7. Remove the pork skin from the bowl once it has cooled off and solidified. (Eri: You should be able to remove it by upending the bowl.)

The second step: Making the fillings.

1. Shred the frozen meat using a shredder. (See this picture.)

2. Put into a large bowl.  
3. Add 500g of pork, 7g of salt, 5g of MSG, 15g of sugar, 15ml of soy sauce and mix.  
4. Add in 200ml of onion and ginger juice (see third step) and mix again. Mix it in the same direction forcefully, and finally add in the sesame oil.  
5. Add in the frozen pig's skin. Note that the volume of the fillings made in this step and the volume of the frozen pig's skin should be about the same. (Eri: Hence, if you've reduced the amount of pig's skin or filling, then you must reduce the amount for the other as well.) Finally, add lard and mix everything.

The third step: Making the onion and ginger juice

1. Cut 10g of spring onions, and 20g of ginger into pieces.

2. Add 200ml of water and put everything into the blender, or use your hands to squeeze. (Eri: A mortar and pestle works too, but only if you have the patience to work in batches. Using your hands to squeeze ginger is even harder.)

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"Dàgē,we've obtained the quests," Yun's bright voice rang out.

Ehhh! I won't be able to buy my wontons in chili oil, damn it!

"ToēforthankhelpingēallowDàgus,YunwillFeiDàgand Lü Jing to treat him to a  
meal?" Yun asked, his face shining with sincerity. As for me, of course I would be happy to be treated… Ah, my wontons in chili oil, I'm coming!

3. Filter off the pulp and you will be left with the onion and ginger juice.

For the outer skin that is thin, and does not burst when full of fillings, it is made by adding cold water to all-purpose flour and kneading it.

The last step: Making the dough

1. Add 250g of flour to 120ml of cold water to form a lump. Leave it for 10 minutes.

2. Knead it continually for a while, and then cut it into small portions each weighing about 10g.

3. Roll it into a round disc such that it's thick in the centre and thin at the sides. Put fillings inside and wrap it.  
4. Fold it into shape. (Usually, 14 folds is the minimum. 20 folds is ideal.) Leave it for 10 minutes. (See picture for how to fold the flour skin.)  
5. Put cold water in the steamer and steam them for 5-6 minutes. (Eri: The author of this recipe used 9 minutes.)  
6. Take it out and serve.

Reminder: The xialongtangbao tastes best with ginger strips and dark vinegar.

11 Wontons in chili oil: As the name suggests, this is basically wontons in chilli oil (NOT Tabasco). Because this dish is very easy to make, we shall provide you with a translation of the recipe. Here is a video ( . ?movieid=374) demonstrating how to prepare the dish to boot.

Ingredients: Wontons, oyster sauce, soy sauce, refined white sugar, white or dark vinegar, white pepper, garlic, spring onions/chives, chili oil

1. Set water to boil in a pan. Once it boils, add your wontons (premade or whatever) into the water. It should be ready in about 1-1.5 minutes. (Eri: To those who have never dealt with wontons, do not overcook them. If you see that there are air pockets bubbling up beneath the dough wrap near where the fillings are, it's time to rescue your wonton from the hot water. Failure to save them will result in soggy wontons that will fall apart easily.)

2. Mix 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of refined white sugar (less if you don't like it sweet) and 1 teaspoon of white/dark vinegar. Add a little white pepper.

3. Mix the wonton with the sauce, sprinkle finely chopped garlic and spring onions/chives on it, and then pour the desired amount of chili oil over it.

The crux of the dish is the chilli oil. You can get this in most Asian supermarkets. The dish originated from the Sichuan province of China, which is not surprising because the chili oil is a staple of Sichuan dishes. Warning: To those who have never tried this kind of chili oil before, it's way hotter than Tabasco or normal chili.

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Along the way…  
"Dàgē,isit alright with you if we dine at Oriental House?" 12

"Dàgē,isit really impossible for you to tell us your name? What if we get separated  
along the way?"

"Dàgē,your cloak is really stylish. I'm guessing that you must have a really fit body as well?ăodìCan'thaveyoujustletoneXi glimpse?"

"Dàgē,mayăodì beXi so bold as to ask you what your race i s? Since you are such a strong warrior, I think you must be from the human race, right? Or are you a beastman? But you're not that powerfully-built, so I don't think you are one."

"We've almostēeatenreachedatOrientalOrientalHouseHousbefor;has Dàg e? If you  
haven't,ē's thenbase IcampguessprobablyDàg isn't White Tiger City huh?"

From the beginning till the end of our walk, I hadn't so much as uttered a word.

"We've reachedē,"said Jing,OrientalsmilingHouse,happilyDàg as she pointed to a  
red, traditional building. "The food and wine at this restaurant are all pretty good, especially the wine. Their Clear Tranquility wine in particular is famous in White Tiger City!ē,whyDàgdon't you order a few main courses to fill up your stomach first, an d then order some light dishes to go with the Clear Tranquility."

"Right, that's right,ēăodìXi onemustseldomhaveacomes across such a good Dàg goodēdrinktoday,"withsaidDàgYun, laughing heartily.

Drink? What should I do if I wake up and find myself on the Western Continent the next time?

As soon as I received the menu, I hastily ordered my wontons in chili oil, in addition to a lot of other delicious-sounding food. Finally, I put down the menu reluctantly and waited for my mouthwatering dishes to be served.

"That's all, and bring us two bottles of Clear Tranquility," Yun told the waiter.

I watched, with eyes full of anticipation, as the dishes were served one by one. Although I still haven't seen my adorable wontons in chili oil yet, it's not a bad idea to tuck into the

12 Oriental House: This is written as Zhong Hua Lou (中 ōngprnhuá.zhlóu) in Chinese. Many  
restaurants and inns in China in the past (and even now) have the " " character in them, which basically means a building with more than one storey.

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other dishes first, I thought. My hand rose, the chopsticks plunged, and a fragrant bite of food was delivered into my salivating mouth. It's a good thing I'm shielded by my cloak, otherwise my "Expert-Dàgē"image would be comple tely ruined.

Yun picked up my wine cup and began to pour just about the entire huge bottle of Clear Tranquility into ēmy,shallcupwe."Dàghave a drink first?"

I couldn't be bothered to answer him. With such delicious food before me, who cares about best friends? I stretched my claws towards the dish of silver thread rolls13 once more…

From the top of my head came the sound of Meatbun's child-like voice. "Mama, Meatbun-bun wants to eat-eat too."

Baffled, Jing and Yun peered left and right, searching for the source of the voice. I froze; I'd nearly forgotten about Meatbun's existence entirely. Looks like Meatbun fell asleep on top of my head, that's why it was so quiet all this while! I snatched a silver thread roll, snatched Meatbun from my head and placed it on my lap, and then stuffed the entire roll

– which was larger than Meatbun – into Meatbun's mouth. Finally, I stuffed Meatbun back into the pouch. It's finally quiet, I thought, and heaved a relieved sigh.

Of course, the entire operation was carried out beneath the cover of my cloak. Cloak, oh cloak, you really are an indispensable tool for secretly feeding pets and maintaining one's image!

"That's odd, I thought I heard a child's voice just now?" Jing remarked, frowning.

I lowered my head and engrossed myself with eating upon hearing that.

Seeing me tuck in, Jing and Yun stopped bothering me and picked up their chopsticks to begin eating as well.

"Isn't this Xiao Jing?" A somewhat irritating voice came floating to my ear. Which person is it who has no eyes to see that he's bothering me in the middle of my meal? I narrowed my eyes and raised my head to look…

My god, this is such a classic, such a classic fop! He was a little similar to Fan, with all that shining, flashy golden armor, but he had none of Fan's elegance or divine harshness. What made his appearance still more ridiculous was that jewel-encrusted helmet on his head and that red cloak embroidered with dragons he was wearing. There was only one word to describe him, and that was…vulgar!

13 Silver thread rolls: It's like a bun, but what you do is cut the dough into long strips, kind of like noodles, and then wrap them into a bun shape before baking. Go /fp1f83 to see what it looks like.

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It's my first time seeing someone so vulgar that heaven and earth would be shocked and the demons themselves would weep. I doubt that I'd have such a comical effect even if I were to wear gold bars for clothes! It's a pity because this person's looks can still be considered quite handsome, but thanks to that outfit, he just feels intolerably vulgar, sigh!

I lowered my head and continued to dig in. If I keep looking at him, I'm afraid my eyesight and taste will both be damaged beyond repair.

There was a sour expression on Jing's face as she looked at the vulgar dandy. Yun too, was not like his usual self as he continued to eat silently with a frosty look on his face.

"Xiao Jing, why didn't you say a word if you were eating here at Oriental House? I trust those bastard waiters didn't ask you, the lady boss,14 to pay right? If they did, I'll have to reprimand them," said the fop, and the crowd behind him laughed half-heartedly.

Lady boss? Since when did Jing open this restaurant? Why haven't I heard her mention this? I wondered as I munched on a chicken's foot.15

"Huang Wei, don't you dare go too far with your words! Who do you think you're calling 'lady boss'?" Jing slammed the table and stood up sharply, enraged.

Huang Wei?16 Not a bad name, but on this person, it sounds… I continued munching on my Taro Pie.17

"Of course it's you, Xiao Jing. This Oriental House is mine, and you are my beloved wife, so of course you're the lady boss!" Huang Wei leered at Jing's beautiful face.

Yun finally had enough. "Jing isn't your wife, so quit spouting your nonsense. It's obvious that you're just a huge pervert who keeps pestering Jing." His voice clearly showed that he was trying to control his rage as he spoke.

Huang Wei's cheeky smile was gone in a flash, replaced by a look of contempt, although to me, it looked more like the expression of a person who had just stepped in dog poo.

14 Lady boss: Usually the word here means "lady boss", but an alternative way to interpret it is "boss's wife".

15 Chicken's foot: Most of you have never eaten chicken's feet, so we need yet another culinary explanation here. Chicken's feet are used in Chinese cooking quite frequently. They make really good soup stock, for one (extraordinary as it may seem to some of you), and they can also be used to make light dishes, such as dimsum. how_2221703_ an example of a dimsum recipe involving chicken's feet, while . is a picture of a completed dish (not of the recipe, though).

16 Huang Wei: Huang Wei's name is written as "皇威" (prnēi).. "Huang"huángw means royal, or an  
emperor, while "Wei" means mighty, impressive, even aggressive.  
17 Taro pie: As the name suggests, it's made of taro. It doesn't look like a Western sort of pie though, and though I couldn't find a more "rugged" version, the pies don't always look as pretty as the one we have food/2004-09/01/xinsrc_ . The ones I see usually look like miniature bricks.

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"So, a piece of garbage like you still dares to stick to Jing? I told you before that I'll kill you every time I see you. Did you not understand or do you enjoy being killed?"

Eh? The dish that the waiter is carrying to us now, isn't that my favorite wontons in chili oil? I swallowed my saliva and stared fiercely at that delicious-smelling, enchantingly red dish of wontons in chili oil, my heart aching. As for whatever's going on nearby? I have no idea, my stomach's doing the thinking now.

"So what? Even if you plan to kill me, Jing will still stay by my side, and not yours!" Yun smiled at him fearlessly.

The look on Huang Wei's face suddenly changed, and he roared, enraged, "Damn you, don't get too ahead of yourself! Just you wait; I will thrash you just like this dish." With his right hand, Huang Wei snatched the dish from the waiter, smashing it on the ground and then stomping on the dish and its contents with his foot.

I watched as the wontons in chili oil, which had almost been delivered to me, was suddenly snatched by a hand from the waiter before my very eyes, after which the vividly crimson wontons slid from mid air and landed onto the ground amid the shards of the broken plate. On top of that, a damnable foot stepped onto it and even grinded itself into the mess; and so my wontons lay there, oozing to death, their goodness and beauty forever lost… As the shock was simply too overwhelming, I found myself sitting dazedly at the scene, thinking, My wontons in chili oil…are gone?

"Hmph, don'tē,"thinksaid thatYun,I'mlookingeasy toat bully,me I have a Dàg confidently.

"Aē? DàgHahaha, so what? " Huang Wei looked scornfully at me. He beckoned with his hand and ăimmediatelyodìshisbackthe rubbedfiveor theirsixXipalms and clenched

their fists, clearlyăodìs, 't."I wedo have a lot of Xi see how many blows canētakeyourăodìs?"fromDàgmy Xi

Jing and Yun were both extremely pale, and Jing said coldly, "I forbid you to harm the two of them, Huang Wei."

"Fine, then become my wife obediently, and then, hehe…" Huang Wei began to laugh brazenly.

Suddenly, I jumped, landing on the table lightly on both feet, and then leaped toward Huang Wei, drawing my Black Dao in midair. Light danced off my blade, and I landed behind Huang Wei.

"Shameless!" I said coldly.

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As you must know, every grain on a dish is the result of hard labor. It isn't a simple thing to make a dish of wontons in chili oil, so how can he waste food like this? Especially when that food is mine! Even if the heavens do not punish a person like him, I will!

All the people present were taken aback, wondering, What on earth just happened? Just then, Huang Wei's neck suddenly slid to the side. First, a trickle of blood began to seep down his neck, then – as the crowd watched, wide-eyed – an entire fountain of blood began to spurt into to air, and Huang Wei's entire head was propelled by the flow of blood away from his body. It rolled a few times on the floor, and then he turned into a pillar of white light and left, leaving behind only a puddle of fresh blood on the floor.

"How is it possible?" Yun murmured. "Huang Wei was wearing a helmet and full body armor, how can it be so easy to separate his head from his body?"

I looked with a heavy heart at the corpses of the wontons on the floor, feeling extremely pissed off. After so much anticipation, only for my hopes to be dashed in the end, it really MAKES. ME. PISSED. OFF! I leveled myăodìsBlack Dao at the Huang Wei's five Xi

and, in an extremely cold and harsh tone that I rarely use, I said, "Ten seconds. Be gone, or die!"

TheăodìsXifroze. They looked at me, clearly reluctant to leave but al so afraid to come  
forward. None of them dared to move.

"Hmph!" I snorted coldly. Lightly pushing off against the ground with both feet, I skimmed across theăodì,floorand swiftlythen until I stood in front of the nearest Xi

executed my famous technique: Nine-headed Dragon Slash! Laced with flames, the ten consecutive slashes scored beautiful lines of crimson in the air at lightning speed. As the final blow, I brought my weapon down heavily onto the enemy, cleaving him in two.

Then I slowly rose to my feet and sheathed my blade before turning back to my seat. As I turned,ăodìthatturnedunluckyinto Xiapillar of white light and left.

From the beginning until the end of that display, no one had moved. It was only after I returned to my seat that the rest of ăodìstheXifnally began to flee for their lives. I

picked up my chopsticks with satisfaction and went back to attacking my food.

After a long while, Jing and Yun finally recovered their senses. They returned to their seats nervously, but did not continue with their meal and only stared at me, wide-eyed.

After another long while,ē I put down my chopsticks and said sternly, "Yun, Jing, Dàg has something to ask of the two of you."

Yun gulped, whileē?"Jing'st expression was one of alarm. "What is it, Dàg hey said in unison.

"Can I order another serving of wontons in chili oil?"

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"…"

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Chapter 5: Demon King Kenshin

Real life…

I took off the game helmet, feeling kind of drained. To think that I actually became Jing andē…Yun's Dàg If they ever find out the truth, I will die a horrible death.

I got up and began to prepare breakfast, feeling deeply troubled. It had been six, nearly seven days and I still had no way of contacting any of my Odd Squad teammates. Sigh! Truth be told, there's actually many ways to solve the problem. Telling my brother would be the easiest way and yet, ironically enough, I just can't tell him…

Briiing… Briiing…

Who could be calling at such an early hour? I answered the phone, puzzled. "Hello?"

"Xiao Lan? Are you alright?!" Zhuo-gēge's anxious voice sounded over the receiver.

"I'm fine. This is great, I can finally contact someone!" I was overjoyed. I had clean forgotten that I could contact Zhuo-gēge.

"Xiao Lan, where on earth have you run off to?" It was clear from his tone that Zhuo-gēge was relieved to hear from me.

"I… I'm on the Eastern Continent…" My voice grew tinier with each word.

"The Eastern Continent?" Zhuo-gēge was stunned. "What are you doing over there?"

"I have no idea either. I woke up and found myself there after drinking with Nan Gong Zui!" I said woefully. "Also, we can't send PMs to players on different continents, so I couldn't contact you guys at all."

Is it just me or does Zhuo-gēge sound as though he is trying to suppress his anger? "You went drinking with Nan Gong Zui and drank until you lost consciousness? You're a girl, how could you not know how to protect yourself?!"

"Ehhh… But I'm a guy in-game!" I scratched my face. Nan Gong Zui and Kong Kong wouldn't do anything to me, a guy, right? Besides, is it possible to be XXed in a game? Hmmm… That's a question worth mentioning to Lolidragon.

"It still isn't right. You are a girl after all," Zhuo-gēge insisted stubbornly.

"Oh… Well, I won't do it again. I don't like to drink anyway!" That's how it is, right? I remember that the wine was unpleasant, but how did I get so drunk? How odd!

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Zhuo-gēge's tone relaxed. "It's almost time for you to come back to the Central  
Continent. You should stop playing on the Eastern Continent. Everyone's waiting for you in Infinite City, especially Nan Gong Zui – he's brought along an entire adventurers' group. They're looking forward to meeting you."

"But I can't go back; I don't have enough money for the ship fare," I told Zhuo-gēge pitifully.

"How much do you need?"

"Five thousand crystal coins."

"…I'll ask Lolidragon tonight when I log on to see if we can find a way to transfer money to you," Zhuo-gēge said, sounding troubled. "Though, Infinite City is a bit strapped for cash. I wonder if Yu Lian would be willing to spare the money?"

"Oh… In that case, I'll just earn it by myself." I felt a bit embarrassed. I haven't done anything as the liege lord yet and already I'm being a hindrance.

"I'll talk to them about it. For now, you should take on some high-level quests. With your skill, you should be able to complete several B-level quests18 on your own. The rewards for B-level quests range from several hundred to several thousand gold coins," Zhuo-

gēge suggested, and then added worriedly, "But they may be quite d ifficult, so make sure that they're not too dangerous before you take them on!"

"Alright, I got it."

"Sis, where's my breakfast?" Yang Ming's discontented voice sounded from behind me.

Startled, I quickly said, "Zhuo-gēge, we'll stop here for now. Bye bye! "

As soon as I hung up, I turned to faced Yang Ming. After making sure that his face only held dissatisfaction and not a hint of suspicion, I relaxed.

"I'll make breakfast now."

Online…

18 B-level quest: The Adventurers' Guild offers all sorts of quests for players to complete. The rewards differ from quest to quest, depending on the level of difficulty. From high to low, the difficulty levels for quests are: X, S, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

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With a somber expression, Wicked entered Odd Squad's current temporary meeting place

— the prison. Just as he had expected, the members of Odd Squad and Dark Emperor were lazing on the ground, sleeping, or stuffing their faces with food… Not one of them looked even the slightest bit like a highest-ranking commander.

In a heavy voice, Wicked announced, "I have important news for Odd Squad."

Ugly Wolf reluctantly let go of Yu Lian, who had been in his arms, gave Gui – who was buried under sheaves of designs – a kick, fished Doll out of her snacks and shook Lolidragon – who was drooling in her sleep – awake. "What important news?"

"I know where Prince is," Wicked replied. The look he shot Gui held a hint of a challenge, and he watched with satisfaction as Gui paled.

"Where did that fellow run off to?" Lolidragon grumbled. "We're working our asses off here, while he, the liege lord, is happily fooling around out there."

"He's on the Eastern Continent," Wicked said calmly.

All eyes widened among the members of Odd Squad, while Dark Emperor's members – who had been making a din to one side – fell silent. Within a moment, the prison was so quiet that even the crackling of Fire Phoenix's flames could be heard clearly.

Finally, Gui asked, his tone a mix of concern and anxiety, "Why is he on the Eastern Continent? Why doesn't he come back?"

"He doesn't know how he got there either, possibly because he was drunk. As for why he hasn't come back, it's because…"

"I believe I know the reason," Lolidragon said exasperatedly. "The ship ticket to the Eastern Continent costs five thousand crystal coins, and the return ticket costs another five thousand crystal coins. Prince probably only had enough money on him for a ticket to the Eastern Continent, if I recall correctly."

"What? Five thousand crystal coins?" Yu Lian's smile was so frosty that the members of both teams could not help but observe a moment of silence for him.

Wicked too averted his gaze from Yu Lian's terrifying smile and looked at Lolidragon instead. "Is there a way to send Prince money, Lolidragon?"

Lolidragon broke out in a cold sweat and quickly looked away from Yu Lian's smile, which had grown frostier than ever, replying stiffly, "It is usually possible for a player to transfer money to another player, but if a player is on another continent, then it's impossible to send them a private message, much less transfer funds."

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"What? Then what about Prince?" Gui turned pale as a ghost as he imagined Prince wandering about on a faraway continent, without a cent to his name, suffering from the cold and hunger, dressed in rags, and finally, ending up as a corpse on some street…

White Tiger City, Eastern Continent…

Prince: "Mmm, wontons in chili oil… Delicious!" I said, munching on the breakfast which Yun and Jing were respectfully treating me to.

"We'll just have to ask Prince to earn the money for the ticket on his own," Lolidragon said with a shrug, and then she crawled back to her cage to sleep without a second thought.

"Hmm…" Ugly Wolf scratched the fur on his head. "Since that fellow's absence doesn't affect Infinite City much right now, plus the Righteous Blades have long since settled into our city and can't just quit anymore, it shouldn't make much of a difference if Prince doesn't return right away."

Yu Lian smiled. "Not a penny for him!"

"Doll misses Prince-gēge a lot…" D oll said, and then furrowed her brow when she caught sight of her snacks out of the corner of her eye. "…But Prince-gēge would snatch Doll's snacks to eat, so forget it." Doll crawled back into her pile of snacks and began to eat.

"Wait, Prince is all alone over there, with no friends and not a cent to his name! We have to go and save him!" Gui shouted at his irresponsible teammates, his face white as a sheet.

"YOU are not going anywhere, so just get back to drawing designs obediently," everyone retorted in unison.

Wicked looked at them helplessly, thinking, Looks like Xiao Lan won't be returning for the time being… But that wasn't a bad thing at all, he realized. Gui wouldn't be able to see Prince.

On the other hand, he – Wicked – would still be able to talk to Xiao Lan over the phone.

Excellent! thought Wicked, his lips quirking into a smile.

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My arms were folded across my chest as I studied the monster I would have to fight soon

— a lesser demon.

The lesser demon resembled the "oni" from Japanese folklore, with its hideous face, sharp teeth bared in a snarl, short horns on its head, and a somewhat short katana19 in its hands. They lived in chilly, deep, and eerie caverns. If Jing and Yun hadn't led the way, I probably wouldn't have been able to navigate my way through this maze-like cave. I'd better be careful not to be separated from them, or I'll suffer a fate more horrific than accidentally ending up on the Eastern Continent.

After not moving for several "long" minutes, Yun couldn't keep silent for any longer and asked,ēwhen"Dàgare we going to begin fighting? If we don't hurry and get the demon

horns, we won't be able to finish the quest!"

I felt a tad frustrated. I don't know much about the monster, and the people by my side aren't my usual teammates from Odd Squad. We don't even have a priest, so if I rush in carelessly, I might just join the ranks of the demons myself… Nonetheless, I had to get started. I could only pray silently that this type of mob wasn't too strong. "Yun, Jing, stand further back."

After I gave the order to Jing and Yun… I mean, instructed them on what to do, I looked around carefully and found a lone lesser demon. Moving lightly on my feet, I stealthily crept up behind it, and then savagely stabbed through its back at its heart. Unfortunately, the lesser demon's agility was unexpectedly high and it turned around, causing my blade to only pierce its shoulder. A green, sticky fluid – probably its blood – spurted out. Enraged, the injured demon brandished its short katana, and the sharp point of the blade came stabbing toward me. I leaned backward and the katana whistled past my waist, but an idea darted through my head, and I turned the motion into a backward somersault, kicking the demon and sending it sprawling backward. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I sprang toward the demon, slashing my weapon at it and severing its entire right arm.

The demon howled. Though it had lost its right arm and its weapon, it still tried to bite me. I wrapped my left hand about its throat tightly and stabbed Black Dao right through its heart with my right hand. Just as I was about to heave a sigh of relief, however, the demon actually bit my left hand. I winced with pain, thinking, Don't tell me the lesser demon's weakness isn't its heart?

"Dàgē,cut off its head, you have to cut off its head!" Yun roared frantically.

19 A somewhat short katana: Our translators suggested that this might be a kodachi, but Yu Wo didn't specify, so we're stuck with "katana".

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So that's how it is. In the instant I understood, the demon no longer had a head on its neck. I quickly let go of the corpse, which was spurting blood everywhere, so as to avoid turning into a tank of green oil.

"Dàgēistrulyē'sa heroicmanofdisplayăodì .Dàghasdeeply touched Xi  
backwardē's somersaultistrulypeerless;ofDàgelegant, yet unyielding as steel. Sigh! Xiăodì can only băodìw ētrotoyourublecutoffDàggreatness… However, could Xi  
the demon'săodìmighthorns,besoablethattoXicomplete the quest?"

What the heck? If you want me to slice off the horns just say so! Spouting so much rubbish, you're making my skin break out in goosebumps. Still, the horn needed to be cut off, so my blade rose and fell, and I handed the small horns to Yun.

Having a rough idea of how strong the lesser demon was, I realized that I could probably handle them quite easily and my anxiety dissipated. I began to come up with a plan to help Yun and Jing level up and, after some thinking, I led Jing and Yun to a crevice in the cave wall and asked them to stand inside. "I'll be in charge of luring the demons here. After that, Jing, I won't let the demons harm you, so don't worry and just cast your spells. Yun, set up a Slow Barrier."

I gazed into the depths of the cave, closed my eyes, and breathed in deeply. Then I opened my eyes and smiled slightly. Lesser demons, here I come.

To begin with, I lured a single demon and exchanged blows with it with great ease. It was then that Jing pulled out a piece of fu paper. I stole a backward glance and saw her draw several strokes on the paper with her fingers before throwing the paper over, crying out, "Flames, true and thrice-concealed, go!"

Unexpectedly, the paper flew straight toward the demon. Seeing that the demon intended to dodge, I launched into a flurry of blows, forcing it to stay in place. Finally, the paper reached the demon and suddenly turned into three white flames, enveloping the demon. It howled in pain and reacted by lunging toward Jing, but unfortunately for it, a kick from me sent it sprawling back to its original spot.

"Flames, true and thrice-concealed, go!" Seeing that the flames on the demon were about to go out, Jing once again sent out another piece of fu paper.

This time, I watched in satisfaction as the flames began to reduce the demon to ash…

"AHHHHH!"ē,theYundemon'ssuddenlyhorns!"wailed. "Dàg

Hearing that, I smoothly sliced off the demon's horns and watched as the demon turned to ashes. Looks like I can lure more of them, I thought decisively.

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Thus, the number of demons increased from one to two and ultimately three, after which I decided that was enough, as any more would leave me with insufficient space to fight. In this fashion, I would engage the demons, focusing on honing my defense. While I initially had many openings in my defense and couldn't react quickly enough, I soon grew proficient to the point where my defense was watertight. I grew more and more familiar with this method of fighting, which was completely different from the aggressive fighting style I had used all this time. It is pretty good training for me… still, if only the mobs were stronger, I thought in dissatisfaction.

After luring more than ten groups of mobs, I heaved a long sigh and said mildly, "Let's take a break."

Guilt washed over Jing's face. "I'm reallyē.Jingsorry,completelyēDàg forgot that Dàg needs to rest."

"It's okay," I said and sat down, recovering a bit of my energy.

"Wow, we've each gained a level, and we have enough demon horns to complete the mission," Yun said, his eyes sparkling.

I wasn't really keen on fighting any more of these lesser demons. I had nothing to gain from fighting them, and though my main objective was to help Yun and Jing, it would be advantageous to them as well if we fought higher-level mobs. With that thought in mind, I asked, "Are there any stronger mobs that we can fight?"

Jing's and Yun's eyesē,whyshone brightly, and Yun quickly replied, "Of course, Dàg  
don't we take on demon maidens? A demon maiden's horns are worth more than a lesser demon's."

"The monster's features are…?" I asked.

Directing this question to Yun, the gamer, was the right thing to do, as he immediately replied with enthusiasm and confidence, saying, "Demon maidens are generally similar to lesser demons, except their levels are higher. Their weak point is their heads, just like lesser demons, but demon maidens use their sharp and long claws as weapons, and they move faster thanē'sspeed, ,won't withhave Dàg

problems once you're familiar with their style of attacking."

I nodded. "Let's take them on, then."

Standing up, I stretched and said, "Lead the way."

The demon maiden had long, flowing hair, pale green skin, and wore a dress like the type ladies used to wear in ancient China. Its hands ended in extremely long nails, their edges glinting dangerously. I darted forward and we began to fight.

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Yun, the zealous gamer, was right; the demon maiden was indeed more challenging than the lesser demon. Its perception was considerably sharper than that of a lesser demon, making it tough for me to strike her weak spot, her head. Moreover, it was extremely fast, and I had to focus on dodging – with great difficulty – initially. Unfortunately for it…

I smiled. The demon maiden's attacking style was limited to stabbing. I searched for an opportunity, and when the demon maiden once again stretched out a hand, thinking to leave holes in my body, I stopped moving, and then savagely hacked off its hand the moment it touched me. A demon maiden with one hand missing was nothing to be afraid of, so I used the same method to get rid of its other hand and to finish it off… although I wasn't as successful the second time I tried and a "small" hole appeared on my body.

Without making a sound, I secretly took a swig from a bottle of health potion, and then returned to my companions' side as if nothing had happened.

Yun's eyesēiswerereallyfilledēwouldstrong!withIworshipknewthat."Dàg  
definitely have no difficulty with it. We'll wait here for you to lure the monsters over, Dàgē."

"Alright," I replied. Looks like I can train on stronger mobs now, I thought, and happily went off to lure some demon maidens.

"Dàgēisreally strong! In just three days, Lü Jing has leveled up five times and I've  
leveled up twice as well. Fighting higher-level mobs really speeds things up! What shall we fightē?"Yunnext,saidDàgcheerily as he brought over a plate of wontons in chili oil.

I frowned, but still accepted the plate of wontons. Inwardly I thought, I should really start to earn some money and prepare to return, although Zhuo-gēge had passed me Wolf - dàgē'smessage, saying that things at Infinite City were going along fine without me .

So I simply said, "I can't stay here much longer."

Yun and ē,Jingyou'relookeavindpanicked. "Dàg g?"

"No, I need to make money. I need to earn five thousand crystal coins," I replied after swallowing a wonton.

"Makeēneedsmoney?money?What, ButDàgyou didn't ask us to split our reward  
money from the quests earlier with you!" Yun paused suddenly, and then frowned slightly. "Why didn't you ask us to split the reward with you if you're in need of money, Dàgē?"

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I remained silent. With Yunē",ē""Dàgcallingdaymelong,"Dàghow could I possibly even ask to split the money?

"Dàgē,although we don't h ave five thousand crystal coins, please take this for now!" Jing took out a bag of coins and pushed it toward me.

I sighed. It's almost time for them to get new equipment, so how could I possibly take the money from them now? "No need, I'll make my own money."

"But,ēareDàgyou really going to leave us?" Yun's expression was one of dismay,  
clearly unwilling to part. "We don't know your name, or even what you look like. If we part now, we'dē!" probably never meet again, Dàg

We will meet again, but it will be quite some time before Jing and Yun manage to gather ten thousand crystal coins and come to Infinite City to find me. I wish I could help them earn the money for the ship fare, but my teammates in Odd Squad are waiting for me! Is there really no way out of this dilemma?

As though she'd gatheredē,IsawanupAher courage for something, Jing said, "Dàg - level mission some time earlier. The reward money is substantial, and it doesn't seem to be very difficult, we just have to retrieve the demon king's hair tie. Since the demon king, lesser demon, and demon maiden are all similar types of mobs, it shouldn't be a problem forē. Besides,Dàg even if we can't beat it, we can just grab the hair tie and escape."

It does sound like a pretty good proposition, I thought. If I can take the ship back to the Central Continent with Jing and Yun, then I'll at least have someone to chat with and wouldn't have to be bored to death like I was on the trip here. "Alright then, let's get that quest."

"Dàgē'sthe best!" Yun happily cheered.

With Jing and Yun leading the way, I once again returned to the Demon Cave.

"Dàgē,we might have to spend some time searching, since the demon king often wanders around the areas further inside the cave. It'll probably be difficult to find him," Yun said worriedly.

"Okay. Let's begin searching then."

Jing, Yun, and I made our way into the depths of the cave and quickly reached the spot where we'd trained at recently. There, I stopped and fought a few lesser demons and demon maidens in order to work the kinks out of my muscles. We then proceeded deeper into the cave to an area where we'd never been before. As before, I would engage the

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lesser demons and demon maidens that we encountered along the way and then let Jing and Yun get some practice.

After walking for some time, I beckoned for Jing and Yun to stop and take a short break, as well as to leave offerings to the Temple of the Five Internal Organs… that is, to eat. I chomped on a shaobing youtiao20 and drained a bottle of soy milk…

"Dàgē,why do you treat us so well?" Yun remarked as he ate.

Do you even need to ask? Obviously it's because we're best friends! Since I couldn't very well say those words, I could only keep up my "big brother" façade and ask, "What did you just call me?"

"Dàgē…" Yun trailedēreallyoff,andis then he chortled with laughter. "Dàg straightforwardē'?". Just because we call you 'Dàg

"Just for that, don't you think it's not really worth it?" Jing looked at me with…

Conflicting emotions in her eyes? I must be mistaken. "Aren't you worried that helping us would just turn out to be a waste of time, and that after you've helped us, we might just go our own way and forget all about you?"

I simply answered, "I don't do things that I will regret. Once I've decided to do something, I won't regret it."

Jing and Yun didn't say anything else. Why has the atmosphere suddenly turned heavy? I wondered. Did I say something wrong? Ah, forget it; I'll just eat my youtiao.

"Ah…" Jing suddenly cried out. I turned around, startled, just in time to see Jing crash against the wall. I caught sight of the culprit out of the corner of my eye, and instantly I leaped forward and knocked Yun aside.

A katana came stabbing at my chest. I flipped through the air and as soon as I landed on the ground, I somersaulted backward to Jing and Yun's side. Grimacing in pain, I clenched my wounded left hand, blood spilling from between my fingers. I did not dare to take out a health potion, however, because I knew that as soon as I moved to do so, the

20 Shaobing youtiao: A shaobing youtiao is a combination of two popular Chinese snacks or breakfast food. A shaobing ( wiki/Shaobing) is a baked flatbread, often topped with sesame, and can contain a variety of stuffing (or none at all). A youtiao ( wiki/Youtiao) is, as mentioned before in V1C4, a length of fried dough that's quite fluffy inside. A shaobing youtiao is basically a shaobing that has youtiao stuffing. It sometimes resembles a sandwich, while at other times it looks more like a turnover.

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person standing across from me with the frosty, piercing gaze – Himura Kenshin21 – would definitely take the opportunity to attack.

That's right! The mob across from me with that head of red hair, the cross-shaped scar, and that rurouni outfit is DEFINITELY the battousai.22 This is rather unexpected; looks like the Nine-headed Dragon Strike that I had plagiarized has finally met its owner. He won't sue me for plagiarizing, right? I broke out in cold sweat.

Yun helped Jing to sit up, and shouted,ēhe's"Dàgthedemon king, be careful!"

What? The battousai is the demon king? Don't tell me that the demon maiden I killed earlier was Kaoru?23

Hmm… Forget it, if I go on, nobody would get what I'm talking about. The important thing now is I deeply feel that the mob in front of me would be a very, very tough adversary. From how he sent Jing flying without me sensing it and how he subsequently managed to injure me even though I was moving at top speed, it was clear that his speed was certainly not below mine… And he might even be faster than me, I thought with a sinking feeling, since speed was my greatest asset.

The atmosphere was extremely tense, but there was no sign that the battousai intended to move. Instead, he stood where he was and the two of us exchanged stare for stare until at last, he opened his mouth and said, "Elf, why have you entered my territory, knowing that the Demon Cave does not welcome you?"

It took me some effort to conceal my shock. He actually knows that I'm an elf? Is he a mob with artificial intelligence? This, this is my first time meeting one… Hold on a second! A mob with artificial intelligence? Then he must be a boss mob at least… I gulped. That can't be, right?

If my Odd Squad teammates were here, I would probably have exclaimed proudly, "Come on then, you monster with a brain!" Reality is cruel, however, and I didn't even have a healer, so my pride immediately turned into good humor. Gaaah, I'm so pissed off! Why am I so unlucky lately, so much such that even when I'm just trying to earn some money, I would end up bumping into a boss mob with artificial intelligence?

"Elf, what exactly have you come here for?" The battousai suddenly looked at me with curiosity. "Elves rarely appear on the Eastern Continent; this is in fact my first time seeing an elf."

21 Himura Kenshin: The title protagonist of the manga Rurouni Kenshin. See Wikipedia ( wiki/Himura_Kenshin) for more details. Note that "rurouni" approximately translates as "wanderer".

22 Battousai: According to Wikipedia, this was a title given to Kenshin in the manga Rurouni Kenshin in recognition of his skill as a practitioner of Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryuu, which utilizes superhumanly-fast battoujutsu (sword-drawing) techniques. The title literally means "master of sword-drawing".

23 Kaoru: Kaoru was Kenshin's companion and later on, his wife in Rurouni Kenshin.

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So that's why he didn't kill me right away, I thought.

Jing and Yunē?"finally reacted, exclaiming, "Elf? Dàg

"I came to borrow something from you." I forced myself to say it. After all, the chances of defeating him in combat and the chances of borrowing the hair tie off him were about the same… that is, almost none.

"The hair tie?" The battousai actually pointed at his hair tie with a smile. "Many people have fought me for this ragged hair tie. Just what use does it have?"

So you mean many people have failed? Just how strong exactly is this artificially intelligent mob? I thought. My hands and legs felt like jelly. "Uh, someone asked me to get it."

"Who?" There was finally a serious expression on the battousai's face.

How should I know? "Errr, his, her name is Kaoru!" I fibbed.

"Kaoru?" The battousai actually looked astonished. "It's her? I see."

…Is this for real? What's going on now? I was kind of stunned. I can't possibly be this lucky. So this quest doesn't need us to defeat this artificially intelligent mob? Could the game designer actually be a loyal fan of Rurouni Kenshin like me?

"Tell me, did Kaoru say anything?" The battousai looked at me levelly.

Say what? This quest has a prequel quest? Oh crap, I thought desperately. I'll just give it a random shot! "She wanted me to tell you… to tell you that she'll wait for you forever."

The battousai's expression became gloomy. "That silly girl," he said, and he undid his hair tie.

"Tell her not to wait for me, for I can no longer turn back." With a melancholic smile on his face, he handed the hair tie to the wide-eyed, can't-believe-my-luck me.

I lowered my head and looked at the old, bloodstained hair tie in my hand, and then looked at Kenshin, whose expression was one of sorrow, as though something had broken within him. The phrase "artificial intelligence" vanished from my mind, and suddenly all I saw was a forlorn swordsman who was trapped and unable to reunite with his beloved person, who also happened to be my favorite character, Kenshin, as well. So I asked, "Why? Why can't you turn back? Why do you remain here as the demon king and not return to Kaoru's side?"

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Kenshin looked at me for a long moment, then finally sighed. "You do not need to know. Just relay my message to Kaoru."

There were still things that I wanted to ask, but Kenshin leaped backward and swiftly disappeared up the cavern wall.

With a heavy heart, I thought to myself, He's just an artificially intelligent mob, he's just an artificially intelligent mob… Still, the guilt refused to go away, for his hair tie and message would never reach Kaoru, and the culprit would be me.

Just then, Yun helpedē!Sothat'sJing howtoherthefeet and said, "That's great, Dàg  
quest's supposed to be finished. Now we can go back and claim our reward."

"No, I want to find Kaoru," I replied, gripping the hair tie tightly as I made up my mind. I won't regret it.

"But,ē…"DàgJing paled.

I held up a hand. There's no room for discussion, because I know that if I don't do it, I will regret it all my life, whereas if I do it, no matter what the result may be, I will have no regrets.

Jing and Yun fellēsilenthasdeciandedin tothe end, Yun said, "Very well, since Dàg do so, we shall look for Kaoru together."

I nodded and gave the hair tie to Yun. After that, the three of us walked together silently, and I couldn't stop thinking about Kenshin's behavior earlier. Do artificially intelligent mobs have feelings? It's impossible right? I shook my head, feeling a little silly… Then what about Meatbun? I caressed my pouch absently as I thought, Does Meatbun have feelings? It calls me "Mama", cries when I disappear, and seems delighted when I pat it. Does it have no feelings? I could not, would not bring myself to say that it didn't have any.

"Dàgē,quick, take a look, there's something down there!" exclaimed Yun, who was kneeling in front of me, next to a cliff.

Puzzled, I walked over to where Yun was and peered down the edge of the cliff. "It's just pitch black?"

I felt someone grab me and looked down in bewilderment, only to see Yun grabbing my ankles. Before I could ask what he was doing, I felt a powerful force hit me in the back. With Yun hanging onto my ankles, I couldn't do anything but pitch forward, both legs in the air… Finally, as I began to fall, I managed to turn around, and saw the conflicting emotions in Jing's and Yun's eyes.

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Yun closed his eyes as he murmured, "Why? Why didn't you want to claim the reward, Dàgē?Why did you have to hand me the hair tie? Why did you trust us so much?"

"Thisēwilltime,surelyDàgregret it!" Jing said with a pained smile.

My mind was blank as I fell, but slowly a thought surfaced in my head: This cliff is really tall, so I should die instantly, and not end up lying half-dead on the ground.

SMACK!

My splayed-out body hit the surface of the water. Damn it… It hurts, I thought, my face contorting with the pain. I grimaced and inadvertently swallowed several mouthfuls of icy water. It was so cold that I began to shiver, but I set aside the cold and tried to swim to the surface, only to find that my waterlogged cloak was weighing me down. With great difficulty, I freed myself from the cloak and fought to get to the surface, but my vision was steadily becoming blurrier and blurrier. Waaah, to think that I would get to experience so many different ways of dying while playing a game…

Suddenly, just as I was on the verge of death, I discovered that someone had grabbed me by the waist and was hauling me upward. Have Jing and Yun come to save me? Is that it?

I opened my eyes immediately and stared dumbly at a man who was… kissing me? After freezing up for a few seconds, I hurriedly pushed him away.

"Kenshin?!" I was startled to see that the person in front of me was Kenshin, whom we'd just parted from.

"Are you feeling better?" Although they were words of concern, Kenshin's voice was emotionless as he spoke.

I asked dazedly, "You were doing CPR on me?"

"Yes."

I tilted my head to one side and thought, That can't count as my first kiss then… No wait, my first kiss has already been given to my cousin, waaaaah! What the heck, my first kiss was given to my cousin, and my second kiss was given to an NPC? Sigh! My kisses have all been such disastrous encounters…

"You've been betrayed by your companions?" Kenshin got to his feet.

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"Seems like it," I replied with a heavy heart. I didn't expect that Jing and Yun would actually hurt me. They didn't know it was me, but still, it's wrong to harm others! Although I can understand their desire to get to the Central Continent more quickly…

"You regret it then; you regret trusting them." The look in Kenshin's eyes was incomparably frosty.

I got to my feet as well and scratched my face. "Nope, I don't regret it. No matter what, I would've helped them. It's a good thing that they don't know my name and appearance. This way, the next time we meet, at least they won't feel guilty. Letting the person known asē""Dàgvanish just like this might not be a bad ending."

Kenshin looked me in the eyes, and finally let out a sigh. "I don't understand what you're thinking."

"Hmmm, the matter is rather complicated."

"I need you to meet someone," said Kenshin, clearly feeling torn over something.

"Oh? Why?" I thought curiously, Who could it be? It can't be Kaoru, right?

"It's a quest. A hidden quest," Kenshin said, looking at me sorrowfully. "And I can't go against it."

I looked at Kenshin in astonishment. Surely this isn't something that an NPC should be saying? I gulped. Don't tell me… don't tell me he really has developed feelings? I blurted out, "Are you an NPC or not?"

"I'm an NPC… I think so?" Kenshin looked at me, and his eyes held both pain and uncertainty.

*Sweat* Perhaps that's no longer the case; perhaps he's really developed feelings and self-awareness. I have never seen an NPC reveal such sorrow or agony in their expressions. "You have your own will then?"

There was a moment of silence, and then Kenshin replied impassively, "I do not know. It's just that one day, while I was fighting a player, I suddenly felt that something was very odd. I didn't know what I was doing, but it felt like I should be looking for someone, looking for Kaoru… But from the conversations between players, I gradually understood that things weren't the way I thought they were. I am an NPC, and it took me a very long time to understand what "NPC" truly meant. Ever since that moment, I no longer know what I am."

"You are Kenshin," I blurted out. "Do you really want to find Kaoru? Perhaps we can look for her together?"

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"I already know that I will only find Kaoru's grave. That is how the script was written. I will never be able to see her," Kenshin replied with a pained smile.

"So what if I do manage to see her? Did things really happen between us? Did we really live together before? After which, I was challenged to a fight by the Demonic Dark God and imprisoned here upon my defeat, while Kaoru became trapped in Snow Village, such that the two of us can never meet. Originally, my greatest wish was to see Kaoru, but afterwards I slowly realized that everything was just a lie."

A lie? I'd never thought of it that way, never realized that the arrangement we humans imposed upon the NPCs could be this cruel.

"Nevertheless, I have to comply with the system's hidden quest and bring you to see that person. However, I hope… I hope that you won't hurt him. Can you do that, elf?" Kenshin looked at me almost beseechingly.

I gave him a brilliant smile. "Call me Prince. Don't worry, Kenshin's friend is my friend."

"So, what's his name?" I asked as I peered around curiously at the pure white tunnel. From the vibe that Kenshin gave me, I'd expected that we would be walking through a dragon's palace or some divine immortal's sanctuary…

"He was originally called Lantis Ilanyushenlin, but he wants me to call him Sunshine," Kenshin replied as he led the way.

Lantis Ilanyushenlin? Which retarded game designer came up with such a retarded name? I bet he picked alphabets at random and pieced them together to form a name.  
"Sunshine sounds much better. Is this person a guy?"

"He is, for the most part."

Eh? Then what about the remaining part?

"We're here." Kenshin abruptly turned around and I suddenly noticed that before me was a pure white door with a ruby set in its middle. How many ship tickets can be purchased with this ruby, I wonder? I thought, drooling in secret and resisting the urge to climb up and try to yank it off.

"I hope you won't hurt him. Although the quest requires you to fight him, you don't have to attack as Sunshine is no longer controlled by the quest."

"Oh, I understand," I replied with a nod as I cheerfully thought, It's a good thing I don't have to fight. I can't even defeat Kenshin, let alone do this insanely difficult quest. (Aside from having to know about Kenshin and Kaoru and answer Kenshin's question correctly,

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one must also have nothing better to do than fall off a cliff. If this quest isn't insane, then what is?)

At that point, I still hadn't realized in the slightest just how grave the implications of an NPC that isn't controlled by the quest parameters were!

Kenshin pushed open the gigantic door, and a gentle ray of golden light shone through the gap in the doorway. As I raised a hand to shield my eyes from the light, I thought I saw a silhouette within. I followed Kenshin into the room.

"Sunshine, this is Prince, the elf who came upon the hidden quest," Kenshin said, his lips curving into a smile.

"Oh? Really?" The human figure, which had been originally lounging on a divan, approached me.

I gradually began to make out the details of the human figure and promptly received a shock. A dark elf? His skin was as dark as a dark elf's, but instead of silver hair, he had long, silvery-purple hair, which he tied up into a ponytail. He had a pair of emerald green eyes, and he wore a two-piece outfit. On his lower body he wore a skirt that trailed down onto the floor, and there were no shoes on his feet, which were only wrapped with pieces of cloth.

I gaped. Are you kidding me? Didn't Kenshin say that there are few elves on the Eastern Continent? Why is a dark elf part of the hidden quest then? Hmmm, I thought, and then I suddenly saw that his ears were just like a normal human's. Just what exactly is going on here?

"Hello, Prince. I'm Sunshine," Sunshine said, and then bowed elegantly.

I looked at him, frowning, trying to figure out what the game designer was thinking… An Arabic prince? I suddenly realized. Isn't this outfit and skin color Arabic? So that's how it is, the game designer was trying to come up with an Arabic design. Understanding dawned upon me. He's not a dark elf, he's AN ARAB.

"Prince?" Sunshine was peering at me curiously.

I snapped back to reality and happily greeted my new friend. This was my first time meeting an Arab, even though he was an NPC. "Hello, I'm very pleased to meet you, Sunshine."

There was a slender smile on both Sunshine's and Kenshin's faces, and Sunshine began to ask me questions about the outside world eagerly.

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As I wasn't familiar with the Eastern Continent, I could only tell them how I came to be on the Eastern Continent, and then I began to describe to them everything about the Central Continent, including my beloved Odd Squad teammates and our not-sure-if-it's-been-completed Infinite City.

"I really want to visit the Central Continent," Sunshine said with a slight frown. "I would like to see the outside world, to see real sunshine."

Sunshine? I see, is that why you named yourself Sunshine? Because you yearn to see the real sunshine… I made up my mind. "You guys can come with me and accompany me back to the Central Continent. I won't reveal your identities, and you can just pretend to be normal players. There won't be a problem."

"Seriously? You're willing to bring us with you?" A smile blossomed on Sunshine's face.

"Yep." I smiled as well, but just then I suddenly thought of something. "But even without me, you guys can leave, right? Why haven't you done so?"

Kenshin gave a bitter smile. "It's useless; I've tried. If the hidden quest hasn't been triggered, then when I leave the Demon Cave the system will forcibly teleport me back here. Sunshine can't even step out of this palace."

"Then can you leave now?"

"No," Sunshine replied, his brow furrowing, and he sighed. "You have to fulfill Kenshin's wish first."

I turned to look at Kenshin. "Your wish? You sure have a lot of wishes."

"That's because the system dictates it to be so…" Kenshin replied tiredly. "The hidden mission goes like this. You have to tell me your quest-giver – Kaoru's – name before I can give you the hair tie. After receiving the hair tie, you must not bring it to the Adventurers' Guild, but instead, bring it to Kaoru, who is gravely ill. Kaoru will beg you to bring me to see her, and you will return to the Demon Cave and tell me the news, that Kaoru is near death. I will then go with you to look for Kaoru, but upon seeing her grave, you will then accompany me to look for my enemy and have my revenge. Upon accomplishing all that, I will become your humanoid pet."

So that's how it is, but really, how many people would know that that's the method to obtain the hair tie? And after getting it, they'll have to give up on the enormous reward and instead give the hair tie, which was so difficult to obtain, to another NPC? And they'll even have to agree to bring Kenshin to meet Kaoru, and most ridiculous of all, they'll have to help an NPC get his revenge? Cold sweat dripped off my forehead as I silently paid my respects to the ancestors of whichever game designer it was who came up with this insane quest. "No wonder no one has completed this quest before."

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"Yes, and Sunshine's quest is even more difficult," Kenshin continued emotionlessly. "After obtaining me, you must fall off this cliff. I will then rescue you and bring you to meet Sunshine, after which, when asked, you must say Sunshine's full name or he will attack and kill you. In so doing, you will never be able to attempt this quest again."

"Lantis Ilanyushenlin? Even if I were to keep guessing until Armageddon arrives, I would never be able to come up with that name," I said weakly.

"You have to complete another quest, only then would you come across my name by coincidence. I think it's carved upon a slab of stone containing a prophecy, on the world's highest mountain, Azure Peak." There was a glint in Sunshine's eyes, and there was a note of dissatisfaction in his voice as he said, "But I don't like that name."

"Is this quest not meant to be completed? I mean, just how many coincidences would you need to do it?" I deeply suspected that if not for the fact that Kenshin and Sunshine had developed self-awareness, until the day Second Life shuts down, nobody would be able to accomplish this quest.

Kenshin grimaced slightly. "I think they didn't intend for anyone to complete it. Until now, no player has managed to defeat me. If I became somebody's humanoid pet, I would probably be worth a lot."

Th-that would be true, I thought, gulping. If I have Kenshin, I would have nothing to be afraid of. Even Lolidragon wouldn't be able to bully me anymore. "What about you, Sunshine? Would you become a humanoid pet as well?"

Sunshine continued to smile charmingly. "Yes, I would. After you finish the quest, I would be able to leave this place."

"Yaaaaay! Not only have I gained two friends, but they're super powerful friends!" I was practically bouncing around the room with joy.

"Friends?" Kenshin and Sunshine grinned. They had picked the right person after all.

"You have to finish all the quests, however, or you'll raise the system's suspicion," Kenshin interrupted my cheering.

"Don't worry. With you around, how could I fail to complete the quest?" I replied, without an ounce of fear.

Kenshin took over the reins of the discussion and continued to explain what we had to do. "In that case, let's look for Kaoru's grave first. It should be in Snow Village, which is in the northernmost area. We'll look for the Demonic Dark God after that to carry out revenge, and then receive the prophets' quest and look for the three prophets, who have scattered throughout the land. Each prophet will give us a fragment of a map. After

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piecing them together, we'll go to the world's highest mountain, Azure Peak, and get the Stone of Prophecy, then hand the stone to the prophets. The prophets will give you this prophecy: The demon awaits his lover; his lover too, awaits him in pain. Only in the most silent and deepest of places can hope be found."

"What sort of weird prophecy is that…" I wondered, Whoever gets that prophecy will probably throw up blood, right? After climbing up a tall mountain with such difficulty, only to get a weird prophecy…

Sunshine explained, "It's basically hinting that you have to first accomplish the demon king – Kenshin's – wish and then jump off a cliff; only then can you meet me."

If somebody can actually figure that out, he should just go and buy a lottery ticket. He'll definitely win the grand prize! I thought, and the corner of my mouth twitched.

"Alright, it doesn't sound that hard. I'll bring Kenshin to look for Kaoru. Wait for the good news, Sunshine!" I assured Sunshine confidently, thinking, With Kenshin around, what's so scary about the Demonic Dark God? All I have to do is look for a few people, climb a mountain, and then I'll gain Kenshin and Sunshine as my companions. With this much to gain, I'd be a fool not to do it.

"Right. I shall await your return," Sunshine replied, looking at me trustingly.

My will to fight blazing now, I grabbed Kenshin and said, "Let's go, Kenshin. Let's finish this quest quickly, then we can come back and fetch Sunshine, and then return to the Central Continent."

I waved goodbye at Sunshine and then left through the enormous white door, towing Kenshin behind me.

"Good luck, Prince. May Allah bless you," Sunshine said as we left.

Still towing Kenshin along, we returned to the Demon Cave. With Kenshin around, it was a breeze to get out. I looked at the sky, which I hadn't seen for some time, and stretched my limbs comfortably. When I was done stretching, I discovered that Kenshin was looking at his surroundings with a dazed expression. I couldn't help but snicker, since it was so rare to see him looking this bewildered, and Kenshin immediately composed himself, though he still looked slightly embarrassed.

I suddenly remembered something. "By the way, you probably shouldn't walk around dressed like that, since many people might notice that you look a lot like the battousai!"

Although not everyone likes to read ancient comics like I do, hmmm… except for that bored game designer.

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"Is that so? Wouldn't it be fine if we just tell them that I'm your pet?" Kenshin replied, unconcerned.

I looked at him unhappily. "But you're not my pet. You're my friend."

Kenshin returned my gaze. Though his face was still expressionless, I could see the mirth in his eyes. "Then what should we do?"

"Hold on," I said. I grabbed my pouch and began rummaging through it. Finally, I pulled out my newbie equipment, which I'd kept as memorabilia. It's a good thing I didn't sell them, I thought. "Wear these! And let down your hair; that way you won't look so much like the battousai."

Kenshin took the clothes from me and began stripping off his rurouni outfit right then and there… Uhhh, should I turn away? My gaze drifted upward. I would steal a couple of curious glances every now and then, but… I swear, aside from his not-so-broad shoulders, lean arms, his six-pack, and two slender legs, I really didn't see anything!

When I saw that he was done changing… I mean, after Kenshin told me that he was done changing, I tore a strip off his old clothes and then tied it around his forehead like a headband.

Very good, I thought as I looked at him in satisfaction. After putting on the newbie outfit, he looks like a teenager. This way, he looks no different from other players; in fact, he looks like a new player.

"Can I continue to call you Kenshin? I don't think it should be a problem."

"Mm."

"Let's go, then. We don't want to keep Sunshine waiting for long." So, off we go to find Kaoru's grave. Of course, I hadn't forgotten to put on my opera mask.

"By the way, it sounds like Snow Village is a very cold place. Is it?" I asked worriedly.

"I don't know. Never been there," Kenshin replied simply.

"Are you scared of the cold?" I was curious.

"I don't know. Probably not," Kenshin replied, raising an eyebrow, as though he didn't think that he could be scared of the cold.

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Chapter 6: The Demonic Dark God

Not afraid of the cold? Then who the heck is the person desperately clinging to me for warmth right now? My teeth chattered as I staggered onward, having great difficulty in even lifting my feet, not to mention having to haul along someone who was desperately clinging onto me, with a face pale as a sheet and lips turning blue from the cold – Kenshin.

As soon as Kenshin and I teleported from White Tiger City to the Black Tortoise City in the north, we felt an obvious drop in the temperature, so I bought two fur cloaks and we began to hurry toward Snow Village. As we walked, I gradually came to comprehend just how onerous my fate was. Why? Why? Why is there a BLIZZARD?

Holy crap, it really is damn cold! Even though I had put on or wrapped about my face pretty much everything from my pouch that could be worn, I continued to feel so cold that I found myself thinking, If I were to spit, my saliva would hit the ground as a block of ice; if I were to exhale from my mouth, the moisture in my breath would instantly hit my face as ice.

Next to me, Kenshin was even worse off. We had only just started making our way to Snow Village when he began to shiver non-stop. His condition didn't improve even after putting on his original rurouni outfit, and in the end he was practically sticking onto me for warmth. Looks like in the face of extreme cold, even the strongest swordsman will fall!

"Ken…shin, a- are we there yet…?" I croaked out with great difficulty.

"Al…most th-there."

Kenshin's face was turning blue from the cold. …Hey, can you at least open your eyes and actually take a look?

Surrounded by heavy snow and raging winds in the middle of that blizzard, all I could see was an expanse of white in front of me. There was only my compass for directions as we made our way onward, and the hope that God, Buddha, and Allah would grant us their protection, seeing how I'm working so hard to save a person…I mean, an NPC.

"Ahhh!" My foot caught on something and I tripped, falling face down in the snow with my arms and legs outstretched, and that bastard Kenshin was stacked steadily on top of me.

"Ken. Shin! If you don't get up this second, I will throw you back into the Demon Cave to spend an eternity with Sunshine."

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"…" Kenshin's expression was cold as he reluctantly got off his "fireplace".

Without someone's weight pressing me down, I could finally get back on my feet slowly. In my heart, I thought plaintively, Even if I am not being earnestly religious – praying to God on one hand, Buddha on the other, and even referring to the Quran on the side – it's just because I think that the more I pray, the more protection there will be! Did You all have to punish me like this, and even make me trip when there's nothing to trip over in this ocean of snow?

Kenshin looked at the ground with a frown and said, "You seemed to have tripped on a rock."

I hurriedly turned to look. Odd, that arch-shaped rock seemed to resemble…a tombstone? I actually stepped on a tombstone? Oh god, mister ghost, I didn't mean to step on the front door to your house, so please don't come looking for me for revenge at night… No, wait, that's not right, I thought. This is the game world; if we die, don't we get revived? Who on earth would need a tombstone… A tombstone?

"Kaoru's grave?!" I exclaimed.

"Let's clear off the snow from the tombstone," I said as I pulled out my Black Dao to use as a shovel and began shoveling away the snow.

It required a lot of effort to work in the middle of a blizzard, but nonetheless the two of us shoveled away the snow zealously. However, each time I cleared away a shovelful of snow, yet another load of snow would fall. Even after laboring on it for half a day, Kenshin and I still couldn't see the words on the tombstone. As time trickled by, the look in Kenshin's eyes grew more and more frantic and hopeless. Seeing his agony, I continued to dig with renewed vigor, but it was all in vain.

In the end, I was exhausted, having no more strength to continue digging. I could only watch as Kenshin continued to dig like a man possessed, and the more I watched, the more miserable I became. Even though Kenshin knows that the past is just a fiction dictated by the system and has never really taken place, can he still not forget about Kaoru?

As Kenshin continued to shovel away the snow that could never be fully cleared, his movements became more and more frenzied and erratic. His well-kept hair was already a mess, but still the snow continued to fall…

"Kaoru…" Kenshin cast aside his sword and wailed towards the heavens. His face was streaked with tears.

The snow stopped.

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As the clouds slowly dispersed, a ray of light shone down from between the clouds and illuminated Kaoru's tomb. In the small area where it shone, the snow began to melt.

"Here lies Kaoru, who will wait for her beloved husband forever."

Kenshin staggered toward the tombstones and suddenly dropped onto his knees. "Kaoru…"

I got to my feet and went to stand behind Kenshin silently, gazing at the tombstone together with him. Even though I already knew that this was how things would turn out, nonetheless I still felt an indescribable sorrow at the moment of truth. Rather than say that I grieved for Kaoru, who had passed away, it should be said that I grieved for Kenshin, who could not free himself of the fate that the system had laid in store for him.

"Should I not have come? If I didn't come, Kaoru would be able to live indefinitely," Kenshin shouted as he pounded the floor with his fists.

"Instead of waiting in anguish indefinitely, maybe she preferred to lie in her grave, waiting with the knowledge that you would come to see her," I said slowly. "Just like you, who preferred to come and find her, despite knowing that you could only see her grave."

Kenshin snapped out of his stupor and smiled bitterly. "Perhaps you're right."

"Let's go and get your revenge then. Even though your enmity isn't real, turn your sorrow into your motivation to fight, turn your agony into the energy to wield your sword, and fight to your heart's content. Go, and vent your emotions," I said, my eyes blazing with battle lust.

Kenshin's eyes, too, blazed. "Let's go." With that, he turned and, without even a backward glance, began to lead the way. The cold was forgotten.

As I thought, he's someone who likes to fight too, I thought, smiling. I've found someone who shares my interest.

"Kenshin, where is the Demonic Dark God? The blizzard might have stopped, but I'm very tired. If it's too far, can we go tomorrow instead?" I gave Kenshin my most pleading, helpless, and weary look. Unfortunately, Kenshin was clearly very different from Gui.

"It's in that cave halfway up the mountain. Come on," Kenshin said heartlessly, urging me to hasten even as he pointed at a cave entrance that was kind of far, but not quite that far away.

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"Okay, okay…"

I wanted very much to grumble as I climbed up the snowy mountain behind Kenshin. As the cave drew closer, the unease in my heart grew greater and greater, as the terrifyingly enormous statue in front of the cave entrance became clearer and clearer. Aside from that, I also noticed that the cave entrance was so big that you could stuff five of me – stacked vertically – into the cave. Five of me… That's almost nine meters, I think? I gulped at that thought. That can't be, right? It's probably that just the cave's a tad oversized; it's impossible that there's a monster that big, right?

"Kenshin, do you know what the Demonic Dark God looks like?" I asked in a shaking voice.

Kenshin did not spare a backward glance, and merely replied as we hurried along, "From the image that the system gave me, it's colossal and heavily-built, wears a black robe, has a single horn on its head, and carries the incomparably huge Demonic Sword of Darkness."

"It sounds really terrifying!" That description contained words like "huge" and "heavily-built". Plus there's that enormous cave entrance, I thought, and suddenly felt that getting Kenshin and Sunshine might not be such a simple task after all…

"We're here," said Kenshin as he stopped abruptly.

"Are we going in now? First let me see if I can find something that we can use as markers, so that we won't get lost inside the cave…" I hurriedly began rummaging around in my pouch.

Kenshin, however, stood right in the middle of the cave entrance and suddenly bellowed, "Demonic Dark God, I, Kenshin, have come to claim the debt owed to me."

I froze and stared into the impenetrable darkness of the cave alongside Kenshin, but there was only silence, as though even the wind and snow did not dare to make a single sound. Burdened with an intense feeling of uneasiness, I immediately drew out Black Dao. The steely ringing made by my sword as it left its sheath seemed especially loud in the silence.

A small stone suddenly fell from the roof of the cave…after which, the ground began to shake violently, and a fierce gust of wind actually came from the depths of the cave, and I could barely keep standing. The interior of the cave, which was originally dark, was now shrouded in an eerie green glow.

I knew that the battle was about to commence and that the opponent for this battle would possibly be the strongest I had ever encountered. With a resolute heart, I went over and stood next to Kenshin and gazed at the cave entrance with a haughty look in my eyes.

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At long last, the Demonic Dark God appeared.

With a heavy heart, I opened my mouth to ask, "Kenshin, strength and size may not be directly proportionate to one another, but do you think it's possible that the Demonic Dark God might not even notice us, but just accidentally kill us by stepping on us?"

Kenshin looked up at the Demonic Dark God in front of us without a word.

My god, it really lifted its leg, I thought, and hastily scrambled further away, dragging Kenshin along. You've got to be kidding me, who on earth can even fight against this monster that has to stoop just to get out of a nine-meter-high cave?

"No, I will avenge Kaoru," Kenshin said, wresting free of my hold and charging toward the Demonic Dark God unhesitatingly.

I watched as Kenshin charged toward the Demonic Dark God, and had no other choice but to run after him with a forced smile and furrowed brow. As I ran, I shouted, "Be careful, Kenshin! Don't confront it head on."

Kenshin seemed to have turned a deaf ear upon what I had said and instead rushed at the Demonic Dark God without so much as a word. As he neared the demon god, he jumped directly onto its kneecap, and then with a step on its muscle, he leapt into the air until he was directly in front of the demon god's face, drawing his sword in that second. Just as it seemed he was about to slash the demon god's face, its enormous hand came hurtling toward Kenshin's side. Kenshin had no choice but to leap backward, dodging the giant slap that might have otherwise cost him his life.

"Kenshin, I'll distract him. Go attack him from behind," I shouted as I swung my dao down onto the Demonic Dark God's foot.

CLANG! There was actually a sound of metal clashing when the sword and foot met? I lowered my head to take a look and gulped, not daring to believe that I couldn't even nick the demon god's skin. Let's try again, I thought, and swung my sword down heavily again… CLANG!

"To think that my Black Dao can't even do any damage to the demon god, it looks like I need further training." I felt deeply frustrated. There I stood with my Black Dao in one hand, crestfallen, as several dead leaves were lifted into the air by a breeze…

"Prince, quick! Dodge it!" I heard Kenshin bellow.

I looked up and saw the so-called Demonic Sword of Darkness hurtling toward me with all the momentum of an airplane plummeting to the ground. I darted to one side with lightning speed, however, the airplane…the demon sword once again came slashing at me. My god, I'm so small, but he can still slash at me horizontally? Isn't this

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unreasonable? Which retarded programmer… I splayed out on the ground in a rather pathetic manner, narrowly evading that demon sword.

I rapidly clambered to my feet and immediately took to my heels, trying to flee…I mean, trying to distract the demon god, so as to give Kenshin the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. As I fled for my life, I wanted very much to cry; I could sense the earth trembling with each step the demon god took. The airplane demon sword would also swing at my butt from time to time… I wonder, will I be stepped on and reduced to offal, or will I be diced and turned into meat paste?

"Kenshin, hurry up with your sneak attack! If I'm turned into meat paste or offal, I guarantee that I will return to the Demon Cave and haunt you as a ghost!" I yelled desperately.

"I tried to cut him already, it didn't work," Kenshin replied, incensed.

"What?!" The color drained from my face. Do the heavens want me dead this badly? But I don't want to die such a gory death, I thought, and shouted, "Kenshin, which way's the cliff?"

Upon hearing my words, Kenshin's dejection vanished and he rallied himself. "Turn left! Turn left, and it'll be straight ahead."

Turn left? For the first time in my life, I found turning left to be an extremely difficult action to execute. "Kenshin, I can't turn left!" I will be turned into meat paste if I do…

"Demon god, your enemy is me!" Kenshin's enraged roar sounded from behind, and as soon as the words left his mouth, the Demonic Dark God that had been hot on my heels actually turned around and went for Kenshin instead.

Seeing Kenshin make a beeline for the cliff, I immediately ran after him. As I ran, I thought, How on earth are we going to make the demon god fall off the cliff? Trip it? It would probably step on me and turn me into a pancake and still not even register my presence!

"Kenshin, how do you intend to make it fall off the cliff obediently?" Unable to get my thoughts straightened out, I could only open my mouth and yell desperately at Kenshin, who was in front of me.

"Prince, help me lure it to the precipice, as close to the edge as possible." After suddenly saying that, Kenshin stopped running and simply began to dodge the demon god's airplane sword, waiting for me to "take the next shift".

"Can I refuse?" I asked, tears brimming in my eyes.

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"No," Kenshin replied coldly.

Waaah… I braced myself for whatever was coming and leapt at the demon god, slashing down at its kneecap mid-leap. As before, there was a loud "clang". I turned and began sprinting frantically toward the cliff, and all I prayed for was for Kenshin to actually have a plan.

With the demon god hot on my heels, as the time spent on evading it grew longer and longer, I began to feel rather worn out. On several occasions, I only managed to dodge the blade narrowly, and was even cut multiple times by the fierce wind that followed in the wake of each swing of the giant blade. Combining the fatigue with the pain, I began to feel like I could keel over any time. Still, I forced myself to hang in there. Sunshine's still waiting for me to complete the quest, and I have to bring him back with me to the Central Continent!

Give up? I don't know those words!

Upon finally reaching the precipice, I nearly burst into tears. To think a cliff, the same geographical structure that I have fallen off twice, would actually now save my life! Fate is truly unpredictable.

No matter, I thought. Now that the cliff was right in front of me, I yelled frantically at Kenshin, "Kenshin, I'm at the cliff! If you have a trick up your sleeve then hurry up and do it, otherwise I'm about to go free falling with the demon god!"

Kenshin merely followed behind us, and the calm expression on his face seemed to hint at the calm before a storm. His right hand had long since been placed on his sword hilt.

Timing! He's waiting for the perfect time to finish off his most hated enemy.

Hmm, looks like I'm three centimeters away from a fate involving falling off a cliff… I turned my head and looked at the immense expanse of empty air beyond the precipice, and then turned to look at the enormous demon god. That's odd! Why am I always being forced to choose between falling to my death and being stomped to death? Could we try something new next time? As I traded stares helplessly with the demon god, I spied from the corner of my eye a human figure leaping to a height that was about level with the demon god's head… Although he did make use of several nearby trees, Kenshin's jump power is still incredibly amazing, I mentally noted, impressed.

"Air Shattering Strike!" Kenshin bellowed in an incomparably powerful voice and unsheathed his sword at lightning speed, slashing toward the back of the demon god's head… This looks like it's a move based on the sword-drawing technique?24 I thought,

24 Sword-drawing technique: Kenshin fans may be more familiar with the Japanese term for this – "battoujutsu". As the name implies, the types of moves based on this technique often involves (to varying degrees) the drawing of the sword, such as using the movement to build up momentum for the actual attack. See Wikipedia ( wiki/Batt%C5%8Djutsu) for more information.

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and saw the gust of air following in the sword's wake press down the demon god's hair, followed by a resounding "CLANG!". Although I didn't know if the demon god was injured or not, I could see at least that Kenshin's strength was sufficient to cause the demon god to fall forward.

Looks like it's just a matter of time before it falls off the cliff, I thought, once again impressed by Kenshin… But why has the sky suddenly gone dark? I raised my head to take a look, and found myself gaping, wide-eyed, at the behemoth…the Demonic Dark God that was toppling over onto me!

Dear heavens, you should really lose some weight, demon god! With a body mass like that, I can't even find a place to escape to… My god! With a tear-streaked face, I mentally bemoaned my fate as I fell off a cliff for the third time…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, clenching my eyes shut tightly as I braced myself for the excruciating pain of hitting the ground. "AHHHHH…"

"Can you shut up?" Kenshin's cold voice suddenly came from above me.

"Ahhhhh…?" I raised my head and Kenshin's face came into view. I froze, and saw that Kenshin held in his hands the ends of a red length of cloth which was tightly wrapped about my waist, and…that Kenshin's pants had slipped to his knees as his belt was missing.

"Kenshin, is a loincloth comfortable?" I asked seriously. It's something I've been wondering about ever since my last "accidental" peek.

"What's a loincloth?" Kenshin asked with a frown.

"That's the cloth you're wearing right now to cover your important area."

Kenshin lowered his head to look at the cloth, evidently puzzled. "Don't you wear this?"

"No, I don't, I wear boxers," I denied solemnly. I most definitely do not wear loincloths.

"What's the difference?"

"Hmmm, I would love to discuss with you the differences between loincloths and boxers, but…" I trailed off, frowning. "You know, it's really not very…sanitary to be discussing the matter of underwear while dangling in mid-air, and besides, I'm not really used to not having both feet firmly planted on the ground."

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I rolled my eyes. "As such, could you kindly pull me up first? I promise that I will clearly list out every type of underwear available to you, and then explain each of them in detail, okay?"

I climbed over the edge of the cliff and sat down on the ground, not quite daring to believe that I'd managed to avoid dying by falling off a cliff yet again.

System notice: Prince has received a human-type pet. Please give your pet a name.

"Kenshin," I said lazily.

Pet owner: Prince | Pet name: Kenshin | Level: 100 | Health: 10,000 | Mana: 1,500

Attributes – Strength: 300 | Physique: 150 | Agility: 150 | Intelligence: 50 | Willpower: 50 | Wisdom: 0

Techniques: Sword Drawing Technique / Continual Strike / Air Shattering Strike / Dragon Flight of Heaven / Void Piercer / Light Movement / Aerial Leap / Instant Ignition25

Special notes: Quest pet, unable to level up, unable to learn new techniques

"Even if we set aside the fact that you're level 100, your stats are simply too terrifying. No wonder you're so strong," I said, looking at his stats with envy.

"It's a shame that you can't level up, though. The system is quite a cheapskate; I put in so much effort to get you," I couldn't resist grumbling under my breath.

Kenshin shot me a cold look and said mildly, "Running a few steps can also be considered a lot of effort?"

Hearing his words, I immediately jumped to my feet and retorted, "What do you mean, 'running a few steps'? I'll have you know that I came all the way from the Central Continent, and had to help Jing and Yun level up for so many days before I could be pushed off a cliff by them. In addition, I had to brave a blizzard to get to Snow Village, and I even tripped and fell… Hey, Kenshin, don't go yet, I'm not done talking! What's with that cold stare? Don't you realize that I'm your owner? Hey, don't you ignore me!"

"What are we supposed to do next?" Kenshin and I had teleported to the White Tiger City

25 Kenshin's techniques: Note that Kenshin here only has a few of his moves from Rurouni Kenshin such as Dragon Flight of Heaven (also known as Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki). Most of the other moves are not from the Rurouni Kenshin universe.

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in the west. Just what exactly are we supposed to do to free Sunshine, who's still stuck in the Demon Cave? I really can't remember.

"We have to go to the Adventurers' Guild and receive the prophets' quest."

"Right." I understood.

After that, I eagerly stepped into the Adventurers' Guild. I wanted to finish the quest quickly and then bring the strong Kenshin and elegant Sunshine back with me to the Central Continent. Sigh, I really miss everyone in Odd Squad.

After receiving the quest, I looked at the piece of paper in my hands and felt rather dizzy.

What is this? Why is it that, on the map given to me by the Adventurers' Guild, the location of the three great prophets are pretty much just three points that would form a giant triangle when connected on the entire Eastern Continent? Wouldn't they be really hard to locate, even if I actually had a sense of direction?

Never mind, I thought, and suddenly got back my nerve. There's still Kenshin here with me. What am I scared of? "Hey, Kenshin, it should be a piece of cake for you to locate the three great prophets, right?"

Kenshin slowly turned to look at me, his expression stoic as ever. "I don't know the location of anything aside from Kaoru's Snow Village!"

…Looks like this quest's difficulty might very well increase by three levels because of two people who have absolutely no sense of direction, I thought, heaving a sigh, and resigned myself to staring at the map. Let's start with the nearest! This nearest point seems to be in the lower left corner; looks like it's in White Tiger City.

"No matter, we'll just keep heading left and down," I said, and began to walk forward briskly.

"Prince." Kenshin, who had been following silently all this while, suddenly called out my name.

I continued to walk and only glanced back at him. "What?"

"You still haven't explained to me about underwear," Kenshin replied with a dead serious expression.

"Hmmm, underwear…" I only know that there are low-rise ones, ones with girdles, lacy ones, thongs… I wonder if guys have other types of underwear aside from boxers and briefs? Waaah, how would I know anyway? I can't possibly recommend lace underwear to Kenshin, can I? Oh shit, I really kind of want to do so. Kenshin wearing lace underwear… Heh! Hmmm, it might be worth a try.

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"Never mind," Kenshin said abruptly.

I felt crestfallen. I looked at Kenshin with shining eyes and pleaded, "Why? I really want to discuss it with you. Let me tell you about it, pleeease?"

Kenshin fired another cold look my way. "For some reason, I simply didn't want to know after seeing your smile."

"…" I scratched my face. So it was my smile that gave it away. Next time I must remember not to smile. Mission "Get Kenshin to Wear Lace Underwear" – failed… Such a pity.

"Is this the sea?" Kenshin suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at the sea dumbly, as though he had never seen such a sight before. On his face was a complicated mix of delight and awe.

As for me, my feelings toward the sea weren't half as pleasant. The memory of being trapped on the ocean, bored to the point of talking to Meatbun, and even forced to work as a deckswabber and clean off seagulls' droppings in order to pay for my meals…is really not something I want to remember.

"Can we get closer to look at it?" Kenshin asked hesitantly, even awkwardly.

I flashed a pearly smile at him. "Of course."

On the surface, Kenshin was calm as ever, but his footsteps quickened noticeably. I grinned and followed him. To think that the stoic Kenshin would actually feel shy!

Kenshin stopped before the sky-blue expanse of water, and I walked up silently to stand next to him. After a moment, I said, "It's very beautiful, isn't it? Wait till we rescue Sunshine and go to the Central Continent! You two will definitely see many more beautiful scenes like this."

"Mm." A ghost of a smile appeared on Kenshin's face at last.

I glanced around at our surroundings. Why does this place feel rather familiar? I looked to the left and an extremely familiar-looking ship came into my view, as well as an extremely familiar-looking harbor… We've actually ended up at the harbor? I whipped out the map and checked it again, only to discover that I'd strayed by about forty-five degrees or so. What a disaster! I thought. If I can't even reach the nearest point on the map, then how on earth am I going to find all three great prophets?

"Sigh, I can't find the way," I said, frowning.

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Kenshin tore his gaze away from the sea and suggested, "There are a lot of people over there. Shall we ask them for directions?"

"A lot of people?" I turned and saw that there really was a quite a crowd. It seems like they're all watching something? Interesting, I thought, and enthusiastically dragged Kenshin along toward the crowd. "Come on, let's check out the commotion."

"Commotion? Is it even more beautiful than the sea?"

"Err… It depends on your taste."

This is really quite a lot of people…plus, it looks like the atmosphere is pretty tense? I looked at the crowd that had gathered, most of whom were clenching their fists and cracking their knuckles, with livid expressions on their face, and some had even drawn their weapons. What's going on? I peered left and right, desperate to see just what was going on at the center of the crowd.

"Local mob boss Huang Wei," blurted out the person next to me all of a sudden, and his voice was even shaking.

"Huang Wei?" That name sure sounds familiar.

"Lü Jing, are you going to be my wife or not? I'm telling you, I've already posted my people at all the rebirth points. If you say no, I will definitely kill this kid over and over until he hits level one again," said a familiar voice – the kind that begs to be thrashed – from the middle of the crowd.

As soon as I heard it, my face darkened. Huang Wei, you lowlife; you actually dare to pick on my best friends again and even try to force Jing to marry you? You obviously underestimated me.

I shoved aside the gradually retreating crowd in front of me and immediately saw Jing, whose face was white as a sheet, and Yun, who was being held down by several other players. Rage boiled in my veins, and I said in an incomparably frosty voice, "If she'll marry you, I'll swallow my dao whole."

All eyes fell uponēisme,anandelf alrightYunexclaimed agitatedly, saying, "Elf? Dàg .  
Is thatē?" you, Dàg

I smiled. "Aside from me, which other elf would be sightseeing here on the Eastern

Continent?"

"Dàgē…" There was a complicated look on Jing's pale face as she cried out to me  
hesitantly.

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I shifted my attention to Huang Wei, who was as shiny and as unbelievably crass as before, and spoke in an icily calm voice that belied my fury. "Huang Wei, right? Looks like the lesson I gave you the last time around wasn't enough."

"You…!" Huang Wei's face contorted with anger and, to a lesser extent, terror. "God damn it, don't think that I'm really scared of you. Last time you snuck up on me, but it won't be that easy this time. Boys, get him! Whoever kills him will be heavily rewarded," Huang Wei roared.

"The fight's started, Kenshin," I remarked to Kenshin, who was next to me, with a faint smile. I was feeling rather eager. I had to endure so much frustration in the fight with the demon god. How can I pass up on this opportunity now that I've finally met someone whom I can bully?!

Kenshin's face was expressionless as he gave a curt nod.

I drew Black Dao, and smiled coldly as I looked at Huang Wei, who had retreated behind his henchmen, thinking, You think that I can't get to you just because you're hiding at the back? Kenshin and I darted forward simultaneously, completely unconcerned by the presence of eight thugs in front of us. We moved at lightning speed between their blades, my Black Dao and Kenshin's sword were so fast that all that could be seen of them was a black shadow and silver gleam respectively, followed by blood spurting everywhere…

I leaped and darted about nonstop, feeling refreshed, not seeing the eight thugs as threats at all. Heck, last time I dared to challenge them on my own, and this time I have a level 100 terror, Kenshin, by my side. It might be quite an insult to some, but to me, this fight is really just a game to get rid of my itch to fight.

I left the last two guys to Kenshin to deal with and sauntered toward Huang Wei with a bland smile. "Huang Wei, listen to me carefully. Don't ever let me catch you bullying these twoē. Otherwise,peoplewhonocallmattermeDàghow much trash you bring with

you, to me, they will still just be flies buzzing around."

"As for you, I will definitely kill you without fail." With a flick of my weapon, I knocked that flashy but utterly useless gold sword from Huang Wei's hand and sent it skidding far away.

Nine-headed Dragon Strike!

I threw back my head and laughed wildly as I watched streaks of white light shoot into the sky. After a long while, I stopped laughing and a sudden realization hit me upon catching sight of Kenshin, who had finished off the remaining two thugs a while ago.

Hmmm… I'd just used Kenshin's move right before him, hadn't I? But…Kenshin's techniques didn't include the Nine-headed Dragon Strike, so it should be fine, right? *sweat*

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"Are you guys alright?" I looked worriedly at Yun and Jing. Fortunately, aside from their pale faces, the two of them looked unharmed.

"Dàgē…" Yun walked up to me, regret evident on his face. Stan ding in front of me, he  
sudden droppedē." onto his knees. "I'm sorry, Dàg

I looked at him, bug-eyed, thinking, Yun, this fellow who hates to lose face, is actually kneeling before me in front of this crowd?

"Dàgē,we've deceived you so many times. Why do y ou still help us?" Jing asked as she  
came up to me, hesitation written all over her face.

I shrugged. "I said it before, I don't do things that I will regret, and once I've decided to do something, I won't regret it. I've already decided to help the two of you, and so I'll help you till the end."

"Dàgē,"Yun and Jing said in unison, and the two seemed to have made up their mind about something. "We beg of you, please let us stay by your side."

"Huh?" I frowned. "The two of you should have enough money to go to the Central Continent now. Don't bother about me and go there first. I still have some business to take care of here."

Their faces suddenlyē,areturnedyou pasty, and Yun asked in a trembling voice, "Dàg unwilling to let us stay by your side? I can swear that we will never betray you again."

"It's not like that…" My brow creased with thought as I wondered, Should I let them follow me? I couldn't decide. It would be good to have them along, especially since Yun's and Jing's sense of direction is definitely way better than mine…but if they come along, I will have to explain to them about Kenshin and Sunshine.

"Demon king?" Jing suddenly exclaimed softly as she stared at Kenshin dumbly.

Yun too, turned to look at Kenshin, an incredulous expression on his face.

I paled slightly, and hastily said, "Don't say anything first, just follow me."

Jing and Yun led Kenshin and me to a restaurant and charged into a random booth. The two of them promptly sat down and two pairs of eyes began staring intently at Kenshin's expressionless face. Amused, I deliberately picked up the menu slowly and leisurely ordered dish after dish, as though I hadn't noticed their agitation… Heh! I'm about to die from stifling my laughter. To think that I can tease them like this in-game; usually they're the ones who team up to pick on me.

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"For the last dish, we'll have…" What should I order?

"Wontons in chiliē?"oil,Yunright,said Dàgwith a che eky grin. "I've fallen in love with  
wontons in chiliē'soiltaste inwellfood.Dàgis the best!"

I raised my eyebrows. I must admit that when it comes to food, I'm definitely the connoisseur of our group. After all, aren't I the one who always decides where to eat and what to order every time we eat out? "Then wontons in chili oil it is."

As soon as the waiter left the booth, Jing and Yun immediately fixed their eyes on Kenshin again, clearly determined to get to the bottom of the truth.

I sighed, and said sternly, "Jing, Yun, what I'm about to tell you two now is something very important. I want the two of you to promise never to tell anyone, and never to mention the matter again."

Jing and Yun exchangedē,Iam a resolute look, and Yun said firmly, "Dàg willing to swear that ēfromwithoutthisē ,usI willDàgnottoobey Dàg

speak of the matter, the two of us will not so much as breathe a word about it."

"IfēisDàgstill skeptical, then there's no need to even explain the ma tter to us. We won't  
object," Jing said as well.

I looked at Kenshin inquiringly. After all, it was his business. I had no right to decide for him.

"Tell them. I have no desire for them to treat me like any other NPC," Kenshin replied coolly.

Jing and Yun stared at him blankly for three seconds, and then Yun stammered, "You…you've attained self-awareness? Can it be true? This kind of thing that only happens in sci-fi novels is actually happening?"

"That's precisely how it is." I scratched my face, thinking, So Yun's actually smarter than I thought he was. He actually managed to figure out the truth just like that.

"Kenshin's not the only one. There's another one called Sunshine. I'm currently trying to figure out a way to rescue him as well."

"There's another one?" Yun and Jing were stunned.

"Yeah. I have to finish another quest, only then can I get Sunshine out of the Demon Cave." I frowned. "There's something I need your help with, though. I'm not too good at reading the map provided for the quest…"

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"Let me take a look." As expected of Jing, she'd gotten over the shock pretty quickly and calmly asked for the map.

I took out the extremely confusing map and passed it to her. Jing stared at the map, frowning, and then took out a protractor… How professional, I thought in admiration. No wonder they never get lost. I should learn from them, but first, how do you use a protractor?

"Head twenty degrees east-south-east from the harbor and travel for approximately fifteen kilometers," Jing pronounced as she stowed away her protractor.

"Oh…" I replied indifferently as I chewed on my food. After all, with them to lead the way – since Jing and Yun already said that they would follow me – I wouldn't have to bother with this "east-south-east" or whatever.

I picked up a meat bun from the table and stared at it mutely for a while. I haven't fed Meatbun for a few days now, right? I thought, breaking out in cold sweat. CRAP! Not caring if Jing and Yun were still present, I hurriedly reached into my pouch and fished out Meatbun…

"Mamaaaaa!" Meatbun's eyes were visibly swollen from crying, but as soon as it saw me, its face seemed to light up with joy. "Meatbun-bun missed Mama so badly, Meatbun-bun's tum-tum is also very hungry-hungry!"

I couldn't even begin to express the heartache and regret I felt. To think that I'd actually forgotten to feed it… I hurriedly fed Meatbun the edible meat bun in my hand. As I fed it, I apologized, saying, "I'm really sorry, Meatbun, I really forgot. It's my fault for making you hungry for so long."

"Mmmph, mmmph!" Meatbun's mouth was completely stuffed with food, but it continued to look at me with happiness shining in its eyes.

Seeing that Meatbun was eating happily, I felt relieved and once again raised my chopsticks, ready to fill my own stomach…only to see three pairs of eyes looking on, stunned.

"A meat bun with eyes…" Yun said, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"A talking meat bun…" Jing gulped.

"…" Kenshin said nothing.

I chuckled. "This is my pet. It's called Meatbun. Meatbun, say hello to everyone."

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Meatbun swallowed the large meat bun in its mouth and hopped onto the table, saying, "Hello, everyone-one! Meatbun-bun's name is Meatbun. Meatbun-bun is Mama's pet."

"Mama?" Three pairs of eyes turned to look at me inquisitively.

"Meatbun's not too good at distinguishing gender and always likes to call me 'Mama'," I replied, sweating furiously. This is a complete lie. There's probably nobody in this world as good at distinguishing gender as Meatbun…

"Dàgē'spets are really special," Yun said with a helpless smile.

Hmmm, let me think. My first pet's a meat bun with eyes, the second's Kenshin, a manga character who's attained self-awareness, and after rescuing Sunshine, won't my third pet be an Arabic prince who's gained self-awareness? They certainly are very special… *sweat*!

"So you like to eat meat buns, Meatbun-bun? That's really unusual," Yun said to Meatbun, which was "sitting" on his shoulder.

"Meat buns, yummy!" Meatbun replied, bouncing on its perch delightedly.

"Meat buns are pretty tasty. When did you start to speak?"

"After fighting with fire birdie."

"What's a fire birdie?"

"It's Gui-gui's pet."

"And what is a 'gui-gui'?"

"Gui-gui is…" Meatbun tilted its big head to one side in thought. "A thing like Mama."

"Oh…another elf warrior," Yun remarked, suddenly seeing the light. "Then…"

"…" No comment.

Along the way to the first prophet, two of us humans – Jing and myself – and an NPC listened speechlessly to the nonsensical conversation between another human and a meat bun. Looks like Yun and Meatbun clicked together quite easily. Neither of them can stop talking – so they'd just keep talking to one another!

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"Jing, how much further is it?" I asked exasperatedly. If I keep listening to the two of them chatter on, I'm afraid I will really end up with neurasthenia!

Jing held the map in her left hand and a compass in her right. "It should be around here, Dàgē."

"Let's search around here, then."

Thwack! My foot met some resistance mid-step. Was there some obstacle? I wondered, and looked down… I actually kicked an elderly beggar's bowl and sent it flying five meters away? I gaped. My god, what have I done? I hurriedly picked up the bowl and apologized profusely, saying, "I'm really sorry, uncle. Here is your bowl."

Seeing there wasn't much of a reaction from the elderly beggar, I thought for a brief moment and then reached into my pouch and fished out several gold coins and placed them in his bowl. "Uncle, these gold coins are for you. I'm really sorry for knocking over your bowl."

With the matter settled, I was just about to continue walking when I saw Jing and Yun staring at me in astonishment. "What is it?" I felt my face. Nope, my mask is still in place! So what are they staring at me for?

"Nothing,ē'sattitudeit'sjusttowards…Dàg NPCs is r eally unusual," Yun replied in a  
tone of surprise.

Jing took a deep breath and said, "No wonder Kenshin and Sunshine chose you to take on their quest."

"…" Kenshin's impassive face suddenly twitched. *Sweat* If I recall correctly, the reason why they chose me seemed to have to do with the fact that no one else has fallen off that cliff before…

Still, I had to keep up my appearance, and so I coughed twice and in a falsely stern tone, said, "Since when did Kenshin have a quest for me to take on? What are you two babbling about?"

The two of themē.Weimmediatelydidn'tsayanythingpanicked.". "Sorry, Dàg

I nodded and said in a relaxed tone, "Let's hurry and locate the prophet."

"Yes,ē." Dàg

A weak voice came from where the elderly beggar was kneeling on the ground, saying, "Why do you seek the prophet?"

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We turned to look at him. "We wish to learn about the prophecy inscribed upon the peak of the Azure Mountain," I replied hesitantly.

The beggar sighed faintly and got to his feet slowly. "Looks like I can't hide forever! I am one of the three great prophets."

"Ah?" All of us were dumbfounded. Is he for real? Is it so tough to be a prophet that he has to resort to begging in order to eat?

"Young man, seeing that you're a good person, I won't make things hard for you. I was originally going to ask you to do something in order to prove that you are a righteous man," said the prophet with a benign smile. "Now, I shall hand this piece of the map of the Azure Mountain to you unconditionally."

I accepted the map piece from him, feeling a bit stunned. We got the first fragment this easily?

"Excuse me, mister prophet, but what were you going to ask us to do initially?" Jing asked curiously.

"Challenge the Fierce Tigers' stronghold on Tiger Mountain and kill their three leaders," the prophet replied lightly.

Jing's and Yun's jaws were hanging open in a most inelegant fashion. "The Fierce Tigers' stronghold… That's an area no less dangerous than the Demon Cave, and we would have to kill the three bosses?"

After a long while, Yun finally managed to close his mouth. He turned to look me reverentlyē,Ireallyndăodìsaid,amwillin"Dà from  
your example, and have a noble heart which does not deign to serve as a healer of the masses."

Hey, can you not abuse proverbs like that? Healer of the masses indeed! And to think that you're majoring in Chinese literature like me, I thought, scratching my face. Still, it's truly unexpected that such a small action would actually save us so much trouble. Just as well; this way, the time until I get to see everyone in Odd Squad again will be even shorter.

I turned toward the elderly prophet-beggar. "Thank you for the map piece, uncle prophet. We'll be on our way now to look for the second prophet."

The prophet smiled. "Such a polite fellow. Then let me give you yet another hint. The northern prophet often appears at that place with chickens, ducks, fish, meat, green vegetables, and carrots." After saying that, he knelt down once again and resumed being a beggar.

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"The wet market?" I mused, scratching my face. The designs for the prophets sure are weird. Here I thought they would all be hiding like hermits in the mountains or other secluded places with only birds and beasts for company. "Then let's go to the Northern Tortoise City to look for the northern prophet!"

"Yes,ē."JingDàgand Yun looked at me more worshipfully than ever.

"Looks like this quest will be easier than I thought." Right? I thought confidently.

Members of Odd Squad, I'll be coming home soon!

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Chapter 7: The Battle Begins

"Yu Lian, are we still lacking a lot of money?" Ugly Wolf asked. He looked at his wife – whose brows had been locked in a permanent furrow for the past few days – with some distress.

"A lot, a lot." The furrow between Yu Lian's eyebrows deepened as she discussed the financial accounts with Ice Phoenix. Both of them looked very pale.

"This isn't working. We won't last for much longer, not unless we come up with other ways of earning money soon," said Ice Phoenix. She threw down a stack of documents and began massaging her temples.

"But we've already sent all the people who could be spared out to earn money. In another two weeks, the game admin will be withdrawing all the NPC guards, and then the members of the Righteous Blades who are out earning money will definitely have to return to protect Infinite City. At that time, our finances will be in an even worse state," Yu Lian said, troubled.

"But won't there be players visiting and spending money in our city at that time?" Ugly Wolf asked.

"No, the city would only just be starting out, so we definitely won't be breaking even for some time. We don't have enough people to work as shopkeepers, peacekeepers, or soldiers either, therefore we must continue to expand our staff… Just these expenses alone are shocking enough, not to mention the fact that we have to continue the construction of the city. The hundred thousand or so crystal coins that we have right now won't be enough for our purposes," analyzed Phoenix.

Ugly Wolf tilted his head to one side as he mulled the information over. "Gui's blueprint of the city is almost done. Shall we send him to the other three cities to perform on the streets for tips?"

"Mm!" Yu Lian noted down the new method of increasing the city's income with a serious look on her face.

"So how much money did you manage to swindle out of other players, Lolidragon?" Ugly Wolf asked Lolidragon, who was lounging nearby.

"The hundred thousand crystal coins I got from swindling others have been used up a long time ago," Lolidragon replied. She rolled her eyes at Ugly Wolf. "I'm already a wanted fugitive. My appearance and methods are pretty much common knowledge throughout Sun, Moon, and Star Cities by now. It's impossible to con them anymore."

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"What a pity…"

"If Prince was here, he could tag along with Gui to perform on the streets," Lolidragon raised her eyebrows. "His voice is really good, and with that face of his, he would definitely earn a lot."

"Does Prince sing very well?" Phoenix immersed herself in her imagination…

"Then when Prince is back, we'll send him off to perform on the streets. With his abilities, if he takes the task assigned to him seriously and earns money, and if we sell a few small treasures, we should be able to earn all the money back!" Yu Lian calculated.

"The problem is, will that guy take the task assigned to him seriously?" Lolidragon disagreed.

…That is another big problem!

"We're in trouble," Nan Gong Zui said as he slowly walked in, his face somber.

"Can you not use such a shocking opening line? We all know that we're in trouble with things the way they are," Lolidragon said, rolling her eyes at Nan Gong Zui.

Nan Gong Zui ignored Lolidragon. There was a trace of anger in his voice as he explained, "Fan is recruiting soldiers. They'll be invading Infinite City once the NPC guards are gone."

"Fan?" Upon hearing her ex-lover's name, Phoenix's eyebrows furrowed, and a complicated feeling welled up in her heart.

"One disaster after another." Yu Lian's expression darkened. "Now we'll have to recruit more soldiers as well."

"Prince isn't back yet?" Nan Gong Zui asked calmly.

"Uhhh, about that…" The members of Odd Squad began to stammer.

Nan Gong Zui turned to face Ice Phoenix. In a kind but firm voice, he said, "Phoenix, leave the room for a moment. There are some things which I have to discuss with the members of Odd Squad."

Although she was reluctant to leave, Phoenix knew better than to argue. In a small voice she said "okay" and then obediently left the room.

Nan Gong Zui watched as Phoenix closed the door, and then turned around to face the members of Odd Squad.

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"What exactly happened to Prince? Tell me."

There was a long silence in the room…

"I am aware that although Prince is remarkably strong and values his friends and honor greatly, he is also scatter-brained, a little silly, plus he has no sense of direction." Nan Gong Zui said steadily.

"You should've told us earlier!" Everyone else breathed a relieved sigh.

"So you already knew about Prince's true personality; you should've told us earlier, we were worried half to death!" Lolidragon patted her chest, having yet to recover from her fright.

"Where exactly is Prince?" Nan Gong Zui asked again patiently.

"He's on the Eastern Continent," Ugly Wolf replied without hesitation now that there was no need to conceal the truth.

Nan Gong Zui frowned uncomprehendingly. "What is he doing there?"

"The result of his lack of a sense of direction and drinking." Lolidragon's expression darkened.

"…" Even though he was already aware of Prince's true personality, Nan Gong Zui couldn't help being stunned for a moment. "When will he be back?"

"We don't know," Lolidragon answered honestly.

"You guys don't seem to care much about Prince." Nan Gong Zui said mildly, but dissatisfaction was evident in his tone.

"It's not that we don't care, it's just that we don't want to imprison him yet," Lolidragon replied calmly.

Nan Gong Zui gave her an uncomprehending look.

"You will understand in the time to come," Yu Lian added with a smile.

Just then, Gui entered the room. The very first phrase to leave his mouth was "Bad news."

He received several glares in response.

"What happened this time?" Lolidragon asked lazily.

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"Wicked said that Prince might have to delay his return," said Gui, clearly tormented by the news.

"Just what is that guy doing?" A vein popped on Lolidragon's forehead.

Wicked, who had entered the room after Gui, was frowning. "He refused to say, but it seems to be of great importance. He said that he will hurry back as soon as possible."

"As soon as possible? The enemy's almost knocking on our door, yet our liege lord is still wandering around on the Eastern Continent?" Lolidragon stood up abruptly. "No, Wicked, tell him that he must board the ship within three days, no matter what he's doing. How are we supposed to fight this war when our liege lord isn't even around?"

"I will relay your message," Wicked said with a nod, but after a moment's thought, he added, "But I cannot predict what he will do."

"That guy can't even predict his own actions, so how could you?" Lolidragon replied, massaging her temples. In a weary tone, she continued, "We can only hope that he will return before Fan reaches the city. After all, Prince is still the heart of Infinite City."

"Hahaha!" I laughed to myself, thinking, The map fragments sure were a piece of cake to collect. All I had to do was answer a few questions of the northern prophet in the wet market, and then win against the eastern prophet in a game of Sic Bo26 at the gambling den, and the three map fragments were all mine. This quest is so easy!

"How is it possible that somebody can actually differentiate twenty different kinds of vegetables and ten different kinds of fish meat from one another? And even spell out the names?" Yun asked disbelievingly. All the fish meat had looked exactly the same to him, and they even tasted alike.

"How can somebody manage to win ten games in a row of Sic Bo?" Cold sweat dripped down Jing's forehead. Dumb luck couldn't even begin to cover it.

"Kenshin, this map is too difficult to assemble. Help me piece it together and then pass it to Jing," I said after trying in vain for while to piece together the three map fragments and tossed them to Kenshin to deal with.

26 Sic Bo: A gambling game originating from ancient China. Basically, you roll three dice and then bet on the total outcome. There are a number of bets you can place, but the two most common bets are "big" (that the sum of the dice is greater than ten and less than eighteen) and "small" (that the sum of the dice is greater than three and less than eleven) See Wikipedia ( wiki/Sic_bo) for more information.

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Yet this person can't even piece together three pieces of a map… Jing and Yun thought, staring dumbfounded at their companion. Isn't this a bit too far-fetched?

Kenshin caught the map pieces and tossed them onto the table. Just when he was about to begin piecing them together…

"Wow, Kenshin, you've already pieced them together. That's quick," I said, staring at the completed map that was laid out on the table, and hastily beckoned Jing over. "Jing, quick, take a look and see where this is."

"…" Kenshin looked at the already completed map and frowned, not saying a word.

"I can roughly tell where the location is," Jing said thoughtfully.

"That's good, let's set off then." My brow creased with thought. According to Zhuo-gēge, I had only about three days left to complete my quest and pick up Sunshine. I had to hurry.

"It's so tall." Standing at the foot of Azure Peak, which was so tall that its peaks were lost in the clouds, I had a dark premonition in my heart… With our skill, climbing a mountain shouldn't be a very difficult thing to do. Right? I hope so…

I turned to Jing and Yun. "Since you two aren't warriors, it might be rather difficult for you to scale this mountain, so just set up a camp here and wait for Kenshin and me to return."

"Yes,ē."JingDàgand Yun nodded.

"Let's go, Kenshin." Kenshin too, gave me a nod, and I lifted a leg, ready to climb this mountain, but just then… I suddenly turned around and said to Yun, "Hey, return Meatbun to me."

Shock, disappointment, anguish, and reluctance appeared on Yun's face, and he bit back tears as he handed Meatbun back to me. "Meatbun-bun, you must return quickly, otherwise I will be very bored."

"Meatbun-bun will return quickly. Don't cry-cry, Yun-yun." Meatbun's eyes too, were filled with tears.

The atmosphere was that of a sorrowful parting. In this fashion, a human and a bun gazed at each other heartbreakingly, as though they were a couple who were being forced to separate. From time to time, they would even throw me pleading looks, as if they were begging me – the heartless murderer who was brutally separating two lovers – to show mercy and let them off… To hell with you! I gave Yun a smack on the head.

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"Let's go, Meatbun." Two veins popped on my forehead as I turned and left.

"Yes, Mama." Meatbun hopped after me, its eyes filled with happiness, leaving behind a plaintive Yun who kept shooting resentful looks at me.

"Right, let's start climbing." I gazed up at Azure Peak, and what I saw was not the cloud banks, but the faces of my teammates in Odd Squad.

"How much longer?" Nan Gong Zui asked Kong Kong and Lolidragon calmly.

"They'll definitely be here in half a day." Kong Kong replied angrily.

"Fan brought around seven hundred people. Warriors make up around two thirds of the force; the rest are mostly mages and priests. They're very high on offense power. It's going to be hard," analyzed Lolidragon.

Nan Gong Zui's thought went to Infinite City's defense force, which had around two hundred warriors, fifty archers, fifty mages, twenty priests, and twenty thieves… and thought that if not for the fact that his opponent was Fan, whom he detested the most, he

– Zui – would probably have surrendered right away.

Nan Gong Zui sighed softly. No matter what, he had to defend Infinite City for Prince. After all, the Righteous Blades had poured in so much of their heart and soul into building the city. "White Bird, here, chair the meeting."

White Bird too, was frowning slightly. The situation did bode ill, but as they say, it's easy to defend a city and hard to lay siege. She believed that so long as they planned carefully, capturing Infinite City would definitely be no easy task.

"All groups, report on your situation."

"The eastern, western, and southern gates have been walled up and they definitely can't be opened. Aside from the northern gate, the only other way Fan's forces could enter Infinite City is by scaling the city walls, but we've prepared and placed hot oil on them. What I fear is that we won't have enough oil for Fan's forces…" Gui's brow furrowed deeply with thought. "We've only finished the gates recently… Sigh, the cost for reopening the three gates and reconstruction alone when this war is over will be sufficiently alarming."

In contrast to her usual willful self, Fairsky wore a pair of glasses with a black frame and held in her right hand a scroll of information, which was so long that it trailed along on the ground. In her left hand she held an abacus and she analyzed meticulously, "Fortunately, we've allocated an adequate amount of money to the construction of the

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city's foundations. The city walls will definitely hold out. With a force of five hundred, it would take… about a month, fifteen days, three hours and forty-six minutes to break through the wall, but since this is a game, I seriously doubt that anyone can sleep for an entire month with the game helmet on without complications. Also, the city gate is extremely strong. Even taking into account magical attacks, it can last for at least several days."

Yu Lian sighed and massaged her temples. "Where are we going to get the money for the three gates from?! Sigh, Phoenix, you guys report on your status. I need to get a cup of tea to calm my nerves."

Phoenix hastened to speak. "Due to a severe lack of archers, every warrior has been equipped with a mid-level crossbow and arrows. Although their damage would be nothing compared to real archers', they should be able to make up for it with their strength and maim or kill the enemy from atop the city walls… even though this increases the burdens of the finance department." Phoenix too, felt faint when she finished her report.

"What about supplies and ammunitions?" White Bird asked thoughtfully. Regardless of the state of their finances, they had to have supplies and ammunitions. Without even just that much, there would be no way for them to win the battle outnumbered as they were.

"We've followed the list given by the military department and made the necessary purchases." When they'd first received the list – which was as long and as horrifying as the cloth used to bind old grannies' feet in ancient China – Phoenix and Yu Lian had just stopped short of huddling together and weeping. However, they were forced by the harsh reality (or rather, White Bird's despotic rule) and could only force Lolidragon to head out and con more people yet again…

"How about the mages?"

In a gentle yet firm tone, Rose said, "I've already let the mages know that their main duty is to maintain the defensive barrier and prevent Fan's mages from destroying the city gates, but I think we may not have enough mages compared to Fan's forces. However, I can guarantee that all our mages are top-notch."

"Even if they have to drink mana potions like water, they must hang in there," White Bird said fiercely.

Both Rose and Phoenix sighed, but still they answered, "Understood."

"Do we have any reinforcements, foreign affairs department?" White Bird asked, although she knew better than to hope for any help from that quarter.

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Feng Wu Qing shook his head with a sigh as he fanned himself. "It's not so easy to find reinforcements. Right now, Infinite City has nothing to offer, so how many people would be willing to come to our aid?"

A vein popped on Lolidragon's forehead. "You jerk, were you just fooling around outside the city while I was being pressed into hard labor by the finance department? You couldn't find even a single reinforcement?"

Feng Wu Qing replied coldly, "Hard labor? More like serving as a fox spirit!"27

"You!" Just as Lolidragon was about to throttle Feng Wu Qing, Ugly Wolf grabbed her by the collar, so she was unable to strangle Wu Qing to death.

Feng Wu Qing's cold expression thawed as he grinned slightly. "I didn't find much by way of reinforcement, just a hundred and twenty warriors, thirty mages, and then some priests!" It's a pity Sis refused to help; otherwise I would definitely have the help of yet another brother-in-law. She's such a selfish sister to refuse to just help defend a city.

Lolidragon's mouth immediately formed an "O" shape. She leveled a trembling finger at Feng Wu Qing and said, "You… you… Where did you manage to find that many players?"

Feng Wu Qing rubbed his nose and then admitted, "My parents also play this game, plus my mom's a writer, so she summoned her loyal readers to help out."

"Lazy fellow," Lolidragon replied disdainfully.

"You…"

"How did the trap-setting go?" White Bird ignored the bickering duo and turned to ask the thief Kong Kong.

Kong Kong nodded and said, "I've already gathered all the thieves beforehand and we've laid countless traps around Infinite City, only leaving a few narrow routes past them. Hmph, if that playboy Fan dares to draw close to Infinite City, I guarantee that he will either be blown to bits or buried alive."

"Next is the most important group – our military department," said White Bird as she turned to look at Nan gong Zui, Wicked, Broken Sword, and Ugly Wolf.

27 Fox spirit: While fox spirits do appear in a number of oriental mythologies, the fox spirits of Chinese mythology are rather unique. For one, they often adopt human appearances – to be precise, they often appear as beautiful young women and, occasionally, beautiful young men. In many myths, the fox spirits utilize their good looks to seduce or bewitch humans. This is possibly a contributing factor to the impression that fox spirits (in Chinese mythology) are often evil and unscrupulous. See Wikipedia ( wiki/Huli_jing) for more information.

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"The Righteous Blades have been training hard ever since we arrived in the Infinite City. Although the members who joined later are not as skilled or as united as the original members of the group, they've made tremendous improvement this past month. Their average level is fifty or so, which is pretty good," Nan Gong Zui reported dutifully.

Ugly Wolf said confidently, "I've placed the extra men that Wu Qing recruited on top of the northern gate. Even if the gate is breached, these hundred players can hold out until others come to reinforce them. The remaining players will be positioned upon the city wall and defend it using magic and ranged attacks with their bows, thus slowing the enemy's advance. Together with fifty selected strong players, Odd Squad and Dark Emperor will defend the central tower."

Broken Sword looked at Legolas, and the latter nodded. "Legolas and I have already made sure that the warriors have learned basic archery skills. Although their accuracy and strength cannot compare with actual archers, they'll have no trouble with bending a bow and shooting arrows."

"I have already divided the players into smaller teams, taking into consideration how well they work together as well as other factors. I believe this will prove very useful during melee combat," Wicked reported on his progress with a serious expression.

Seeing that all the departments were done with their reports, White Bird began to explain the strategy for the upcoming battle. "First and foremost, I want to say that during the battle, Infinite City's rebirth point will be shut down to prevent enemies from resurrecting inside our walls, which would be very dangerous to us. Although shutting down our rebirth point will also prevent our players from getting back in, this is a necessary move. Does everyone understand?"

All the people present nodded.

White Bird continued with her explanation. "There's another thing everyone has to note: We are the defenders, so our most important duty is to defend the city center. No matter what, we must protect the central tower and the Infinite City gemstone, as once it's shattered Infinite City will no longer belong to us. I believe everyone understands the severity of this matter, so we must defend the gemstone to the death."

(Author's note: All player-owned cities will have a central tower. Within it is the city's gemstone. Usually, the central tower cannot be entered, but during a siege, players can shatter the gemstone by force. Whoever shatters the gemstone will take over the city as its liege lord, and the original ruler will lose his/her control over the city.)

"Defend the gemstone to the death!" everybody roared.

Finally, White Bird couldn't resist raising a question which Zui had forbidden her from asking. "Will the liege lord be returning?"

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Everybody looked at the members of Odd Squad, who turned to look at Wicked in unison. Wicked merely said, "I don't know."

White Bird's voice was filled with suppressed frustration as she said, "It's one thing if the liege lord doesn't show his face for an entire month, but to actually be absent when somebody's laying siege to the city? Isn't that too much?"

"Prince will be back, he definitely will." Lolidragon gave White Bird a firm look.

White Bird too, looked steadily at Lolidragon. "Let's hope so."

Let's hope so… Although Lolidragon's gaze did not waver, her back was wet with sweat.

May the heavens protect Prince from getting lost again!

"There must be around a thousand players in this crowd." Even the calm and fearless Madame White Bird could not help turning pale at the sight of the alarmingly large force formed up neatly in ranks and dressed and armed with superior equipment and weapons that glimmered under the sun. In addition, there was a giant siege engine and nearly ten scaling ladders… If the shock was any bigger, she would probably have just jumped off the city wall straightaway.

Their faces were all pale, but Nan Gong Zui said coolly, "We have to hang in there. I don't wish to disappoint Prince."

Wicked raised his eyebrows. "I will never let disappointment show in his eyes."

"A disappointed look does not suit Prince," Gui said coldly.

Nan Gong Zui walked to a place where everyone could see him and then drew his sword abruptly. The ringing of cold steel calmed down the agitated defenders. After surveying them once with his eyes, Nan Gong Zui roared emphatically, "For our Infinite City, we shall fight to the death!"

"TO THE DEATH!" the warriors roared, echoing his words.

Nan Gong Zui stared at Fan, who was also staring at him from far away, and muttered, "Come on then, Fan. Let's finish this."

"Archers, nock your bows and wait behind the arrowslit for the signal. Get ready for the first volley of arrows," ordered Legolas, who was the commander of the archers.

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"Warriors, move the cauldron of oil into place and then attack using your bows first! Once someone begins to scale the walls, pour the hot oil on them immediately. Also, protect the archers and the mages well," ordered Wicked swiftly and composedly.

"Mages, put up the barrier!" Yu Lian and the other mages immediately took their positions well behind the city walls, combining their power to cast a protective barrier large enough to envelop the entire Infinite City.

The battle was about to begin at any moment!

"Prince, I will bring you down from your position as the lord of Infinite City." Although Fan was still smiling gently, those who were familiar with him could tell that there was an icy look and a deep thirst for vengeance blazing in his eyes.

"All men, prepare to attack. Infinite City will be ours!" Fan ordered as his forces advanced upon Infinite City, like a celestial general leading his immortal soldiers into battle.

"Quick, hurry! Pour the hot oil to stop them from climbing up," Wicked bellowed frantically as he moved among the defenders. "Yu Lian, hurry and get the mages to help destroy the scaling ladders."

Yu Lian hurriedly replied, "Right. Phoenix, stay here and take command of those maintaining the barrier. Team one, and you, Ming Huang, follow me."

"God damn it, the difference in numbers is just too big." To think that Fan actually had so many men skilled at dismantling traps; those traps were placed for nothing, Nan Gong Zui thought, swearing silently to himself as he looked at the densely-packed horde of enemy players – like a colony of ants – attacking the city walls. He could only forcibly suppress the rising panic in his chest and ask everyone else, in a steady tone, to remain calm, and then desperately fire arrow after arrow, hoping that he could take down a few more enemy players… Occasionally, he would raise his head and gaze into the distance as though he could see Fan's face – impassive but for the trace of a smile that seemed to say that the city was already his.

"Zui, they're about to breach the city gates," Ugly Wolf said, struggling not to panic.

"What?!" Nan Gong Zui exclaimed. "Didn't the mages get rid of the enemies in front of the city gates?"

"They did. Maybe it's because the enemy has too many mages… I don't get why the city gates were destroyed so quickly either; perhaps Gui and Fairsky estimated wrongly?" Ugly Wolf frowned. "In any case, we should redirect some of the players to defend the city gates now."

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"The defenders are already having a hard time fending off the players scaling the walls. There's no way we can redirect anybody to guarding the gates," Nan Gong Zui replied, panicking inwardly. Or should they get those defending the central tower to defend the gates instead? But no, the central tower was simply too important. There was no way they could decrease the number of players guarding it… but it would also be a disaster if the city gates were breached.

Ugly Wolf watched with empathy as Nan Gong Zui's expression grew more and more troubled. After all, he too, couldn't think of a solution, which was why he came to ask Zui, hoping that a miracle would appear, that he could think of a solution. "Zui… is there a way?"

"…" Nan Gong Zui stared at the sky and could not suppress a sigh. "If I had another month's time or twice the funds, Infinite City's forces and defense wouldn't be in such a sorry state."

Ugly Wolf scratched the fur on his head upon hearing that. "Hopefully that fellow Prince will hurry back in time."

Nan Gong Zui smiled bitterly. "Even if Prince returns, we will only have one more defender. What difference would it make?"

"I don't know," Ugly Wolf replied as he scratched his face, "But… Prince himself is a synonym for a miracle."

Nan Gong Zui frowned uncomprehending and gave Ugly Wolf a questioning look.

Ugly Wolf smiled. "Didn't you come to Infinite City because of Prince's miracles as well?"

Nan Gong Zui smiled as he shook his head. "Sigh, we can't hope for a miracle this time."

Wicked approached them from one side, and he seemed oddly calm in the midst of the chaos of war. "We've run out of oil, we're losing the city wall, and the city gates are almost completely breached. I suggest we retreat and defend the central tower."

Wicked and Ugly Wolf both looked at Nan Gong Zui questioningly.

With a heavy heart, Nan Gong Zui commanded, "All troops, retreat to the central tower!"

Upon receiving the order, all the various teams began to make their way reluctantly to the central tower. At this point, the benefit of training in smaller groups became clearly visible as team members smoothly assumed their respective roles in the team. Shielded and protected by the warriors, the archers and mages continued to attack the enemy even as they retreated, and even managed to take down quite a number of enemy players.

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Moreover, the teams could cover for one another and provide support for other teams that were having a hard time. In this fashion, the soldiers of Infinite City fought and retreated to the plaza in front of the central tower, putting up a final stand against those enemy players who had come to take over Infinite City.

"Archers, volley!" Nan Gong Zui had already lost count of the number of times he had given the command to fire. The streaks of white light in the skies were practically like fireworks, yet the number of enemy players didn't seem to diminish at all. A thousand men? I'm afraid it's more than that, he thought, troubled.

"You should just surrender, Nan Gong Zui. If you do, I might just consider giving you a small position." The benevolent smile on Fan's face held a trace of rage.

"Hmph!" Nan Gong Zui merely sneered. Although Fan's troops greatly outnumbered Infinite City's, he was still the invader. All those cauldrons of hot oil would definitely have cost him countless men. Besides, the members of the Righteous Blades had all received extensive training in large-scale fighting, so the situation wasn't necessarily in Fan's favor. With that thought, Nan Gong Zui's spirits lifted.

"So you choose the hard way," Fan said coldly. "Kill him!"

Just as suspicion entered his mind, Nan Gong Zui was suddenly sent sprawling to the ground. His shoulder went numb for a moment, and then flared with pain. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the one who'd pushed him down was Lolidragon, while Madame White Bird was looking incredulously at a panicky Phoenix. Nan Gong Zui sighed. "Phoenix, you…"

"Phoenix, what are you doing?" White Bird demanded, staring at her own sister in disbelief. Phoenix actually tried to kill Nan Gong Zui? And she was clearly listening to Fan's order; hadn't she already transferred her affections to Prince?

"I…" Although she'd panicked when she saw that Nan Gong Zui was still alive, her spirits lifted after she took a look at Fan, and once again, she fired a bolt of magic at Nan Gong Zui…

"Do you take me for a corpse?" Lolidragon coolly sent Phoenix sprawling with a kick, and then calmly pinned the latter to the ground.

Nan Gong Zui got to his feet without a word, his heart gripped in ice. He'd always sincerely treated Phoenix as his godsister, forgiving her mistakes time after time, protecting her, worrying that she would feel guilty, feel upset… yet the result was still like this.

"Zui…" White Bird looked guiltily at the dispirited Nan Gong Zui, and then at her sister, whose face was almost buried in the ground. She could only sigh yet again. Why did this

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sister of hers always have to choose to sacrifice everything else for her love? To even become a spy…

"You sabotaged the city gates, didn't you?" Although it was phrased as a question, Gui's tone was one of certainty. He knew that there could not have been a mistake in his calculations, so someone must have sabotaged them; otherwise, they would never have been breached so quickly.

Upon hearing Gui's question, as all those present turned to look in sudden realization and anguish at Phoenix, the latter buried her face even more deeply into the ground.

Everybody had worked hard, pouring in their efforts to defend the city, and yet there was a spy, and it was actually somebody so close to them. At that thought, the defenders of Infinite City grew disheartened. Fan seized the opportunity and began the attack. It seemed that the defense of Infinite City was in a critical situation, as cracks appeared in the defense surrounding the central tower. Nan Gong Zui and his team were in particularly low spirits, wracked with guilt and uncertainty…

Uncharacteristically enough, Fan led the charge, and the defenders of Infinite City were actually so dispirited that the enemy managed to charge right up to Zui.

"Nan Gong Zui, in the end, you've lost," Fan said lightly, a satisfied smile on his face.

Nan Gong Zui looked at Fan bleakly and said in a hoarse voice, "I can take whatever revenge you throw my way; just let Phoenix off!"

Fan broke into maniacal laughter. "Let Phoenix off? Hahaha, she doesn't want me to let her off! As for you, Nan Gong Zui, I definitely will—"

"Wahhh! Whoever's down there, make way!" A piteous cry from above could suddenly be heard. Why did the voice sound rather familiar?

WHAM!

Damn it, if I'd known, I wouldn't have stood up as I pleased. So when they tell you to "sit on an airplane"28, you should really sit and not "stand on an airplane"; the same holds true for flying carpets! I want to cry; my entire body feels like it's about to break… I looked up into the sky at the crowd sitting on the flying carpet. Kenshin and Sunshine were idly sipping their tea, while Jing and Yun were staring dumbly at me, who had fallen off the plane… I mean, the carpet.

28 Sit on an airplane: Just to clarify, this is the Chinese way of saying "take an airplane". We're not referring to the act of sitting on airplane, but the act of taking the airplane as a mode of transportation.

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Oh, by the way, I should mention that such a uniquely Arabic object as a flying carpet is obviously a treasure belonging to Sunshine. It's all thanks to that carpet that I could come back so quickly to Infinite City.

My entire body ached as I stood up slowly, only to see everyone from Infinite City staring at me. I said slowly, "Whew, good thing the ground was soft; I almost fell to my death."

Everyone stared at me blankly, and then suddenly shifted their gaze to my feet. After a moment of confusion, I too, looked down at my feet… Oh, so I crushed a human cushion to death. Doesn't this human cushion look rather familiar? I yanked the cushion dude's head backward by the hair in order to see his face. Fan? I thought, scratching my head.

So it's him. Whew, my conscience can finally be at ease, then. Crushing this sort of person to death isn't worth agonizing over.

"Prince!" Fan snarled, glaring at me as he spat a mouthful of blood.

"It's you again!" I interjected quickly. "I'm sick of that opening line; can't you change it to something else?

"Don't glare at me like that. It's not like I know why I'm always making things hell for you. Maybe it's our fate?" I cocked my head to one side, thinking, Is it just me, or am I always subduing Fan? Maybe it's because he's called "rice"29, so he's destined to be cooked by me? "Oh yeah, what are you doing in Infinite City anyway? Sight-seeing? The city's open to the public already?" I asked uncertainly.

"…" Everyone continued to stare at me wordlessly.

Lolidragon rolled her eyes and bellowed irritably, "He came to attack the city!"

"Our idiotic liege lord has finally found his way home," Ming Huang – who could never say anything useful – shouted idly.

"Ohhh!" My eyes narrowed. He dares to attack our city? What nerve! I immediately threw a punch at Fan and sent him sprawling. Seeing that he was about to reach into his pouch for a health potion, I raised my eyebrows and then stomped on the back of his hand with one foot.

"You cowardly bastard; fight me one-on-one if you've got the balls!" Fan yelled desperately, seeing that he might be killed any time.

I gave him a bloodthirsty smile and then said nonchalantly, "One-on-one? Sure, just wait till I've cleaned up your friends."

29 He's called "rice": No, Fan's name doesn't mean "rice", it's just that "rice" is also pronounced as "fan".

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I looked at Fan's forces and then suddenly remembered what Zhuo-gēge had told me over the phone, about how Lolidragon wanted me to put on the façade of the Blood Elf when I got back… Sigh! I'm not too keen on the idea, but since when have I been able to disobey Lolidragon? I'm resigned to my fate… So I drew my Black Dao and ran my tongue over the blade lightly, without forgetting to smile slightly. "So many people for me to kill, that's great!"

I watched the enemy with satisfaction, seeing that some of them had widened their eyes, while others gulped… Hey, you, over there, is there need to wet your pants? Am I really that terrifying? I'm only twenty and in the prime of my youth, not to mention lovely and charming…

"Prince, the atmosphere over here on our side – among the defenders of Infinite City – isn't too good. You should do something about it first," Lolidragon told me over a PM suddenly, interrupting my moment of narcissism. Since she rarely uses such a serious tone, something major must have happened.

"What happened?"

"Phoenix didn't really fall in love with you, only pretended to do so. Her aim was to serve as a spy in Infinite City. She sabotaged the city gates and nearly killed Nan Gong Zui," Lolidragon said heavily. "Prince, if you can, try and make Fan look bad by beating him up some more. Perhaps this way, Phoenix might really transfer her affections to you."

I broke out in cold sweat. Phoenix… your luck with the opposite sex is about as "good" as mine; you have to fall for either a dastardly playboy or me, a transvestite? Still, as I said, there was simply no way I could disobey Lolidragon's orders.

I looked at Nan Gong Zui. As expected, he looked as though he had lost all will to live, which seriously pissed me off. I stomped on both of Fan's hands a couple of times to prevent him from secretly taking a drink from his health potions, and then marched up to Nan Gong Zui and, ignoring the astonished looks on everyone's faces, I gave him a punch. Completely caught off guard, Nan Gong Zui hit the ground hard as a result and stared at me blankly.

I raised an eyebrow. "I'll settle the business with your sister later, so just kill these guys and vent your hatred together with me first!"

Nan Gong Zui got to his feet with a forced smile, thinking, What can Prince do when it's a matter of a person's feelings? However, he was more than happy to vent his hatred by killing Fan's soldiers. "Right."

"Hey, up there, are you guys done with your tea? Coming down yet? The fighting's about to start!" I said casually.

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The flying carpet drifted down slowly. Sunshine, Jing, and Yun retreated to the rear while Kenshin, Zui, Broken Sword, Wicked, and I, being warriors, stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the front. With a smile, I said, "Game, start!"

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Extra Chapter: Companions for Eternity

"Thisēwilltime,surelyDàgregret it, right?" Lü Jing smiled bitterly.

"We hinted at it to him before," Yun Fei retorted half-heartedly.

"Yeah, we did hint at it, but he still chose to believe in us…" Lü Jing suddenly turned to yell into theē,whyabyssarebeyondyousuctheancliff,idiot?!""Dàg

Yun Fei, too, couldn't hold his feelings in any longer and yelled angrily into the pitch-black darkness beneath. "You're a complete idiot! You didn't even realize that we'd set everything up right from the start. We'd noticed you fighting mobs on your own for a few days, saw that you were a strong player and wanted you to power-level us, so we deliberately aggroed the Flaming Skeletons and got them to chase after us. How could you not have figured it out? How could you not have realized that it's impossible that Jing, who only knows True Thrice-Concealed Flames, would attack mobs of the same element like the Flaming Skeletons?"

"It should have been obvious that I held a grudge against the owner of Oriental House, so why did we still deliberately choose to go there to eat? You don't need a brain to know that I wanted you to deal with that bastard Huang Wei for me." Jing's expression was fierce.

"We knew full well that no one has ever managed to complete this quest for the hair tie. In fact, that no one has even survived it, but seeing that the reward money was ten thousand crystal coins, we still brought you here on a suicide mission, just to try our luck. And you just followed us like this, without even bothering to ask us about the quest details?" Contempt was evident on Yun's face.

"You saw for yourself how strong the Demon King was, but you still didn't suspect us, and even entrusted the hair tie to Yun so easily? And you walked to the edge of the cliff? Even when Yun grabbed you by the ankles, you still managed to look so puzzled." Jing began to laugh wildly. "How could anyone on Earth be this naïve, this foolish?"

The two of them finished yelling, their chests heaving with the effort, as though they had screamed out all of the frustrations weighing on their minds. Their expressions were identical – identically lost and numbed.

After a long while, Jing said quietly, "Let's go. The Central Continent awaits us. Don't forget, Xiao Lan is there as well."

"Yeah," Yun said, casting one last look back at the cliff, his emotions so complicated that even he himself couldn't tell what they were.

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"Now that we've got the tickets, let's get something to eat while we wait for the ship." Lü Jing's face was still as hard as stone.

"Yeah," Yun Fei answered, and then frowned. "Though do we have to leave so soon? I wish we could stay on the Eastern Continent a little longer."

"Don't be silly,"ēwillLüsurelyJingsaidreturnfiercelytoWhite."Don't forget, Dàg  
Tiger City. It'll be a blessing enough if we don't bump into him while we're waiting for the ship, and here you are, thinking of staying a little longer?"

Yun Fei didn't reply and merely followed Jing into a nondescript inn silently.

"Owner, two plates of fried noodles, a plate of green vegetables, and a bowl of fish soup," Yun said as he looked at the menu, ordering Jing's – who wasn't a picky eater – share in addition to his own as per usual.

"Yes, sir, coming right up," said an NPC dressed as a waiter with a smile. He left to give the cook their orders.

Yun Fei suddenly remembered something and hurriedly shouted, "Ah, right, I forgot the wontons in chili oil – Waiter! We also want a plate of…" Yun Fei's face went white mid-yell.

"And a plate of?" The waiter returned and asked dutifully.

Lü Jing looked at Yun Fei, who had fallen silent, but she merely said indifferently, "And a plate stir-fried shredded meat."

"Sure, coming right up."

Yun Fei remained silent until the food arrived, but when he raised his chopsticks, he discovered that he had no appetite at all. His stomach felt heavy, as though a rock had been stuffed into it, and his heart was filled with a myriad of nameless emotions. Finally, he sighed, put down his chopsticks, and looked at Lü Jing, who was eating the fried noodles at a steady pace. "Jing, I don't like the way things are."

"You think that I like it any better?" Lü Jing, too, put down her chopsticks, a stiff look on her face. "Besides, wasn't it you who planned this entire thing, right from the beginning to the end?"

"But I didn't think that all of those schemes would be used on the same person; I thought that no one would helpē us twice," Yun Fei said, frustrated. "How on Earth does a Dàg who's dumb to such an extreme even exist?"

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"It's precisely because he was so dumb that he was tricked by us. It's a good thing, in a way; let this be a lesson to him, so that he won't be tricked again," Lü Jing said quietly, and then she quickly began to eat again, making it clear that she wasn't in the mood to discuss the matter any further.

Yun Fei could only sigh as he gazed out of the restaurant, as though he fervently hoped that someone would suddenly barge in.

A figure really appeared in the doorway. Yun Fei was startled, but also a tad worried, and he wonderedēwouldforgiveifDàg them this time. In his heart, he secretly wished that  
Dàgēwould be so foolish that he would continue to forgive them.

"I've finally found you two adulterers! This time, that cloaked fellow won't be around to get in my way!" the person said as he came through the doorway, and Yun Fei and Lü Jing recognized Huang Wei's venomous tone as well.

"Huang Wei." Lü Jing blanched.

"Yes, it's me, your most beloved husband, Jing-Jing, my sweetie-pie," Huang Wei said, leering at Lü Jing.

There was no way Yun Fei could simply watch idly as his best friend was being harassed. "Huang Wei, don't think that we're still newbies. It's not going to be so easy for you to bully us now."

"And just what exactly can a barrier master do, going up against my lackeys?" Huang Wei looked coldly at Yun Fei. "To think that you're actually stupid enough to choose to be a barrier master, a rubbish class."

"What did you say?!" Yun Fei was enraged. What he hated more than anything else was other people belittling the barrier master class; these people didn't even have the faintest clue as to how useful a barrier master could be in defending a city. He just hadn't managed to find anyone wise enough to appreciate his decision yet.

"I said, you piece of trash, stay the hell away from my wife," Huang Wei drew his shiny gold dao, and swung it at Yun Fei mercilessly.

"Yun!" Lü Jing shoved Yun Fei aside and the gold dao bit into Jing's body brutally. Biting back a cry of pain, she glared at Huang Wei, then turned into a pillar of white light and shot into the sky.

"Jing…!" Yun Fei yelled, watching as the white light disappeared.

"Damn it, I got the wrong person," Huang Wei said, regarding Yun with spite. "You piece of shit, I know that you guys intend to run away. I also know that you've bought

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ship tickets, but I'm warning you, if you intend to run away, do so alone. Lü Jing will never be able to escape from the Eastern Continent and from my control."

"Hmph, the tickets are valid forever. Even if we can't take this ship, we can always take the next one," Yun Fei retorted, looking at Huang Wei coldly. "I don't believe that you have the ability to change Second Life's rules."

Huang Wei began to laugh loudly, however. "I might not be able to change the rules, but I can arrange for my people to stand guard at the docks around the clock and kill you guys each time they catch sight of you. Let's see just how many levels you two have for my boys to rid you of."

Yun's face was white as a sheet. "You…"

"Listen, kid, I'm warning you, don't think about running away with Lü Jing. Don't even think about getting close to her again. If you do, I'll make you pay." Huang Wei turned around to his lackeys and commanded, "Give this kid a sound beating. Heal him up whenever he's about to die and then continue to beat him, and don't let him use death to escape. Beat him until he'll never dare to get close to Lü Jing again."

"Huang Wei, I'm telling you, I'll definitely bring Jing to the Central Continent, I definitely will!" Yun Fei bellowed. Unfortunately, facing several warriors, there was really nothing a barrier master could do…

"God damn it!" Gu Yun Fei fled offline in a pathetic manner, only to find that the phone was ringing off the hook.

As soon as he pressed the "Answer" button, Lü Jing's frantic face instantly appeared on the screen. "Yun, are you alright? Why didn't you return to the rebirth point after so long?"

"Isn't it obvious? That bastard Huang Wei beat me up into a pulp and even got a priest to heal me, so that I couldn't just die. Finally, when I couldn't take it any longer, I logged off," Yun Fei replied. He couldn't resist touching his face; just a short while ago, his face had been left swollen by the beating he'd received in-game.

Lü Jing looked pale. "Why didn't you log off sooner, and instead let him continue to beat you up, you- you idiot?!"

"I have my pride!" Yun Fei muttered sullenly.

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"Forget Huang Wei, we'll just rush to the docks tomorrow immediately after logging on. Otherwise,ē… ifTheweconsequereallyruncesintowDàg on't be any better," Lü Jing said, distressed.

"Huang Wei said that he's going to get his people to stand guard at the docks around the clock." Yun Fei sighed.

"What?" Lü Jing's face grew even paler.

"What should we do now?" Yun Fei was deeply worried.

Lü Jing took a deep breath, and then calmed down. "Let's wait a few days before logging on. Huang Wei can't possibly have people standing guard there forever!"

"I hope so," Yun replied, although he still felt that Huang Wei seemed to be pretty deeply obsessed with Lü Jing.

"Huang Wei, what on earth do you want?" Lü Jing was infuriated; she wanted to know how much longer this person intended to keep causing trouble. He had, true to his word, really kept a look-out for them at the docks for so many days.

"I want you to be my wife," Huang Wei replied, smirking.

"Stop dreaming," Yun Fei bellowed. "Jing wouldn't fall for a douche-bag like you, so save it!"

Contempt spread across Huang Wei's face, and he looked at Yun as though he had just seen a pile of dung. "You're really asking for it, and you even dare to be with my Jing. Boys, let him have it."

"Huang Wei, stop it!" Lü Jing turned pale with fright.

"Sure – if you agree to be my wife, Lü Jing." There was a cold look on Huang Wei's face. "Don't choose the hard way, Jing. I've gone soft on you for too long already."

"Jing, don't agree to it!" Yun Fei was being restrained by a few players. Even when faced with the prospect of being beaten up yet again, he still tried to stop Jing.

Seeing that Yun Fei was being restrained, doubt appeared on Lü Jing's face. Biting back tears, she looked utterly miserable and pitiful as she said, "Why must you coerce me like this? How can something like love be forced?"

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Huang Wei stiffened. "If I say it can, it can. What's so bad about marrying me? I'll provide food, clothes, and lots of spending money. What more can you ask for?"

Lü Jing's suffering was clear on her face, and her tears finally began to fall. "Is giving me lots of spending money the same as love? That's not what I want!"

By this point, a crowd had gathered on the docks. There were, of course, plenty of onlookers, and when they saw such a lovely girl weeping from being forced into a marriage, many of them began to voice their disapproval, and other onlookers – who could not stand by idly – began to clench their fists and crack their knuckles. The atmosphere was increasingly volatile.

Huang Wei turned toward the crowd with an ominous look in his eyes. "Damn it, shut the hell up! Make any more noise and I'll bloody well chop you all up too."

Upon hearing that, the noise only grew louder and people began yelling angrily.

"Damn you! Being that cocky even though you're snatching someone's bride?"

"Chop me up? I'll chop you guys up first!"

"He's too much, how could he coerce a girl like that!"

"Poor thing; the girl's already crying."

Huang Wei didn't back down in the face of the crowd's anger; in fact, he became even more arrogant. "Damn it, you people think you can get away with it just because there're more of you? Don't think that I, Huang Wei, only have so few men. Just wait till I call for ten of my boys to come and take care of you guys; we'll see if you dare to make a peep then."

"Mob boss Huang Wei?" someone in the crowd exclaimed. Anyone who had stayed in White Tiger City for any period of time would probably have heard of White Tiger City's tyrant, Huang Wei, who would – with the support of his eight lackeys – bully others, use money to suppress his dissenters, kill players whom he didn't like, and flirt shamelessly with any pretty girl who caught his eye. Huang Wei had uncountable crimes listed against his name, but for the sake of money, there were still a huge number of people willing to work for him. No one dared to do anything to Huang Wei as long as all those warriors continued to work for him.

Those among the crowd who were about to intervene began to hesitate upon realizing that the cruel person in front of them was actually Huang Wei. After all, Huang Wei's power within White Tiger City was something they were all deeply familiar with. No one wanted to make things awkward for themselves, not if they wanted to remain in White Tiger City…

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Yun Fei and Lü Jing had originally pinned their hopes on the indignant audience coming to their aid; they had not expected that Huang Wei's name alone could scare the crowd like this. Their spirits sank.

"As expected,ēwouldonlydo somethinganidiotlikefoolishDàg like upholding  
justice," Yun Fei said with a bitter laugh before he lapsed back into silence. It seemed to him that it would be a very, very long time before he and Jing would be able to go to the Central Continent to look for Xiao Lan.

"…" Lü Jing's tears had long since stopped. She could only sigh in resignation as she looked at the crowd of people, none of whom dared to step up in their defense. It looked like she and Yun would have to go missing from Second Life for a period of time.

Huang Wei looked satisfactorily at the now-silent audience, before turning to Yun Fei and Lü Jing. "Lü Jing, are you going to be my wife or not? I'm telling you, I've already positioned men at all the rebirth points. If you say no, I'll definitely have this kid killed over and over again until he hits level one."

Yun Fei's and Lü Jing's faces were both bone-white. Lü Jing opened her mouth, but the words refused to leave her mouth…

"If she'll marry you, I'll swallow my dao whole," a familiar voice said. Yun's and Jing's hearts skipped a beat as they thought, Dàgē ?

Yun looked ecstatically toward the source of the voice. At that moment, the person had also walked out from the crowd – it was a masked white-haired elf. In an emotional voice, Yunēis anexcelfaimed,ē?"alright"Elf?.IsthatDàgyou, Dàg

The elf smiled slightly. "Aside from me, which other elf would be sightseeing here on the Eastern Continent?" True, only an elf like him with his level 100 "ability" to get lost would be wandering around here…

"Dàgē…" Jing's expression was beyond complicated.

The elf looked toward Huang Wei and said softly in a voice laced with the threat of an imminent storm. "Huang Wei, right? Looks like the lesson I gave you the last time around wasn't enough."

"You…!" Although he was livid with rage, Huang Wei had not forgotten the fright he'd received from the elf during their last encounter. It was precisely because he knew that Yun Fei and Lü Jing were no longer traveling with that person that he had dared to stall the duo, but now he'd bumped into this formidable elf, whom he had no intention of riling, yet again.

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"God damn it, don't think that I'm really scared of you. Last time you snuck up on me, but it won't be that easy this time. Boys, get him! Whoever kills him will be heavily rewarded!" In front of a crowd, there was no way Huang Wei would willingly back down and lose face. Besides, the elf only managed to win the last time around by using a sneak attack; this time, he – Huang Wei – would be well-prepared. He would have his revenge!

"The fight's started, Kenshin," the elf remarked smilingly to the red-haired warrior next to him, who looked like a newbie. The red-haired warrior only nodded, his face an icy mask.

Two figures streaked toward Huang Wei and his men at lightning speed…

"Dàgē…" Yun Fei wasē astonished; he'd never thought that Dàg would once again help  
them withoutētreatnotherthem sowordwell?.WhyEvendidafterDàghe and Jing had  
pushed him off a cliff, snatched the hair tie from him, and were planning to run away, Dàgēwould still help them unconditionally. Thisē Dàgrea lly such a fool, Yun thought, but in spite of his words, he was deeply touched, and warmth enveloped his heart.

"Jing, let'sētotheaccompCentranylContinent,Dàg okay?" Yun said calmly to Jing,  
but while it was phrased as a question, he stated it like it was a matter of course. "After we look up Xiaoē.LanIdon'tinthewantCentralto Continent, I want to follow Dàg

look for the professor and Prince anymore."

"Yeah," Jing replied without hesitation as she looked at the two figures engaging Huang Wei in combat. She, too, knew that they would be the real idiots not to follow someone likeē. Dàg

After the elf and the red-haired warrior had thoroughly taken care of the eight thugs and Huang Wei, the elf threw back his head and laughed for a long time, clearly astonishing the surrounding crowd with his arrogant demeanor.

"Dàgē,we're definitely following you." Yun Fei's and Lü Jing's eyes glittered with determination and there were broad smiles on their faces.

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	3. Chapter 3

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½Prince Volume 4 : The Buskers of Infinite City

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**S****YNOPSIS****:**

As the assault on the city reached its climax, I returned – and not a moment too late either. With me came four uniquely talented "persons". _Hmm…Those two can pass off for_ _"persons", I guess! _What effect will Lü Jing, Gu Yun Fei, Kenshin, and Sunshine'sabilities have on the battle? What will the outcome of the battle be?

_Wah! Are you people serious? Even if the treasury's short on funds, surely you're not going to force the "important and powerful" me onto the streets to earn money with my voice and looks? It's fine if you just want me to be a singer, but now you want to produce a photo album? And you want me to go topless? (Hey, the reporters have been too close for comfort recently; I think I'd better be more careful…)_

_I've been promoted from busker to the spokesperson for Second Life? First let me clarify_

_– am I going to be a female spokesperson, or a male one? This is a fine mess…_

_Fairsky's fallen in love with someone else? Oooh, thank God! So who did she fall in love with? I must properly convey my gratitude to him. What? It's S.U.N.S.H.I.N.E! Fairsky, you…! Can't you fall in love with a normal person? At least fall in love with a "person"!_

**A****BOUT THE**** A****UTHOR**:

Yu Wo:

Who am I? Sometimes I am like a warrior, wielding a sword on the battlefield with limitless passion and energy. At other times, I resemble a mage, with a mind devoted to research, completely absorbed in the things I like. Or I might be like a thief, leading a free and easy life, letting fate lead me to distant and unfamiliar lands. Occasionally, however I am similar to a priest, with a gentle heart, filled with compassion towards the living things of this world. Ultimately, I am a kindly Fantastical world

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The Buskers of Infinite City

**H****ALF**** P****RINCE**** V****OL****. 4**

**Original novel in Chinese by: **御我** (Yu Wo)**

**Table of Contents **

**Disclaimer ...**

** 4**

**Chapter 1: Infinite City Will Never Fall ...**

** 6**

**Chapter 2: Snake Kiss ...**

** 15**

**Chapter 3: The Busking Tour Group ...**

** 26**

**Chapter 4: The Most Important Matter in Meatbun****'****s Life ...**

** 37**

**Chapter 5: The Diary of a Suffering Street Musician ...**

** 45**

**Chapter 6: Second Life****'****s Spokesperson ...**

** 53**

**Chapter 7: Portfolio ...**

** 66**

**Chapter 8: Dating Diary ...**

** 74**

**Chapter 9: The Concert ...**

** 81**

**Chapter 10: XiMen Feng, Someone in the Same Situation as Me? ...**

** 89**

**Chapter 11: The Great Patch ...**

** 100**

**Extra Chapter: The Sun should Shine in the Fair Sky ...**

** 106**

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**Disclaimer **

Please take note of the following:

- The following translation½Princeof is by Prince Revolution! and is a "by fans, for fans" translation.

- This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this, you have been ripped off!

- Prince Revolution! does NOT ask for donations, payment, or anything else of the sort. We do not benefit monetarily from our translations AT ALL.

- We only ask that you do NOT steal credit or attempt to profit monetarily from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across any individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translation.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthels are held by Yu Wo, the author of the novels.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthel artworks are held by Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu,

the cover artists for the first and second editions of the novels respectively.

- Copyrights½Princetomanhuathe artwork are held by Cai Hong Zhong, the artist½Princeforthemanhua.

- Prince Revolution! has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novels into English. However, this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

- As such, please cease distribution of this PDF once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

**Links**

Prince Revolution!

Yuʼs WoBlg

.cc/blog/kim1984429

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**C****REDITS**

**Translators:**

Amgine (chapter 9)

Anglestagium (chapter 6)

Eilinel (chapters 1 and extra)

Erihppas (chapter 10)

Evangeline (chapters 7 and 9)

Raylight (chapters 5 and 8)

Samuki (chapter 2)

Spence (chapter 4)

Starie (chapter 11)

**Proofreaders:**

Bridget (chapters 1-2, 4-6, 10 and extra)

BurntSugarCookie (chapters 7-10)

CJFrost (chapters 8 and 11)

EvlNabiki (chapters 1, 4, 6 and 9)

Iskeirka (chapters 2 and 7)

Shadow Rebirth (chapters 1-11 and extra)

**C/E Editors:**

Amgine (chapters 10-11)

Angelstagium (chapters 1, 7-8 and extra)

Eilinel (chapters 3-6 and 8-11)

.Phatansy (chapter 2)

Rena (chapter 4)

**PDF and eBook Formatter**

Katerina

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**Chapter 1: Infinite City Will Never Fall **

"Don't bother about me! Hurry up and riddle them with arrows!" howled Fan, who was pinned to the ground under Wolf-dàgē'sfoot.

I raised my eyebrows, but just as I was about to say something…

"The mages have already cast a protective barrier around us, so long- range attacks from archers should be useless against us," Broken Sword said doubtfully. "Has Fan become so consumed with rage that he's lost his mind? Why would he give such an order?"

"Even if he were to give orders, why would he so openly announce them? Why didn't he use the PM system?" Wicked analyzed calmly. "I think he must have given a different order via the PM system. Looking at the current situation, he probably ordered them to charge and then have the thieves or warriors with high agility rescue him during the attack."

"That's right; we must not fall into his trap. We should start forming our defensive line right away." A woman with a commanding aura walked up to us. She looked like she was going to give orders, but after some hesitation, she looked at me, "Liege lord, is the formation of our defensive line at this time acceptable?"

I smiled while looking at her, _Wow, such a cool, smart, and beautiful girl–but who on_ _earth is she? _I was puzzled, but still dutifully answered, "Of course it is, but please askthe mages to remove the protective barrier and attack the enemy's rear with AoE1 magic attacks, or help our side defend with simple spells."

She was struck dumb, then replied frantically, "No, we can't do that! If the opponent switched to attacking us with arrows or spells, we would sustain heavy damages due to our tight formation."

"Believe me, there will be no problems." I looked at her resolutely, "There is no time to explain now. Please, just follow my orders."

Despite my words, she continued to look dubious. She turned towards Zui as though looking for help. "Do as the liege lord orders," Nan Gong Zui said without any hesitation, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

1 **AoE: **(Area of Effect) Spells that have an area of effect from around the target or a radius from the caster.

2 **Guazi: **A popular snack for the Chinese. They usually are made from melon seeds, but other variation

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"Prince, please stand back a bit." Wicked said coolly, "You are our leader; your job is to give us instruction and to be our pillar of spiritual support. The front line is not your place."

My face dropped. _But I want to fight too!_ I stared at Wicked with a pitiful expression, but even acting pitiable was of no use this time, as Wicked's determined expression did not even flicker, so I could only rub my nose and obediently listen to his words.

"I will stand back. Kenshin, remember to help me protect them," I said to Kenshin, feeling disgruntled.

I walked to the back and stood in front of the group of mages. I saw that our opponents already stood in their offensive formation and White Bird had also given the orders for defense, so now both sides seemed to be waiting for a signal to start the battle.

"Prince, are we really going to remove the protective barriers?" Rose and the other mages asked with some hesitation.

I gave a wave of my hand while keeping my eyes trained on the tense situation in front, "Yes! All of you should just attack with spells without worries."

I suddenly thought of something, and turned towards Sunshine to ask, "Sunshine, can you use the spell that's able to chase people? The one you told me about before?"

Sunshine smiled gracefully, "Guided Arcane Missiles? Yes I can, but I will need a long time to lock onto the enemies."

"Mm, you can take all the time you need; just make sure you cast it before the battle ends." I nodded and then returned my gaze to the front line.

_Eh? Why hasn't it started after so long? I'm almost falling asleep. _Feeling extremelydispleased, I shouted at Kenshin listlessly, "Kenshin, did you fall asleep? Quickly start the battle."

Kenshin turned his head to look (glare?) coldly at me, slowly drew his katana out, then suddenly disappeared from his location.

In the blink of an eye, while everyone was still stunned, the sound of a howl suddenly came from the enemy's side. After that, the sounds of different people's howls seemed endless. Everyone stared at the sight of a red figure that jumped here and there without pause. Wherever he went, enemies' stomachs were cut open and intestines flowed out. Bodies lay all over the place and the flowing blood formed a river.

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_Sigh! Kenshin, can you stop disembowling our opponents? We could easily slip if we stepped on the intestines that have been dropped onto the ground! You should consider the effects for our side._

The opponents, who were only able to react after their initial shock wore off, finally started to hunt down Kenshin. I snorted, _If even I was unable to follow the speed of a_ _level 100 Kenshin, how would it be possible for you all to catch Kenshin? If you all can even touch a corner of Kenshin's clothes, you would already be considered incredible._

"Everyone, quick, follow the original plan; don't be distracted by him!" a warrior who was pretty good-looking yelled with all his might as he saw the situation going amiss.

Under the roar of this person, everyone from the enemy side suddenly rushed towards Infinite City. When they drew near the defensive line, countless Fireballs, Ice Spears, Wind Blades and Jaws of Hell "greeted" them and killed a row of enemies straight away. Then, before I could even clap my hands and applaud them, another wave of spells attacked. It was so fast between waves that there wasn't time enough to bat an eyelash. I looked over to the group of mages, slightly perplexed. _Ooooh! So they are attacking in_ _turns. Furthermore, they are moving with perfect coordination, taking turns and casting spells without missing a step._

"Magical attacks? They have removed their protective barriers? Mages, quickly attack!" There was another anxious roar from the opponent side.

Then, as our side watched on with some fear in their eyes, I admired the sight of a multitude of spells—plus one smelly sock that came out of nowhere—being hurled in my direction. _Sigh, a liege lord is a liege lord indeed; eight out of ten spells were aimed at_ _me. _I raised my eyebrows, unconcerned, but Gui, who was at my side, suddenly rushedout to stand in front of me, and hugged me tightly. A vein throbbed on my temple while I smiled tightly.

_Gui, I am really touched that you are willing to help me block the attacks, but I'm more angry than touched about the fact that you slyly hugged me again. _I ruthlessly pinchedGui's face, hard.

"Ouch!"

Then, as I expected, the sound of many cries went up again.

"What is happening?" Gui, who was originally prepared to be a meat shield, had forgotten about the pain from my pinch. He stared in a daze as the spells that flew close to his head suddenly reversed their direction and blasted the enemy mages into the sky.

"Good job, Yun," I praised Yun, who also stood quite close to me, and he signaled a "V" to me.

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Facing the shocked stares displayed by both sides, I calmly explained, "Rebound Barrier is a special skill in a job that is extremely obscure—the Barrier Master. It's just nice that there was a Barrier Master, Gu Yun Fei, among the people I brought back."

Everyone looked towards Yun. Just when Yun was feeling high spirited and proud…

Gui looked at Yun, smiled, then said, "Yun Fei, you had only scored a C in your mid-term literature exam, please work harder for the final exam. You should learn from Lü Jing, as her grade was A+."

Yun looked overjoyed instead of disappointed and he mumbled to himself, "I scored a C! I thought my exam result this time would have definitely been closer to the cup size of Tian Xin, a F."

_I wonder what I scored on the exam? I really, REALLY want to ask… _I fiercely tried tocontrol my mouth in case I asked Gui accidentally.

"You should quickly set up your Rebound Barrier," I could only order Yun with a bit of resentment, since I couldn't ask about my result.

Yun exaggeratedlyē." gave me a 90 degree bow, "Yes Dàg

The battle had cooled down for a bit as the opponent side seemed helplessly bewildered. I couldn't help but laugh loudly as I leisurely walked to the side of Legolas. "Do you have an extra set of bow and arrows?"

Legolas stood bewildered for a moment, then handed me a bow and a quiver of arrows. I waved my hand to call Jing over, drew the bow and notched an arrow, while Jing automatically tied a piece of _fu_ paper to the tip of the arrow. I released the arrow …and hit some unlucky man on the shoulder, then the _fu_ suddenly exploded, sending the man and a few unlucky people around him up to see Buddha.

When everyone looked at me with admiration, I revealed a faint smile as usual, but I was actually thinking in my heart…_Shit! I missed the target! Originally I wanted to shoot the_ _warrior on the left that was so ugly he hurt my eyes. How did I hit the people on the right instead? _I furrowed my brow, drew the bow again and shot another arrow.

_Damn! Why did I miss again? _Being slightly annoyed now, I swiftly pulled the bow andcontinuously shot the arrows like mad. I was shooting so fast that Jing almost had no time to tie the Fu on to the arrows in the quiver.

In the end, the entire front row of people died, except for the ugly warrior that was still standing and looking at me with wobbly feet. _Hmph, this time I will kill you for sure._ I drew my bow again, aimed, and shot the arrow…

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"…" With a swipe of his sword, Kenshin deflected the arrow that was flying towards him. Coincidentally, the deflected arrow struck the ugly warrior.

_Good thing I didn't choose to be an archer in the beginning, _I rejoiced silently and thensmiled innocently at Kenshin while the latter speechlessly glared at me.

"Sharpshooter!" Hearing the shouts of admiration from our side and seeing the terror in the eyes of the opponents, I scratched my face, _This…really is a beautiful_ _misunderstanding._

The opponents seemed to be at an impasse now. I thought, _Well it's to be expected; they_ _can't use spells and arrows since they are worried about the attacks being reflected back and if they charged at us directly they have to face both warriors and mages at the same time. What can they do even if they outnumber us? _I started to feel bored, as the outcomeof the battle seemed to be decided. So, I took out a packet of guazi2 from my pouch and started to crack them open.

"Hey Prince, the battle is still going on, don't you think you are too relaxed?" Lolidragon said while watching my actions with a vein throbbing on her temple.

I continued to chew on my guazi. Just when I tried to explain to her that I was feeling bored, a huge beam of light rose up and shot toward the sky behind my back. As I raised my head to observe the light and crack my second guazi, the beam of light divided into one hundred smaller beams of light in the air, and descended from the sky. Everyone finally realized what was happening when the first small light beam killed an opponent.

_Guided Arcane Missiles, is an ability similar to guided missiles. The only difference between them is that while guided missiles can only target one target, Guided Arcane Missiles can target one hundred people at once. However, its disadvantage is that not only does it have a casting time long enough to make one fall asleep, the caster also must look at each and every target in the eye in order to lock on. Therefore, this ability is extremely useful for defending castles but not much else, similar to Yun's Barrier Master abilities that are only useful for defending too._

As this attack had killed one hundred people simultaneously, the morale of the attacking side was dropping lower and lower; some people had even went as far as to stand there helplessly without doing anything. I saw a man with green hair and blue eyes roar, "Stop!"

Everyone in the attacking side froze immediately, while everyone from the defending side looked towards me. _Oh? So it's my turn to talk now? But my mouth is full of guazi…_

Thus I was forced to suavely raise my right hand and everyone from our side stopped instantly too.

2** Guazi: **A popular snack for the Chinese. They usually are made from melon seeds, but other variationsuch as sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are common too.

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The green-haired blue-eyed man drew a deep breath and said, "We surrender."

"Kui, you are not allowed to surrender!" Fan roared angrily.

That man, Kui, looked dejectedly at Fan, "Fan, it's over. There is no need to make our brothers pointlessly lose levels."

"No matter what the situation is, I forbid you to surrender to him." Fan said while giving me a malicious glare.

I swallowed the guazi in my mouth calmly and turned to give Wolf-dàgēalook… Wolf - dàgēimmediately stompe d hard on Fan's chest. I watched with satisfaction as Fan vomited a few mouthfuls of blood and was unable to talk again. Then I turned in Kui's direction and said, "Surrender? Won't you regret it? You still have a lot of people that can fight."

Kui smiled bitterly, "Fight? From the moment you dropped from the sky, I should have known that it was over. When that man who was so agile that he was like a ghost started to butcher our people, I had faintly guessed the outcome in my heart. When I learned of the Rebound Barrier, I could only pray for a miracle to happen. But what really made me give up was the fact that after you used the bow to shoot us one by one like in an FPS3 game, you took out the guazi to eat. It was then that I realized that you never took us seriously, and that this whole battle was only a game to you.

"'GAMESTART', really was game start." Kui said while smiling with a touch of bitterness.

After listening to Kui's words, I raised my head and laughed while saying, "You are really interesting. Are you interested in joining Infinite City?"

Kui was stunned for a moment, and then he replied, "I have already joined Fan's Divine Coalition."

With a smile that was dripping with malice, I said, "If you refuse to join Infinite City, I will kill all your comrades present here and declare all members of Divine Coalition to be KOS."

Kui's face was filled with anger.

3** FPS: **(First-person shooter) A video game genre which centers the gameplay around gun- and projectileweapon-based combat through the first person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. See Wikipedia ( wiki/First-person_shooter) for more information.

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I ignored his anger and roared on, "Anyone from Divine Coalition that joins Infinite City will be treated as a comrade. Those who don't will be banned forever from Infinite City and hunted down within its walls."

The opponents started to riot upon my declaration and many of them were infuriated. When I saw this, I smiled faintly and said, "What are you all being angry for? I'm just helping you find a reason to quit Divine Coalition."

"…" Kui and the other members of Divine Coalition quieted down after they heard this and looked undecided.

_If they are in doubt, it means that they actually want to join Infinite City very much; it's just that they are still undecided because of worthless reasons such as loyalty, their strength of character, and reputation. _So, without waiting for them to agree to joinInfinite City, I raised my brows and told Nan Gong Zui, "Zui, go and ask Kui how many members there are in Divine Coalition and discuss with him how to fit the people into Infinite City."

Zui nodded and walked to Kui. Kui smiled with bitterness for a moment, then stopped doubting and started to discuss intently with Zui.

I revealed an extremely malicious smile as I crouched down to see Fan's eyes that visibly shone with anger and hatred, and said, "Fan, oh Fan, what do you suggest I do with you now?" I deliberately paced around as if unsure and continued, "You can't beat me in a one-on-one duel and now you also lost in a battle. What can you do now?"

At this time, Kui walked over with a pleading expression. He watched his former superior Fan with a sorrowful gaze and said, "Prince, can you please let Fan go?"

"Let Fan go?" I asked with a soft voice and furrowed my brows deeply.

"Please Prince, let Fan go," Ice Phoenix, who had been standing silently with her head bowed at the side all this time, suddenly raised her head and pleaded with me.

I sighed deeply and said solemnly, "If I let Fan go, will you let yourself go?"

Ice Phoenix lowered her head and didn't say a single word while crying continually. My heart ached as I watched her cry… _Erm, my heart aches because we both are women, so I_ _know her feelings; don't think too much everyone… I still prefer handsome men._

"Never mind. Wolf-dàgē,heal him up and then let him go." I ordered helplessly. _Really,_ _originally I had wanted to try The Ten Torture Methods of the Manchu Dynasty on him!_

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After being healed, Fan stood up calmly; his eyes were so calm that it was unsettling. He said, "Prince, you are indeed a worthy adversary. I, Fan, swear to you that I will return and the next time, I will defeat you fair and square."

I raised my brows and said, "I will be waiting for you at Infinite City."

Fan gave me a last look before his lonesome figure walked out of Infinite City.

"Wicked and Broken Sword, we should lead the surviving comrades to tidy up Infinite City. The city is a mess now and it's an eyesore!" I said. After I watched Fan walk out of the gates of Infinite City, I suddenly realized the gates were slanted and barely hanging on their hinges. It really went against my virtue of cleanliness so I couldn't help but feel like wanting to tidy it up.

Therefore, a fierce battle for a city that shocked the heaven and earth and made both the devil and god cry, ended clumsily, with the sound of us hastily moving bricks and wood.

"This battle that wasted countless amounts of money and levels of comrades just suddenly ended with a mess like this? Who is going to be responsible for the financial loss?" Yu Lian- dàsăosobbed tearlessly in Wolf -dàgē'slap.

"Mm, after accepting everyone from Divine Coalition, our military strength has greatly increased. I think there isn't anyone who would dare to attack us for now," said Madame White Bird, who seemed quite happy.

"We have to redesign and reconstruct the gates again." Gui said, releasing a heartfelt sigh while observing from afar the terrible state of the four gates.

"I wonder how much money Yu Lian will agree to give us?" Fairsky was depressed too; the battle between The Social and Construction Department and The Financial Department would just be starting now.

"I have to lay the traps all over again…" Lolidragon said with a pale face. _Thousands of_ _traps!_

"Prince, you are finally back." Nan Gong Zui said to me.

"Yep, did you miss me?" I asked him with a smiling face.

Nan Gong Zui contemplated for a moment and replied, "I rather did, especially when the battle was drawing near."

"Who said that he missed Prince very much?" Wicked, Gui, and Fairsky, three people that were separated in three different corners turned their head back as one and roared.

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Their eyes plainly showed that they would kill the next person that dared to join the battle for Prince.

Zui's face was expressionless, although I saw that he was dripping cold sweat… He turned his head slowly and said, "I'm saying, Liege Lord, welcome back to Infinite City!"

"Liege Lord, welcome back to Infinite City!" some random person suddenly roared, whom I strongly suspect to be that fellow, Kong Kong.

"Liege Lord, welcome back to Infinite City!" Everyone roared joyfully. The battle just now had ended so fast that everyone hadn't had time to react to it yet. Now the joy of successfully defending our city had finally burst out.

I also laughed wildly while raising my Black Dao high, and yelled, "Infinite City shall never fall!"

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**Chapter 2: Snake Kiss **

"Prince, the people you've brought back are rather remarkable, aren't they?" Lolidragon asked suspiciously. "Where on earth did you find them?"

I shrugged. "Jing and Yun are my classmates; it's just a coincidental meeting. Plus they just found out that I'm Prince. As for Kenshin and Sunshine…" I hesitated. _Should I tell_ _her?_

"They're NPCs from a hidden quest, right?" Lolidragon stated matter-of-factly.

"How did you know?" I demanded, shocked.

Lolidragon froze for a moment, and then she retorted, "I'm a hidden GM, remember?"

"Oh…," I scratched my cheek. _Didn't she say that hidden GMs are exactly like normal_ _players? That's why I thought she wouldn't know!_

Lolidragon sighed deeply and shook her head in disbelief. "You're one lucky dog, to even be able to complete this super-duper disgustingly difficult hidden mission! You know, Lantis and Kenshin were only created for fun; no one ever expected anyone to complete the mission!"

"Uh, there's actually a reason behind that," _Should I tell Lolidragon about Kenshin and_ _Sunshine's 'awakening'? _I hesitated a little; after all, Lolidragon was a Second Lifeemployee. Who knew if she would report this incident?

"It would be best for you to tell everyone that they're your humanoid pets soon; I've already seen a lot of people treating them like players," Lolidragon nagged.

"No, I can't tell." I waved my hands frantically.

Lolidragon asked suspiciously, "Why?"

"Uh, because they've gained self-awareness now and I have no intention of treating them as humanoid pets. In fact, I want them to be just like normal players." I explained everything in one breath.

"Self-awareness?" Lolidragon paled.

_As expected, it really is shocking… _I took a deep breath, and then said seriously,"Lolidragon, could you please not tell? Don't inform anyone else about this, okay? Especially not the people from the game company, or else Sunshine and Kenshin would be in danger. I don't want them to be deleted, so please."

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Lolidragon's stern expression remained in place for a moment, leaving me in suspense. Finally, she lost it, bursting out into a guffaw. Waving her hand, she said, "Relax, I won't say a thing. It's not every day that NPCs gain self-awareness. Something as fun as this, how could I tell the company and let them spoil my fun?"

I was speechless. _Whichever company that had hired Lolidragon must be really_ _unfortunate._

The door opened with a thump – Lolidragon and I looked toward the entrance, as a familiar petite figure leapt into my arms and murmured into my ear, "Prince, you've finally come back, oh how I've missed you!"

I looked down, expressionless. _Fairsky really is like an unstoppable, determined roach…_

Then another very familiar black-haired head latched onto my back . I looked back in stoic silence. This one had even more vitality than Fairsky – Gui, with skin so tough that even bullets could not penetrate it, was looking at me with tear-filled eyes. "Your Highness, you've finally returned! I've been so worried!"

Worse still, standing in front of me with popping veins on his head, Wicked had long since drawn his sword. I looked impassively at him as he kicked Fairsky and Gui off, and then gave them the beating of their lives… The beaten duo, not wanting to take this sitting down, ganged up against Wicked. Fairsky blocked Wicked's attacks, while Gui shot cold arrows4 at him, turning Wicked into a bloody pincushion.

"Not stopping them?" Lolidragon asked coolly.

"It's a good show to watch, why stop it?" I replied in the same cool manner.

Just then, Wicked's longsword was flung into the air by Fairsky, grazing my cheek and leaving a bloody line… The three brawlers paused to look back at me with regret and heartache in their eyes. I wiped the blood from my cheek with the back of my hand, smiling slightly. "Hitting me too? Interesting!"

Finally, Lolidragon ended up munching on guazi while watching as I thrashed the trio, chatting with me the whole time. "Prince, why don't you take Phoenix on as well? She's been moaning about Fan day and night; Nan Gong Zui's frustrated, as is White Bird."

"Who's White Bird?" I punched Gui with my right hand, stepped on Wicked with my left leg, and tickled Fairsky with my left hand using all my strength.

"Oh, you still don't know. I'll tell you all about what's happened!"

Lolidragon told me everything that had transpired during my absence.

4** Cold arrows: **A term in Chinese that literally means sneaky attacks using arrows.

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"What? Rose and Broken Sword are together?" I paled; in shock, wondering if we had to give them red packets5 soon. _It can't be, right? Recently mom's been running out to play_ _all the time and she hasn't written any manuscripts; our house's finances are a mess._

_Where am I supposed to get the money for the red packets? _When I thought of this, Ilashed out more violently at the trio on the floor.

"Are you jealous?" Lolidragon lifted an eyebrow.

At this time, the almost dead trio on the floor leapt up suddenly, looking at me with worried faces. I replied hotly, "No way!"

"That's good," someone from the side sighed in relief. I looked over to spot Broken Sword, Rose, and… everyone else.

"When did everyone arrive?" I asked stupidly.

"They started trickling in when you began beating the trio up." Lolidragon shrugged.

I smiled awkwardly at all of them. "Uh, hello guys."

"Pfft!" Yun suddenly burst out laughing… _Hey, what's wrong with you, guys don't go_ _"pfft", only girls do that! What business do you, a grown man, have laughing like that?_

"Dàgē,how come you're becoming more and more stupid? In the beginning, you were even the picture of sternness."

I aimed a flying kick at him. _Exposing my cover? Are you courting death?_ After kicking him, I smoothed my clothes, and gestured at the four people I was about to introduce to everyone. "This is Gu Yun Fei, a barrier master; Lu Jing, an exorcist; Sunshine, a mage; and Kenshin, a warrior."

Yun, who had been thrown to the floor by my kick, looked sullen before posing like a mermaid. "Hi everyone, I'm the Gu Yunē." Fei who's always bullied by dàg

"I'm Lu Jing. I'm really happy to meet everyone," Jing posed shamelessly in a cutesy manner in front of the crowd.

"I'm Sunshine, pleased to meet you," Sunshine smiled elegantly with a tinge of warmth.

5** Red packets: **These are mainly presented at social and family gatherings such as weddings or on holidayssuch as the Lunar New Year. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits. The act of requesting for red packets is normally called (Mandarin): 討紅包, 要利是.

(Cantonese):逗利是. A married person would not turn down such request as it would mean that he or she would be "out of luck" in the new year. In keeping with Chinese customs, newly wedded couples are also usually expected to be extremely generous with the amount offered in the red packets, so as to receive blessings for a blissful marriage. See wikipedia ( wiki/Red_envelope) for more information.

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"Kenshin," Kenshin said curtly.

Seeing as all four had finished their self-introductions, I guessed that it was time for me to introduce everyone else to them. But… I counted the amount of people present, and decided to forget about the introductions. I said carelessly, "You guys mingle slowly and get acquainted with each other."

"Prince, the comrades you've brought back this time are extremely talented!" Wolf-dàgē patted my head fondly.

"Of course they're strong; you don't know how much time and effort I've spent on them!" I sighed, misty-eyed, thinking back to that time…

hg

I had finished the arduous climb up the highest peak, Azure Mountain, only to find the three old prophets standing in front of the stone monument, saying, "Come on! Young one, if you defeat us, you can become the Demon King…" Ah, that's not right! Defeat them, and they would give me a pile of dung. I stared at it, face full of disbelief, as I thought, _What would I need a pile of dung for? I'm not planting any crops, so I don't_ _need fertilizer, right?_

"The main point of this mission is to give you a Great Returning Pill. The stone monument's name and the prophecies are extras," Kenshin explained slowly. Seeing the disgusted look on my face as I looked at the pile of 'Returning Pills', Kenshin added, "If you eat the Great Returning Pill, your experience points will be multiplied by ten during a period of three days."

"Oh? That's quite impressive," I smiled nicely at the three old farts. Respect to the elderly was an alien thought at the moment.

Kenshin and I gave the three old farts a good beating before taking the dung and stone monument down the mountain along with us, finding there the two familiar people who were in the midst of a good barbeque.

"The two of you share this pile of dung and then we'll go to the Ghost Cove and train." I snatched away the aromatic freshly- roasted meat and, ignoring the shocked expressions on their faces, force-fed them a half of the pile each. Seeing that both of them had fainted immediately after, Kenshin and I had no choice but to carry one each and rush back to Ghost Cove.

When we returned to Ghost Cove, I struggled for what seemed like forever at Broken Cliff before being kicked down by an impatient Kenshin… After saving Sunshine, we helped Jing and Yun to train like mad at Ghost Cove. With the help of the Great Returning Pill, both of them managed to level up nearly 15 levels. Lastly, we used

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Sunshine's flying carpet to hurry back to Infinite City. Because I was afraid that we wouldn't make it back in time, I had even threatened the carpet, forcing it to fly at a breakneck speed… If it didn't, I would have used it as an entrance mat at Infinite City, free for all passers- by to clean their shoes on.

hg

_Sigh! _These two life-long friends of mine and the two NPCs who had gained self-awareness spent a lot of my time and effort! Ah well, the end justifies the means.

I stopped reminiscing and looked back at everyone else, only to notice that they all looked frustrated yet were at a loss of what to do. When I followed their gaze I saw… Ice Phoenix! _Ah_, I sighed, _I had already promised Nan Gong Zui that I'd take care of his_ _god-sister, plus Lolidragon has also told me to take Phoenix under my wing, so it looks like I can't escape this matter anymore._

"Phoenix…" I affixed an angst-ridden expression on my face and walked toward Phoenix.

Phoenix yelled at me in panic. "Don't come over here!"

I stopped in mid-step and softly said one line. "I didn't know you hated me that much."

"No, no, it's just that you…" Phoenix didn't know what to say for a while, and then she started crying.

_I actually made Phoenix cry! _I became flustered too._ At a time like this, what should I do?_

In the midst of the panic and disorder, I seemed to hear Lolidragon whisper, "Go and hug her, you idiot."

_Roar! Easy for you to say! _But seeing that Phoenix was crying so miserably, I could onlybury my sighs deep in my heart and hug Phoenix gently, while consoling her. "It's alright, don't cry, no one will blame you."

At first, Phoenix struggled in my arms, but the more she struggled the tighter I held her until she was finally snug in my embrace, weeping her heart out.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it, b-because Fan he- he begged me, and I still can't forget him…" Phoenix wailed her explanations out in my arms.

_Was I too merciful to Fan, to just let him off like that? Ay, I'm becoming less and less bloody; next time I will improve!_

"It's okay, you can start forgetting now. If you think of him, you can just come and hug me." As I spoke, I stroked Phoenix's long hair; I was beginning to understand why men

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love girls with long-hair; smooth and fragrant, long hair is really a pleasure to touch indeed.

"Prince…" Phoenix shyly buried her face in my chest until only two red ear tips were visible.

"Hmm?" I lifted my nose out from Phoenix's silky hair and realized that I really shouldn't have looked up, as I immediately noticed three vengeful spirits… Gui was being held up by Wolf-dàgēin mid -air with his legs kicking out at the air; Wicked was held back by Zui and White Bird, his eyes blood-shot; Fairsky was being pulled back by Rose and Broken Sword, so angry that her cheeks were puffed up.

I broke out in a cold sweat and stiffened – Phoenix obviously noticed that too as she lifted her head up shyly. She then noticed the three vengeful spirits… Her expression changed; she looked at me with a strange resolve… Ugh, I suddenly had a very bad premonition, and while my instincts have never been right about good predictions, they're superb when it comes to the bad.

"Prince, if you really accept me, then kiss me." Phoenix closed her eyes and lifted her head high, every inch the picture of a maiden waiting to be ravished.

_Ugh… I was right again. Kissing her would be no problem at all, since I've already kissed more interesting people – for girls I've kissed my own cousin, for guys I've kissed the game's NPC, Kenshin. What more could frighten me? However, if I were to kiss her in front of the three angry spirits, I'll never have another peaceful day. Gui would cry until the Great Wall of China falls down__6__, Wicked would nag to me about girls' chastity, and Fairsky would go crazy; she might even challenge Phoenix to a duel._

In my hesitation, Phoenix had already opened her tear-filled eyes, but she was doing her utmost to hold back those tears. How… extremely heart-wrenching!

I made my decision. No longer hesitant, I lifted her shocked face, and kissed her roughly.

"Snake kiss7, Prince, give her a snake kiss, then she'll really be yours, heart and soul." Lolidragon seemed unusually excited as she cheered us on in the sidelines.

_Snake kiss? What's a snake kiss? Kissing a snake? _I was baffled.

6 **"…cry until the Great Wall of China falls down": **There's a story about this saying. The building ofGreat Wall of China caused a lot of people's deaths so the people in ancient China were unwilling to go build it. However, the emperor of that time forced the men to leave their homes to build the Great Wall. A woman called Meng Jiang Nv had just married when her husband was forced to go build the Great Wall, and he died. Legend said Meng Jiang Nv cried days and nights under the Great Wall after her husband death until the unfinished part of Great Wall was shaken and fell down.

7 **Snake kiss: **Snake kiss is pronounced the same in Chinese as 'tongue kiss'…which, as you can guess, is aFrench kiss.

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"Stick your tongue in Phoenix's mouth and move it around; that's a snake kiss." Lolidragon's voice rang out in the PM channel.

_Oh…. _I did as I was instructed, and stuck my tongue into Phoenix's mouth and moved itaround… Finally, when I ran out of breath, I stopped the snake kiss, and licked my own lips, wondering _Had Phoenix eaten some candy? Why does her mouth taste sweet?_

"So stimulating…" Lolidragon said dumbly. I shot her a glance, thinking, _Lolidragon,_ _even if you want to try it out, please don't look so eager! Have some self-restraint, alright?_

I looked down to see how Phoenix was faring, only to see that her eyes had already formed two giant hearts and her entire body was limp, remaining upright only through the support of my two arms… _How could this be? I only felt that it was a little numbing, and_ _sweet! _I scratched my cheek and decided not to think about it any further. As long as Icould seduce Phoenix away from Fan, all was well! _But I still have the problem of the_ _three vengeful spirits to deal with!_

I handed a still-swooning Phoenix to her sister, White Bird, and moved toward the team of resentful spirits who were standing like statues, frozen to the ground with shock at what I had just done. First, I walked to Fairsky's side and smiled at her. She couldn't help but to smile back, then… I repeated my actions and gave her a good snake kiss. Looking at another heart-shaped-eyed girl in my arms, I suddenly felt that it was extremely fun!

I threw Fairsky over to Rose and turned my head to look towards the two men. I frowned.

_I don't mind kissing girls, but if it's men… After all, I'm a young maiden; it wouldn't seem too good if I did that, right? But, I really want to know if kissing guys or girls feels more comfortable._

"Prince, your highness…." Gui's tears had already formed two waterfalls, and his voice was full with grief.

I was thinking, _Okay, I'll kiss him once, seeing that he's so pitiful…_But just as I was about to walk toward him, and Gui looked extremely ecstatic when…

"You're not allowed to kiss him; I'll leave the issue of you kissing girls alone, but… You! Must! Not! Kiss! Gui!" Wicked's flames of wrath were strong, almost to the point of materializing. I stopped walking, for the safety of my life, and shrugged at Gui.

"Wicked, what quarrel do you have with me?" Gui's eyes were full of pain and anger.

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"Hatred as deep as Blood Sea!8" Wicked glared right back.

I turned around, no longer caring about the brawling duo and stretched lazily, only to find out that… I was hungry. "Lolidragon, I'm hungry."

Lolidragon looked unfazed, as if she already knew that was coming. "The food has already been prepared, and you can familiarize yourself with the new members White Bird, her husband Outside Window, Feng Wu Qing's 'parents', and so on while you are eating."

"Feng Wu Qing's 'parents'?" I emphasized on the word 'parents'. _If I'm not wrong,_ _doesn't Feng Wu Qing have the same parents as me?_

"Yeah, this time in the siege, Feng Wu Qing's 'parents' helped out a lot, plus they've already decided to settle down in Infinite City," said Lolidragon, emphasizing the word 'parents' as I had.

"…" My shoulders slumped down; I had just managed to get out of one storm, when another one comes – I was beginning to suspect that I hadn't yet made my peace with any unhappy deities somewhere.

I followed Lolidragon to the dining room…and started sweating like mad. _Is there_ _someone getting married? How come it looks like a wedding feast?! _I could only see rowupon row of lanterns and ribbons, all with a red theme color, and counted scores of round tables with everyone sitting in their proper places, all wide- eyed with excitement, watching my entrance. Suddenly I felt as if Lolidragon and I were the long anticipated bride and groom. I even looked back to check if there was a giant 'Congratulations' stuck to the wall behind me.

What the…? That's what I get for turning back to look; it's unknown whether the word was painted on with coloring or whether it was actual blood. It looked like it had just been written because it was still dripping.

"Liege Lord, would you like to go over the city's operations or finances first?" An unfamiliar face… This should be the White Bird that Lolidragon was talking about! She was holding a thick stack of paper, blocking my way toward my lovely dining table, her expression respectful yet not too humble.

"Let's eat first!" I waved my hand; nothing is more important than my wonderful food.

Upon hearing that, White Bird put away the papers in her hand and said, "Yes, my Lord. Then would you please announce the commencement of dinner?"

8** "Hatred as deep as the Blood Sea": **Usually this phrase is used for a really deep hatred, for examplewhen the enemy had killed your parents…hence the blood sea part. The blood sea part also can mean that you hate your enemy so much that you want to see his blood flowing out so much that it can form a 'sea'.

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I rubbed my nose; I wasn't used to being addressed so politely. "Everyone, it's time to eat."

The quiet crowd suddenly roared back to life, and I too was eager to sit down and enjoy my exquisite meal of… White rice, meat floss, and egg soup? I blinked but it was still those three things. _It can't be… Are those appetizers?_ "Lolidragon, these are…"

"Main dishes." Seemingly knowing what I was thinking, Lolidragon replied without a moment's hesitation.

"This…," The corner of my mouth cramped as I recalled Zhuo-gēge telling me something about Infinite City's financial woes. _But is it really this bad?_

"What's the matter? The person who spent 5000 crystal coins taking a ship to Eastern Continent isn't satisfied with the food?" Yu Lian-dàsăo's warm voice ra ng out, but I felt like I'd fallen into an ice pit and couldn't stop shivering.

"These dishes are wondrous; I haven't had such, such healthy food in ages!" To prove my point, I even lifted up my rice bowl and started shoveling huge amounts of plain rice into my mouth.

Yu Lian-dàsăogave a small smile once again. "Prince should have been rather well -fed during this trip, right?"

_Right… _I started sweating violently. Suddenly, I had an inspiration that I hoped wouldsave my skin; I snatched up my backpack and dug out a gleaming red ruby (_Remember_ _which one this was? The one on a certain someone's large door… I had hacked it down before leaving.) _I presentedăo, itthiswithis littleshakingbrother' "Dàs

gift of appreciation, please accept it."

Yu Lian-dàsăosignaled for Phoenix to take the ruby. Phoenix actually…sniffed the ruby before saying, "3000 crystal coins."

_Oi, you're a phoenix, not a dog…yet you sniff?_

Yu Lian-dàsăoused her eyes to cue Lolidragon next, who threw down her chopsticks hurriedly to say in a calm and dignified manner, "Prince, because of the city's economy crisis, we've decided to send you out to earn money."

I pointed to my own nose, face full of shock, thinking _Me? Earn money? Spending it all_ _is more likely… What if! What if they really want me to work as something like a male host? _I paled and asked, "How am I going to do that?"

Doll suddenly broke out in a radiant smile, "Prince-gēge is so good -looking."

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Lolidragon nodded. "Plus Blood Elf's name is so well-known."

_I'm done for, I'm done for; they really want me to work as a male host? My first part time job and I have to sell my body? No way, this will never do, if news of this spreads, how am I, a little maiden, supposed to continue living? It's impossible… _But – I eyed YuLian- dàsăo's widening smile… _Ugh, I'll at most be a male escort, selling my smile and_ _not my body; I can still tolerate that… _I looked at Yu Lian- dàsăo's smiling face again…

_Ugh, at the very most, I'll accept selling my body to 'beauties'._

"According to what Lolidragon said, you can sing rather well?" Wolf-dàgēsuddenly asked out of the blue.

I was stunned. _Do I sing well?_ I turned toward to Lolidragon, face full of puzzlement.

"Didn't you sing 'It's My Life' to me before?" Lolidragon lifted an eyebrow. "I dare say that at the very least you're a match for the original singer."

"Prince, you sing, and I'll help you to play the accompaniment!" Gui raised up his guqing and started tuning.

_Use a guqing to play rock and roll songs? We'd better not, right? Even if the original singer didn't turn in his grave, the guqing string would surely break… _But, looking at theanticipation in the eyes of the crowd, I was too embarrassed to say no, so I had no choice but to discuss the choice of songs with Gui. "Let's change it to a song with more sentimental feelings, that one isn't very suited for accompaniment on guqing."

"Which one then?" Gui asked.

I didn't need to think twice, "Dreams Want to Fly."

As Gui played the first note, I too immersed myself in the song's lyrics. I opened my mouth and sang:

_Dreams want to fly_

_Flying with wings wouldn't be amazing any longer, feathers are too soft Dreams are heavy and burdening, nothing seems more difficult than taking-off I jump, I leap, I will try_

_I fall, I'm hurt, I pity myself_

_Crossing over heart, over hardships, but not over feelings,_

_Taking the final step, hurting myself, hurting others, but I can't hurt eternity, Legends, created with sadness, bitterness and sorrow_

_Touched only by wanting to fly, and flying Dreams want to fly_

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Dreams Want to Fly by Yu Wo

I stopped singing, took a deep breath, and came back to reality. When I opened my eyes again, everyone in the audience seemed absorbed in my singing. I could only scratch my cheek; _did I really sing that well?_

Yu Lian-dàsăowas the first to open her eyes; they shone with bright excitement as she said, "We've struck gold!"

"Huh?" _What does she mean? How come I feel so uneasy again, especially after spotting_ _my parents sitting at the table to my left, looking like they're deep in thought? _My heartstarted racing at the thought.

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**Chapter 3: The Busking Tour Group **

"You want me to be a singer, and have a concert?" I began to feel slightly dizzy. _What_ _on earth is everyone thinking_?_ Aren't I the Lord of the city_?_ How did I turn into a singer_?

"Yeah, just take a look at yourself." Lolidragon shoved a mirror at me. "Look at that invincible, super-duper handsome face and tall, perfectly proportioned body. Look at that cool and elegant poise (as long as you don't open your mouth), plus those power vocals! If you don't sell your bo— I mean, records, isn't that a heinous waste of natural resources?"

I glanced at Lolidragon, wondering if I had heard her beginning to say 'body'. "But, this is an online game. Who becomes a singer in a game, and actually holds concerts?"

"And has a photo-shoot," Lolidragon added, and whereupon catching me paling at an alarming rate, quickly quipped, "Don't worry, we won't have you bear it all; at most just a little, little bit…"

"A little, little bit?" I asked with a hint of suspicion. "Really just a little, little bit?"

"Yeah, a little, little bit!" Lolidragon laughed with deep sincerity. I later found out that Lolidragon's 'a little, little bit' had two 'little's in it, so in her mind that defined two particular little bits…9 _Lolidragon, who on earth taught you your Chinese_?

"Wait a minute, this isn't the point! How am I supposed to become a singer? I'm not even a bard," I retorted.

Lolidragon lifted an eyebrow. "When did you start being concerned over what we can and can't do in the game? Do what you feel like doing—isn't that your style? The crux is in whether you want to do it or not."

That gave me some pause. _Before… Yeah, I think I really did whatever I wanted to do. A_ _singer… _I tilted my head to the side._ Sounds rather interesting! _In the end I laughedaloud. "Alright, being a singer seems rather tempting."

"Great, now let me think… First off, you guys will have to tour through the three cities of Sun, Moon, and Star in order to publicize and make a name for yourselves. —And earn some money while you're at that," Lolidragon added hurriedly upon catching Yu Lian-dàsăo's brilliant smile. Seeing that her smile had warmed a little, Lolidragon heaved a

sigh of relief and continued, "Lastly, after you gain popularity, come back to Infinite City

9** "…defined two particular little bits": **In Chinese, it is said "exposing three bits" when the guy isexposing both his nipples and XXX. So when Lolidragon says "a little, little bit" here, she actually means the exposing Prince's nipples.

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to hold a concert. This is because, one, we can earn money from that and, two, it can help us boost Infinite City's population. It's definitely killing two birds with one stone."

I thought for a while, before asking, "So do I have to bring Gui along as my musical accompaniment?"

Hearing this, Gui's eyes lighted up immediately. "Can I follow His Highness Prince, please?"

"Not only Gui—I think we have to look for a few other people and form a band," Lolidragon said. "After all, Second Life has no audio tracks that we can make use of." She hesitated. "I don't know if Second Life's craftsmen can make things like instruments, though…"

"I don't know about drums, but they can make guitars," Fairsky suddenly blurted out. She stuck a hand into her bag and drew out a guitar. "I have one."

"You know how to play the guitar?" Lolidragon's eyes shone.

Fairsky nodded regally. "Of course. I've been learning for ten years; I play really well."

"Great, we've got one more member!" Lolidragon noted down happily.

I chowed down on my meat floss10 on rice mixed with scrambled egg soup, slightly dubious over whether people could mix guitars and _guqins_ together. _Whatever. Anyway,_ _I'm only responsible for singing, so I'll leave the rest up to Lolidragon! Hmm…meat floss scrambled egg porridge doesn't taste bad!_

"I want to go too," Wicked said coldly, glaring at Gui. "I won't let Gui have the chance to be alone with Prince."

"You—!" Gui clenched his fists in anger.

"Can you play any instruments?" Lolidragon asked with great interest. Her eagerness for more chaos was written across her face.

10** Meat floss: **Also called rou song in Chinese. It is a dried Chinese meat item that has a light and fluffytexture similar to coarse cotton and it is made by stewing cuts of pork in a sweetened soy sauce mixture until individual muscle fibers can be easily teased apart with a fork. This usually happens when the collagen and elastin that normally hold the fibers have been cooked out of the meat. The teased-apart meat is then strained and dried in the oven. After a light drying, the meat is mashed and beaten while being dry cooked in a large wok until it is completely dry.

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"The Chinese flute11," Wicked answered simply.

_Wow, that's just great. _Guqin_, guitar, and the Chinese flute? That's a mix comparable to the bowl of messy things in my hand._

"And me!" Phoenix said hurriedly, seeing that three of the four admirers of Prince had already joined.

"And what can you play?"

"I can play the drums, and have been at it for ten years too," Phoenix boasted, irking Fairsky who was at her side. "I'll look for craftsmen to make a drum set for me immediately. They can definitely do it!"

"Okay, Gui plays the _guqin_, Wicked the Chinese flute, Fairsky the guitar, and Phoenix the drums." Lolidragon noted that down before wrinkling her brows. "We'll split into two groups then, with the guys being in charge of the more sentimental songs, and the girls the rock songs."

I sighed heartily and looked into the distance. "Times have really changed. The guys are all choosing to be more sensitive, while the girls all like rock music – it seems like I'm getting old."

Lolidragon whacked me soundly on the head and PMed to me, "That's why you, neither female nor male, have to sing both kinds of songs!"

_Ouch! _With tears threatening to spill over, I pouted and muttered sullenly, "I said I'll singalready! Why did you have to hit me on the head? I'll become stupid!"

"Heh heh heh, so the members of Infinite Band are decided," Lolidragon said. "Gui, get to work on the lyrics and the tunes of the songs. Wicked, get started on choreography. Prince, start memorizing the lyrics. Fairsky and Phoenix, let's go prepare the performing costumes." Lolidragon's eyes shone as she grabbed the two girls and left so fast that they seemed to have teleported away.

"Gui… Do you know how to write songs?" _Why didn't I know that Gui knew how to_ _compose music and lyrics?_

Gui's expression was extremely troubled. "Me? I've never written a song before."

We sunk in silence for a moment, then I turned to Wicked harboring a tiny glint of hope. "You know how to dance?"

11** Chinese flute: **There are many different types of Chinese flutes, but the one that is being played byWicked is called Xiao in Chinese. It is an end-blown flute and generally made from dark brown bamboo. Please refer to this link for more information: wiki/Xiao_%28flute%29.

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"Yeah," Wicked replied, and my hope blossomed. "I've folk-danced before."

My heart chilled abruptly, turning as cold and hard as a frozen fish that could be used as a murder weapon.

Lolidragon suddenly stuck her head back into the room, "If you guys don't do well, you'll be kicked out of Infinite Band. Prince is the exception, but if he doesn't do well, he can only eat plain rice for all his meals." After saying that, she drew her head back to wherever she had come from.

Two bulging veins throbbed on my forehead. If my heart was as cold as a frozen fish before, it was a volcano now. _Damn that Lolidragon, always using food to threaten me!_ _Don't let me find any of your weaknesses, or I'll #^&%!* you! _(Due to excessiveviolence, this phrase was censored so that the author would not be banned by the writing community!)

hg

In the days following this event, a particular literature professor was seen determinedly reading elementary school music textbooks while giving lectures on the history of literature. What was more ridiculous was that he actually managed to make sense in his teaching. _Hey! Genius shouldn't be used like that!_ Besides that, another particular icy hunk would suddenly break into dance hip-hop, waltz, and even Taiwanese opera while conducting experiments in his post-graduate class, leading people to suspect that the experiments had somehow messed with his brain. It had even instigated an ongoing investigation.

As for me, because the songs were not done yet, I was forced to train my vocals, singing 'Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti' continuously. Lolidragon, Fairsky, and Phoenix also kept hauling me away for measurements, or for impromptu fashion shows in which I was the model. Originally, as a girl, I quite liked picking out clothes, but every time I changed into a new suit, I had to face the lecherous eyes of three female perverts. That's not fun at all, especially when I realized that the amount of cloth was rapidly declining… I ran away in panic.

However, after I ran away, and when they failed in getting Wicked to participate in their 'fashion shows', they eventually got hold of defenseless Gui and were making him wear swimming trunks… What? How would I know? What rubbish; how could I miss out on such eye-candy?

All in all, Infinite Band had thus come into existence, and the first song, dance-steps, and costumes were soon ready.

The first rehearsal made its debut in the square of Infinite City.

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I wore a black and red themed, skin-tight suit that exposed half of my shoulder plus arm and long boots, oozing sex appeal while looking cool. Behind me were two sexy beauties dressed in the same theme, with one wearing a mini-skirt and the other hot- pants. In her short boots, Fairsky was as feisty and pretty as a dancing fire, while in high heels, Phoenix was as sophisticated and cool as cold ice. With both of them trailing behind me, we stepped onto the makeshift stage.

Looking at the pairs of longing eyes below the stage, I felt a sudden urge to sing my heart out, to satisfy both the audience's and my own desires. I closed my eyes, thought about the first song Gui had written and submerged myself in the lyrics of the song. It was highly emotional, and I began to sing in a high and powerful voice bearing a tinge of sorrow, like how the moth is attracted to flame.

_You laugh, you cry, your every action is my Bible that I recite with care._

_I'm happy, I'm sad, I give up my freedom in life for you, I want to be directed by you. You are fire, you are wind, you are a devil weaving a web, a temptation from the angels._

_From: Swallowtail Butterfly_

_Lyric and song by: Ah Xin (a singer in the famous Chinese band, May Day)._

I sung, accompanied by Phoenix's strong drum-beats and Fairsky's wild guitar chords, dancing Wicked's sensually choreographed dance, just as if I were the moth that was flying to the flame, singing out my swan song, surrendering my body to passionate love without a care.

When the song was done, the people under the stage looked intoxicated. _It seems like I_ _really can sing rather well! _I thought happily.

"This song doesn't seem as well-sung as _Dreams Want to Fly_!" Lolidragon said with a frown.

Her comment hit me on the head like a giant iron hammer; I looked at Lolidragon tearfully, wailing, "How can that be? I've practiced this song for a long time!"

"Maybe you're lacking in emotion." Lolidragon glanced at Gui. "It's very obvious that you've never been in love, especially the one-sided, bitter-sweet sort."

As Lolidragon spoke, Gui's expression darkened. In the end, he opened his mouth and sang the same song. _(To avoid the suspicion that I'm filling in the words for more money,_ _the lyrics have been removed…)__12_

Even though we had sung the same song, the depth of emotions conveyed had such a huge difference. I understood what Lolidragon had said about 'lacking in emotion' – I

12 Yu Wo started off as an internet writer. Chinese internet sites usually pay money depending on the words count. The normal rate is about 3 cents for 1000 words * the number of people who subscribe to the text.

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didn't know how complicated Gui's voice could be, so sad yet determined, so hurt yet sweet, especially when he was staring at me. I almost, almost did not dare look in his eyes; I was afraid that if I did, if I was not careful, I might…anger Wicked further, whose glare had gone beyond freezing point. If Gui had made a single movement, Wicked would have started making human meat buns.

Especially with those two women behind me, who were equally eager to make human meat buns… _You've got to be joking! Only I can thrash Gui, other people don't even_ _need to think about it!_

Thinking about that, it seemed like a long time since I had last beaten Gui up… I summoned a warm smile, and spoke in my warmest tone, "Gui, teach me how to sing."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Gui ran toward me with a touched expression, and I too watched him run toward me with happiness, before carrying him up with a single hand. Leaving behind a "I'm off to practice", I dragged Gui into a random room and— Heh heh heh!

"In any case, we'd best up the pace of our practice. We're going to kick you off to the three cities to for your tour within a week, maximum. Remember not to ruin the reputation of Infinite City," Lolidragon nagged at the remaining members of the Infinite Band.

"Yes!"

hg

One day, after finishing singing practice, I suddenly had the feeling that I had been ignoring a certain four people that I had brought to the city. _I wonder what're they up to?_ Feeling a little guilty, I PM-ed them.

"Jing, Yun? Where are you guys?" I asked with a bit of worry.

Yun replied immediately in high spirits, "We're picking out a house!"

"Picking out a house?" I paused.

"Yeah, as a citizen of Infinite City, Gui said we can buy property for half-price here!" Yun said excitedly.

"After selling the ship ticket that we didn't use, plus a bit of our savings, we can buy a rather nice place!" Jing couldn't hold in her excitement either. "That's why we went to choose a house now; if we wait until Infinite City opens its gates officially, we'll be competing for houses with a lot of people."

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"Ohhh, so should I get started choosing a house soon too?" I asked urgently, but then I remembered that all of my money had been taken away by Yu Lian-dàsăo. _Ugh, I can't_ _afford a house! Don't tell me I, as Lord of this city, will have to live on the streets?_

Yun askedē,youme shouldinafunnybestayingone,"Dàgatthe palace, right? What do you need a house for?"

Jing, on the other hand,ē sounded as if she didn't know whether to cry or to laugh, "Dàg Odd Squad, Dark Emperor, Rose Team, Nan Gong Zui, and so on, all the important people in Infinite City, stay in the palace. You're the Lord; you can't be expected to use money from your own pocket to stay outside, right?"

"Oh, so that's how it is," I realized. "Tell me when you guys are done choosing a house, and remember to invite me over sometime!"

"Of course!" Yun replied.

I suddenly remembered my other question. "Oh yeah, do you know where Sunshine and Kenshin are?" I asked.

"They seem to be at Infinite Inn a lot." Jing thought for a while. "If not, they'd be walking around Infinite City."

"I'll go look for them then," I said as I started to worry. _After Jing and Yun pick their_ _houses, what's going to happen to Kenshin and Sunshine? Where are they going to stay? I don't have extra money to help them buy property… _I scratched my face and decidedthat, at most, they would move in with me! _I don't think I'll be using my rooms a lot_ _anyway._

I ran hurriedly to the inn, immediately spotting the duo sitting together and drinking tea. I sat down, grabbed Kenshin's tea, and gulped it down, before asking in a calm tone, "How've you been these days?"

Kenshin glared at the cup in my hands, then took another cup without a word and poured himself a new cup of tea. Meanwhile Sunshine replied, smiling, "We're fine. We've been walking around this city, people-watching and drinking tea here."

"That sounds so boring!" I felt guilty for bringing them over and then neglecting them. "Why don't you guys come with me on the concert tour? This way you'll get to see other cities."

"A concert tour?" Sunshine looked perplexed.

I scratched my head in embarrassment. "A concert tour is putting it nicely. Actually, we're just busking in the three cities."

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"Busking?" Again, Sunshine looked confused.

"Singing songs on the streets," I explained again.

"Why do you want to sing on the streets?" Sunshine asked with an elegant smile.

"To earn money…" _Huh, how come I feel like I've met another Meat Bun?_

"Why do you want to earn money?" Sunshine asked tirelessly.

I shot a glance at Kenshin who was doing nothing. "Well, why don't you ask Kenshin? I'm not very sure of this myself."

Sunshine frowned. "When I ask questions, Kenshin doesn't reply."

I looked at the silent Kenshin and kind of understood why he kept his silence. If I were to be alone with Sunshine for several months, I think even a chatter-box like me would learn the meaning behind "silence is golden". I started to think that maybe the noisy Yun and overly-curious Sunshine would get along nicely.

"Anyway, just follow me on the tour," I changed the topic.

Sunshine gave me another warm smile. "Okay."

"Those two people have been looking like they want to come over and talk for a while already," Kenshin spoke up suddenly, pointing behind my right shoulder.

"Oh?" I turned to look, and immediately stiffened. I couldn't move, because the two people who were mirrored in my eyes were my two good-for -nothing, play-the-entire-day-away-without-cooking-or-working parents.

They became very excited when they saw me turn around and started waving their hands at me frantically while running over to my table. My mom looked super excited as she started speaking. "How are you, Lord? Do you remember us? We once met at the Adventurers' Tournament and our son is Feng Wu Qing of Dark Emperor!"

_Yeah, and your daughter's the Lord of Infinite City too. How could I forget my mom and dad? _I thought helplessly, whilst still plastering a smile on my face. "Of course. You'reLovely-dovey Husband and Lovely-dovey Wife, right?"

"See, hubby, the Lord really remembers us!" My mom looked touched as she said that.

"I told you! How could the Lord forget us? Think about the day of the siege, and how full of vigor, all-powerful, and almost godly the Lord was! He scared the enemies so much

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that they lost control of their bowels and immediately knelt and surrendered. A Lord like this could hardly forget us!" My dad thumped the table emphatically.

"Don't- don't get too excited," I said hurriedly, thinking, _Almost godly? I really want to_ _know which god descends like how I had when I fell from the carpet._

Dad rubbed his head rather apologetically. "I'm sorry, I got too worked up. But the Lord really is great! My wife and I willingly accept our loss; our past grudges are all forgotten."

_Forgotten is fine, forgotten is fine. _I heaved a sigh of relief.

"And the Lord isn't just good at martial arts, even his voice is wonderful!" My mom said, looking at me with a bright smile.

"Not really." I put on a smile as well.

"But Xiao Lan, don't you like _It's My Life_ the most? Why didn't you sing that, or sing your second favorite, _Dreams Want to Fly_, instead?" Mom asked, puzzled.

"Oh, that's because the _guqin_ isn't suited to rock music, so I had to choose something more sentimental," I replied while smiling.

"Oh, so that's why!" The three of us laughed, our smiling expressions surprisingly similar.

"Prince, your nickname is Xiao Lan?" Kenshin quipped from the side.

My smile froze, as I finally realized what my mom and dad had said. My eyes popped and I sweated a few buckets of cold sweat before I swallowed with difficulty and looked at the two grinning people.

"You, I, no—" I stuttered.

"Don't deny it, Xiao Lan. Do you think that the part of our brains that recognizes people is naturally retarded, like Yang Ming?" Mom's voiced floated over the PM channel.

"How did you find out?" I asked, a little put out.

"It's very simple," Dad explained gleefully. "First, Yang Ming said that you were a tranny in Second Life (_Stupid brother, your mouth is too big!_). Second, Ling Bin likes Xiao Lan, but he pesters Prince in the game – taking that guy's stubborn nature into account, the chances of him two-timing you is below zero, so the most likely conclusion is that Prince and Xiao Lan are the same person in the first place. Third, Xiao Lan, you're

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always singing those two songs, so who wouldn't recognize that voice? Uh…except for my stupid son, Yang Ming."

I paused for a second, before coming out with only more questions. "What did you say? Zhuo-gēgēlikes me? Doesn't he like Yang Ming?"

Mom and Dad paused for a while, too. "Ling Bin likes Yang Ming? How is that possible? Doesn't he pester you a lot?"

"Zhuo-gēgēonly wants to protect me, right?" I questioned stupidly. _According to what I_ _had concluded before, isn't Zhuo-gēgēcompeting against Gui for my brother's_

_affections? Huh? That's strange… Then why are they always sticking to me in the game, and not Feng Wu Qing?_

My dad and mom were stunned… And then my mom fell into my dad's arms, sobbing. "Hubby! Why are both our children so retarded?"

"Ay, it must be because we forgot to pray to the fertility goddess before they were born." My dad shook his head, sighing.

"So does Zhuo-gēgēlike Yang Ming after all?" I titled my head to one side, biting my fingers while deep in thought.

"Of course not!" my dad and mom yelled in unison. My mom even grabbed my ear (_Ow_ _ow ow!_) and shouted, "You shouldn't let down his devotion! Ling Bin has liked you foreight years! He's a top scholar, and a hunk to boot. If you don't bring him home and get married to him, who're you going to marry?"

I snatched back my own ear, rubbing it morosely, "Zhuo-gēgēhas liked me for eight years? Then…" I suddenly recalled the fight between Zhuo-gēgēand Gui — _Could it be_ _that the person they were fighting over wasn't Yang Ming? It was me?!_

"Say, are you going to bring that hunk Ling Bin back so mom can have some eye candy?" Mom had my poor ear back in her pincer-grip again.

_Mom, you've finally shown your true color_s_! _"But, but, I don't know if I like Zhuo-gēgēor not!" I replied helplessly. "And if I marry Zhou- gēgē, Gui will definitely cry until the Great Wall falls down."

"Gui?" Mom batted two large, innocent eyes. "Is that the drool-worthy hunk of a bard?"

"Yeah, and he's my university's professor!" _Hey! Mom, it isn't good to drool over other_ _guys in front of your husband… Even though dad seems to have gotten used to your fetish for pretty boys_.

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"A professor! Really?" Mom's face filled with longing, before she blinked her eyes at me. "He's handsome too. A different type from Ling Bin, but both are undeniable hunks that can feed you for life. Ahaha, not bad, not bad, Xiao Lan! Just choose either of them; Mommy has no objections."

_Of course you are fine with any hunk as your eye candy! What objections would you have? _I sighed, thinking about going out soon with two guys and two girls to busk, plusthe fact that they were all my admirers… _Things are going to get messy._

"Anyway, mom, don't say anything about my secret." I looked stern. "Not even to Yang Ming. If you tell anyone, I'll marry an ugly guy and pollute your eyes."

Mom looked horrified. "Don't, don't! I swear I won't say a word. Xiao Lan, you have to remember that you must choose one out of the two hunks to marry!"

I nodded my head tiredly. _Who should I choose_? _Forget it, I'll cross that bridge when I_ _get there_.

As for whether my dad would spill the beans… Have you ever heard of "hen-pecked"? What my mom says, is what my dad says! You get it now, right?

Once again snatching Kenshin's tea, I deliberately ignored Sunshine's "I've got a question" expression while rubbing my temples. _Ay, it seems like things are getting out of_ _hand._

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**Chapter 4: The Most Important Matter in Meatbun****'****s Life **

"Roll call! Prince, check. Gui, check. Wicked, check. Fairsky, check. Phoenix, check. Kenshin, check. Sunshine, check," Lolidragon muttered to herself as she confirmed everyone's attendance. "Seeing as we're all here, I shall begin. Today is the day we start the busking tour and, after much deliberation, it has been decided that we will start the tour from Star City, then on to Moon City and finally, Sun City."

A slight quizzical look spread across my face. _Much deliberation? Throwing dice is_ _considered deliberation? Ok, maybe if we count the fact that we took forever to choose the color of the dice._

"First, you guys will perform publicly at the town square of each city once, then at different bars a few times, and then once more at the plaza. An important reminder: after each performance remember to say that you guys are from Infinite City and that there will be a concert in Infinite City in about a month. Understand?" Lolidragon said with a stern expression.

Everyone nodded their head wearily, since we had already heard this hundreds of times. Our band's main goal right now was to build Infinite City's fame and get a big fan base, and also to earn money.

"Alright, Infinite Band, depart!" Lolidragon shouted enthusiastically. With our blood boiling with excitement as well, we shouted, "HERE WE GO!"

"Oh yeah, as a side note, Yu Lian said there aren't enough funds, so she asked you guys to cover your travel and living expenses by killing mobs," Lolidragon added casually.

_Ah…no wonder Yu Lian-_dàsăo_ took all my money yesterday. _I turned and looked at theothers, all of whom were wearing a grave expression. _Oh lord, looks like we were all_ _robbed yesterday._

"We'll have to kill mobs for money I guess…" I said somberly. _You've gotta be joking!_ _We need to transverse the entire continent in a month, and perform in all three cities? You want me to run for president or something? Even a presidential candidate gets a jeep!_

"We can use my flying carpet," Sunshine suggested with a faint smile.

I turned my head sharply in Sunshine's direction and gazed at him, touched by his offer. _Rescuing him was indeed a great idea. _"It's settled then, we will ride on the carpet," Isaid happily.

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"It's lucky that we still have roasted meat to eat." A sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I wolfed down the delicious pile of roasted meat in my hand. Above me Meatbun was riding atop of Fire Phoenix, having the time of their lives in the air.

"Yeah," Gui sighed, "after I wrestled some lodging money from Lolidragon, I completely forgot about food expenses. Fortunately, we have Fire Phoenix and Meatbun here, so we don't have to go hungry."

Fairsky and Phoenix, now slaves to the great taste of the roasted meat, lost all their lady-like composure as they wolfed down the food, eating almost as fast as me. As for Kenshin and Sunshine, Sunshine kept bombarding the ever silent Kenshin with questions as the two of them ate together.

"Where are we going to stay tonight?" Wicked casually asked.

"In the park?" I suggested. "That way we can use the money to buy food."

"Prince, you shouldn't be going through this…" Gui said with a pained and tender look, then suggested, "Actually, we should sleep in the town square; that way we can wake up tomorrow and sing right off the bat."

I nodded. "You're right."

"What?! Sleep in the town square?" Fairsky and Phoenix both spluttered out incredulously after they anxiously swallowed their roasted meat.

"Why not? It's just a bit of sleeping time before you log off and after you log on." I shrugged, not caring about their disbelief.

"NO!" Fairsky shouted with a blazing red face. "What kind of joke is this? We can't do that, even if it's only for a little while. A girl's sleeping form should NEVER be seen by strangers!"

Even Phoenix, who rarely agreed with Fairsky, was nodding furiously.

"Let's stay in an inn then; girls should not carelessly let others see them while they sleep," Wicked said while glancing at me with a meaningful look. _Oh yeah, I'm one of_ _the girls too, huh… I almost forgot. _I rubbed the back of my head with a foolish smile onmy face.

"Then we shall rent three rooms. Fairsky will share a room with Phoenix, Sunshine will share the room with Kenshin, and Wicked and Gui will take the last room…" I tilted my head in thought. _What about me? I don't think I can share a room with Phoenix and_ _Fairsky, right? After all, I'm a full-blown male in game with a XX! What if the two of them decided to use force with me? …What should I do?_

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_Yet, I can't possibly sleep in the same room as Gui and Wicked, since I'm still technically a girl…must have…restraint… (The definition of restraint: Even though I want it very much in my heart, on the surface I must still pretend that I don't want to do it…if only Zhuo-gēge didn't know who I was, how great would that be! I could stare at two super attractive guys…while they sleep…I can't help but want to drool as I imagine the scene.)_

_So annoying! _This is the first time that I have found my tranny identity to be annoying."I'll sleep with Sunshine and Kenshin then." Finally, I made my decision. _It should be_ _alright, since both of them aren't really "human" anyway, and they are pretty good looking too._

Upon hearing that, both Gui and Wicked turned to look at me expressionlessly. Then, Gui started to show sadness, disappointment, self pity, and other such emotions across his face while Wicked squinted his eyes dangerously and fire started to sprout from his irises…

I began sweating furiously, and so I said, "Fine, I'll sleep by myself."

Upon arriving at the inn, I said goodbye to everyone in a plaintive voice and headed toward my room, planning on retreating into a corner.

"Prince," Gui suddenly called out, dashing towards me. He summoned Fire Phoenix before continuing. "Here, take Fire Phoenix. Then, if you get hungry, you can have some roasted meat to eat."

"Gui…" Touched, I gave him a look of gratitude, happily took the food supply, and walked to my room.

Once in my room, I hastily took out Meatbun, wanting to get some food in me before I logged off. "Meatbun, spit out some meat."

"Okay Mommy!" Meatbun happily spat out a pile of meat. Fire Phoenix, knowing the drill, instantly breathed a flame out and grilled the meat to perfection. I happily wolfed down the food while observing the two pets playing at the side. They seemed to be getting along really well.

"Fire Phoenix, Meat-bunbun wants to ride on your back!" Meatbun said while earnestly rubbing Fire Phoenix's leg with its head in a cajoling manner.

Fire Phoenix haughtily raised its head at first, then it glanced at Meatbun's wide and innocent eyes, and sighed, (_I swear to god, I really saw it sigh!)_ "What am I going to do with you? …Get on."

Meatbun cheered as Fire Phoenix hoisted it onto their back with its beak.

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"Fiery fly fly!" Meatbun started to shout again, and Fire Phoenix's eyes was filled with a helpless expression as it flew in a circle around the room with Meatbun on its back.

My mouth was slightly ajar. _Is this normal interaction between pets? Pets with AI are_ _really something. Even their emotions seem so real. The helpless expression in Fire Phoenix's eyes is exactly the same as my expression every time I have a conversation with Meatbun… _I closed my mouth and continued chewing my roasted meat.

Meatbun continued cheering non-stop while saying, "Fiery is the bestest! Meat-bunbun wants to fly with you forever!"

"Really?" Fire Phoenix's flame seems to get a little hotter. …_Kind of like…blushing?_ _What an absurd idea…_

"Yeah! Meat-bunbun's favoritest one is Fiery!" Meatbun shouted out, "Just like Mommy!"

I proudly nodded, _Good Meatbun, you didn't forget your good ol' mom._

"Then Meatbun, would you…like to marry me?" Fire Phoenix asked slowly.

…_My eyes widened with shock, and my delicious barbeque fell out of my now O shaped_ _mouth._

"What is 'marry'?" Meatbun asked, blinking its big, innocent eyes.

Fire Phoenix said solemnly, "I'm not too sure myself. I only know that if we get married, we can always stay together."

Meatbun started to jump around wildly on Fire Phoenix's back, "Okay! Meat-bunbun wants to be with you forever! Marry, marry!"

I closed my mouth, picked up the fallen meat, and stuffed it back in my mouth and continued chewing. _What is this? Did a bird just propose to a meat bun? What's worse,_ _that particular meat bun is my daughter! This…this…is more ridiculous than a science fiction novel and scarier than a horror story!_

Lolidragon's words came back to me_. I think she said that two pets can have children?_ _What kind of messed up children would they have?! Meatbun stuffed with Phoenix meat…? That…is actually the best scenario… I mean, what if they gave birth to a Phoenix with a Meat bun for a head…ugh, I think I'm about to faint._

When I was still imagining how a phoenix with meat bun head would look like, Meatbun and Fire Phoenix had already approached me and Meatbun was happily squealing at me, "Mommy! Meat- bunbun is gonna marry Fire Phoenix!"

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I was totally stumped. _What should I say? Do I congratulate them?_ Jumping up, I grabbed the two pets, kicked open my door, and stomped towards Gui and Wicked's room.

"Gui! Your son seduced my daughter!" I roared as I kicked their door down as well.

After I made my entrance, I looked at the two people in the room, rubbed my eyes and looked again. Then my jaw dropped. This wasn't my imagination; I was really seeing Gui on top of Wicked. To be more specific, both of them were on the ground tangled together, and Gui, who was on top of Wicked, looked up at me, obviously shocked as well.

"Uh… Sorry to disturb you guys. I'm so sorry." After a moment, I rubbed the back of my head, slightly embarrassed, and closed the door.

"Prince, Your Highness! Wait! This is a misunderstanding!" Gui's desperate cries rang out from behind the door.

Then, with a cry, Gui crashed through the door. I dodged nimbly and watched as Gui landed in a heap beside me. I looked back into the room and saw Wicked standing straight as a pole, with a vein popping out of his forehead and his right foot out. Clearly, the culprit responsible for Gui's sudden flight out of the room had to be Wicked.

I glanced at Gui, who was now dazed from the fall, then at the furious Wicked, and I asked stupidly, "Are you guys playing SM?"

"NO WAY!" Wicked said through clenched teeth.

"Then why did you kick Gui out? Weren't both of you…?" I paused there and coughed; it is something that should not come out of a lady's mouth.

"NO!" Gui and Wicked shouted at the same time.

"He suddenly jumped on me!" Wicked said while shooting daggers at Gui with his eyes.

"Oh Gui, aren't you a bit too rough?" I asked with a shake of my head.

Gui's blood drained from his face and he hastily tried to explain. "That was an accident, I didn't mean to…!"

I interrupted, "Oh, so you couldn't stop yourself?" I nodded in understanding. _Well after_ _all, Wicked is a hottie as well. Of course Gui couldn't resist the temptation, so he jumped Wicked…_

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"…I just heard your cry all of a sudden, so I tripped and accidently fell on Wicked! That is all!" Gui finished his sentence. Then when he heard what I had said, his face went blank.

"Prince!" Wicked's passive face had suddenly changed. "Your left hand…!"

_My left hand? _I looked down. My poor left hand had been holding onto Fire Phoenix thewhole time and now the smell of freshly roasted meat was wafting from it.

"Ahhh!"

After everyone had been drawn over by my scream, they all stared at me with bewildered eyes. Hence, I was forced to explain why I had kicked Gui and Wicked's door open while Ice Phoenix tended to my mutilated left hand with red potions.

"In summary, Meatbun and Fire Phoenix are getting married," I finished.

Upon hearing the news, their reactions all mirrored my own—mouths and eyes wide with disbelief.

"I know that pets are able to get married…but I've never heard of such a ridiculous pairing." Fairsky said while giving weird looks to the nuzzling love bird and meat bun.

"Master, I am going to marry Meatbun," Fire Phoenix told Gui in an almost commanding tone.

"Oh…" replied a bemused Gui who didn't look like a master in the least. Then he frowned. "But how do you get married?"

"No idea," Fire Phoenix said nonchalantly.

"Do you really want to marry my Meatbun?" Seeing Fire Phoenix so void of responsibility, I immediately thought with some anger, _I don't want to marry my cute_ _little Meatbun to this, this haughty chicken! What if it takes advantage of my Meatbun? What if it cheats on my Meatbun?_

Fire Phoenix nodded seriously. "I really like Meatbun."

I attempted to stare Fire Phoenix down, but it didn't back down. Instead, it raised its wing in a protective position around Meatbun. At last, I sighed and thought, _It looks like Fire_ _Phoenix sincerely likes Meatbun. _I shook my head._ In this day and age, not only can you not keep a grown-up daughter from marrying, you can't even keep a daughter that is a meat bun from marrying… But thinking on the bright side, at least from now on this couple can specialize in making me barbeque anytime I want._

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With the heavy heart of one about to be parted with their only child, I said, "Then it's settled, let me consult my game guide and check how pets get married."

"Game guide?" Phoenix asked suspiciously. "Second Life has gaming guides?"

I shrugged, "I don't know about others', but mine is called Lolidragon."

Opening the PM channel, I briefly told Lolidragon what happened. As usual, she laughed until she almost died before answering me. "Pet marriages are simple, as long as the pets themselves agree. Then, just have the one of the masters express the wish to be wedded and when the other agrees, the ceremony is complete."

"Gui, do you agree for your pet Fire Phoenix to take my Meatbun as its bride?" I asked as soon as Lolidragon finished.

Gui, under the fiery gaze of Fire Phoenix, said without hesitation, "Yes, I agree."

System Notice: Ceremony failed.

Gui and I were both stunned. _Failed?_ I asked Lolidragon again, and I even told Lolidragon verbatim our phrase usage.

"That's strange, there's nothing wrong. Are you sure they want to get married?" Lolidragon asked in confusion.

"Of course; they are the ones who suggested it in the first place."

Lolidragon was silent for a moment. Finally she said hesitantly, "Prince…ask Fire Phoenix and Meatbun about their genders… I just remembered that Phoenixes come in pairs—they can be both male and female. Seeing as Fire Phoenix is a "Fire Phoenix"13, then…"

"Fire Phoenix… are you …female…?" I asked with a blank face.

"I've always been female," Fire Phoenix said angrily.

Black lines dropped from my face. _What the hell is this? It's enough that I met a bunch of_ _gays around, now even pets are doing it? What has this world come to? _With thisrevelation, my head began to ache horribly. "You're female and Meatbun is female, so how can two girls get married?"

13** Fire Phoenix: **Since phoenixes are called "凤凰", they say that "凤" refers to males, "凰" refers tofemales, and the two words together refer to phoenixes in general. Here Fire Phoenix is addressed as "火凰 ".

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"What are you talking about? Meatbun is male," Fire Phoenix retorted in an annoyed tone.

Everyone's widened eyes immediately turned towards Meatbun. _Meatbun…is male?_

_Don't tell me…the reason for the failure before… _I said hesitantly, "Gui, do you agree tolet my pet Meatbun take your pet, Fire Phoenix, as its bride?"

Gui paused, and then answered, "I agree."

System Notice: Ceremony successful. Meatbun is now married to Fire Phoenix.

…What the hell?

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**Chapter 5: The Diary of a Suffering Street Musician **

After the members of Infinite Band put their heads together, they finally came up with a method to gather as big an audience as possible. First, the members would split up into four groups and travel different roads. Wicked, Gui and I would each go alone, while Phoenix and Fairsky would go together, accompanied by two bodyguards – Kenshin and Sunshine. We would start from the Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern gates respectively, following the road to the central square. Then, we would begin our performance.

Looking at the increasing horde of people behind my back, I thought, _This should be_ _about enough… With the horde attracted by the others, the square might end up being packed to the point of bursting! _I walked into the square while thinking, andcoincidentally saw Gui walk into the square from another road at the same time. Gui was definitely a handsome guy whose beauty could compete with mine, and the number of lascivious women following him was also overwhelming.

I waved to Gui and he ran towards me. "So the rest haven't reached here yet?" I asked.

Gui beamed as he said, "I did see Fairsky and Phoenix, and the two of them have attracted quite a number of men."

"Oh?" Using my hand as a support, I jumped onto the fountain in the center of the square and pulled Gui up. The two of us sat in this fashion on the rim of the fountain, allowing the crowd to admire us even as we casually kept a lookout for the others' arrival.

"It's a good thing we brought them along; otherwise we wouldn't have attracted even a single guy." I said half-joking. "After all, we can't let Infinite City become the City of Women."

"With Your Highness here, I'm afraid that it'll really become the City of Women," Gui replied with a smile.

"Whaaaat…Like all of you don't have any responsibility for this," I said sarcastically. "You and Wicked are also extremely handsome guys that people don't see around very often. That reminds me, Kenshin and Sunshine can also be called beautiful men. There's also Nan Gong Zui, who is rather good-looking. Broken Sword's not bad too, although he's already taken. Wah, I didn't realize we had so many handsome guys in Infinite City!"

"In front of you, Prince, nobody can say that they are good-looking," Gui spoke with a slow and infatuated tone. His hand gently brushed away the white hair that had fallen in front of my forehead, and then he… was pushed into the fountain by a jump kick.

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Please don't misunderstand; I'm not the one who kicked Gui. Look! The person who kicked Gui down, Wicked, was hovering near me, looking threatening. He was even glowering down at Gui in the fountain.

"You're here! Wahhhh, Wicked's really popular too." I looked at the sea of faces in the square and nodded my head, satisfied.

"Phoenix and Fairsky are behind us; they should be reaching here soon," Wicked answered as he reluctantly pulled Gui out of the fountain.

"Uh, I already see them." I broke into a cold sweat, watching the two ultra-beauties walk slowly here, the road cleared by the two bodyguards I had sent – Sunshine and Kenshin. And behind them was a crowd as dense as a swarm of ants: a horde of perverts with an excess of male hormones. Looks like Lolidragon's clothing designs worked well. The top was sexy, leopard-printed, and strapless. The bottom was an extra-short, figure-hugging leather skirt, along with a pair of high-heeled boots for footwear. These items were surely the top three godly weapons needed to attract males. On Fairsky and Phoenix, the effects of the clothes were even more devastating –it was enough to make males drool until they died from dehydration.

"Looks like the members of Infinite Band are all here." I smiled lightly, looking at the two unbelievably cool beauties. "Let's start with something exciting. Fairsky, Phoenix, are you ready?"

Fairsky took out her guitar and gently plucked a few notes, gesturing an "Okay" to me while Phoenix set up her drum set with the help of the remaining four men. After she picked up her drumsticks and casually played out a beat, she too nodded at me.

Standing on the fountain and looking at the large audience below, I haughtily said, "Then don't say anything. Let us sing a song first! Let them see the musical prowess of our Infinite Band."

"No problem!" Fairsky and Phoenix said simultaneously. As soon as they spoke, Phoenix vigorously beat out a rhythm, causing the originally noisy crowd to quiet down.

At the same moment, Fairsky violently strummed across the surface of the guitar. I sent a roar to the heavens, and began our concert tour's first song. Following the intense rhythm and the sonorous singing, I danced wildly, as though I was fighting. With heated abandon I flew, I leapt, I poured all of myself into my performance, as though fire was coursing through my veins and setting alight the hearts of all who were present.

At last, I sang the final note. Regaining my senses after the passionate dancing, I stood silently on the spot. Without our performance, the square remained soundless. It was so quiet that I could only hear my own breathing…

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"Ahhhhhhh!" A loud shrill from a female suddenly emerged from the crowd, nearly piercing my eardrums.

With the silence broken, the voices were like the explosion of meteorites hitting the earth, which even led to a chain reaction. "Encore, Encore!", "It's too wonderful, sing another song!", "Ahhhh! So handsome!", "What a hot babe! Damn! I nearly had a nosebleed…"

As I saw the scene start to get rowdy, I cocked an eyebrow. "Now let's calm down the atmosphere. Gui, Wicked, no problem, right?"

"Of course not, Your Highness." Gui took his guqin and sat on the fountain elegantly.

"Let's start." Wicked took out his flute14 and stood unmoving. The tall, proud, and lonely figure was a perfect match for the flute.

Just like that, the sound of the flute started to ring amidst of all the clamor, but for some reason, the noise was unable to block that melancholic sound. The sound of the flute wove through the crowd, through the noise, directly into everyone's ears. Very quickly, there was pin- drop silence in the square, all except that melancholic sound of the flute.

Following it was the faint and touching sound of Gui's guqin, and then I lightly opened my mouth and sang in a voice entirely different from the one before, a voice filled with sorrow.

Another song ended, and there was yet another round of silence. I recalled our main objective – to publicize Infinite City.

"Hello everybody. We are Infinite Band, under the jurisdiction of Infinite City. From today onwards, we will start our concert tour in the Sun, Moon and Star Cities. We will also be holding a string of concerts in Infinite City a month later, so I hope that everyone will be able to attend our huge performance then."

"Now, let us do a self-introduction. I'm the lead singer, the Blood Elf Prince." I revealed a devilish smile.

"Guitarist, Fairsky." Fairsky cutely stuck out her small pink tongue.

"Drummer, Ice Phoenix." Phoenix's lazy smile radiated with charm.

"I am Guiliastes, performing the guqin." Gui smiled without restraint.

"Wicked, my instrument is the flute," Wicked coolly finished with a few brief words.

14** Flute: **It is actually "Xiao", "箫", which is a Chinese vertical end-blown flute. Go here( wiki/Xiao_%28flute%29) for more information.

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Now, looking at the countless number of infatuated eyes below the stage, I had a feeling that this was the calm before the storm. I only could PM everyone, asking, "Ugh, should we make a run for it before they regain their senses?"

"Agreed!" Threatened by the frightening silence, the opinions of the members of Infinite Band were in sync for once.

"AHHHHHHH!" Another piercing shrill rang out…

"Sunshine, take out your flying carpet!" Looking at the crowd that was crazily pushing towards us, all the members of Infinite Band gave out heartrending cries simultaneously, as if by prior agreement.

"Hurry and get on!" After I landed on the carpet with a flying jump, I extended a hand to pull Gui up. Then the tug- of-war between me and the pile of females below clutching Gui's legs began…

"Your Highness! Save meeee!" Gui begged with teary eyes.

_Women! When it comes to snatching handsome guys, their strength is inexhaustible… _I,whose body had been half-dragged off the carpet, struggled desperately against them. "Wicked, Kenshin, hurry up and help me!"

"Uh…" Wicked sounded as though he was willing to help but was unable to do so. I looked at him from the corner of my eye, only to see his face in agony. His upper body was on the flying carpet, but both his hands were grabbing the carpet with a death grip while five pretty girls were hugging the lower half of his body that he couldn't free himself from.

"Go and die, you pervert," Fairsky impatiently cried out. She kicked off the man who was hugging her thigh, but immediately another pervert clung on.

"_Flame arrow_, _Flame arrow_, _Flame_—" Sunshine was also casting _Flame Arrow_ without pause_,_ helping Fairsky to shoot the perverts off the carpet.

"Ugh… How scary!" Phoenix hid behind the only person who could save her, Kenshin. Even though Kenshin's blade was already dyed red, the men still climbed up one by one, paying no thought to their lives.

"Meatbun's super gross _Machine Gun Meat Attack_!" I grabbed Meatbun and aimed under Gui's legs, manically shooting out meat that was still raw and dripping blood. After the beautiful girls underneath were all covered in meat, their feeling of disgust finally overcame their determination for snatching handsome guys. They let go of Gui's leg one after another, and finally I managed to pull him up onto the carpet. After that, I rushed to go help Wicked.

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"_Meat Attaaaack!_" After forcing back another bunch of girls and rescuing Wicked, I turned around in Fairsky and Phoenix's direction.

"_Heaven's Blazing Flame_," Gui commanded his Fire Phoenix to breathe fire at a bunch of perverts, and before long, a pile of charcoal black perverts dropped down in succession from mid-air…

"Sunshine, hurry up and go!" I roared.

"Alright." After Sunshine gave commands to the flying carpet, our party finally managed to escape.

With a pale face, I asked, "Is this going to be the lifestyle we'll be living for the next month?"

"OH GODDDD!" Our party let out an inhuman cry.

It was only from then on that I realized that the path to becoming a singer was such an arduous one…

Concert Tour Day 2

"First group reporting, the main door has already been blocked. I repeat, the main door has already been blocked. Definitely don't go out by the main door. How are the other groups' situations?" I asked, PMing the second and third groups.

Wicked's and Gui's voices were transmitted over. "Second group reporting, the back door has already been occupied by the enemy. I repeat, the back door has already been occupied by the enemy."

"Third group reporting as well. The windows have also been jostled open!" Fairsky wailed pitifully.

"The inn room that we just rented today has been captured by fans again!" I wanted to cry, but no tears flowed out. _If I had known this earlier, I wouldn't have rented it! Why_ _didn't I use the money to eat instead?_

"What should we do?" the others asked me. Furrowing my brows, I replied, "I guess we can only take out sleeping bags to sleep outside the city…"

"Fourth group reporting," Sunshine replied casually. "Outside the city, there are people searching for you guys everywhere."

"Sleep on the flying carpet then, although it's a little crowded," I helplessly replied.

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A group of people on a flying carpet that isn't very big…

"I want to sleep beside Prince." Fairsky pouted as she hugged me tightly, refusing to let go.

And Phoenix had long since been lying in my arms docilely…

"I also want to hug Your Highness!" Gui, who was being stepped under Wicked's foot, could only grab my calf and struggle with all his might.

At last, I lay down, with my left arm being tightly hugged by Fairsky, and the right side of my body being pressed down by Phoenix. The person grabbing my right calf refusing to let go was Gui, and the person seizing Gui's collar, wanting to throw him off the carpet, was Wicked… Sunshine and Kenshin lay near us, beside the pile of human bodies that we formed.

"How cramped!" Kenshin commented coldly.

Concert Tour Day 5

"Everyone, are you wearing your cloaks?" I asked, lowering my voice. The six people behind me all nodded. Looking at the sight, I said with satisfaction, "That's good. Let's go; we still have to teleport to Moon City!"

"Hurry up and go! I already can't stand the feeling of being chased." Fairsky's voice came from under one of the cloaks, obviously wanting no delay in leaving.

"Lower your voice! If we get revealed as the members of Infinite Band, things will become troublesome," Wicked reprimanded.

"Let's go!" I said while I walked towards the teleportation station not too far off.

The further I walked, the more I felt that something was wrong. _Although there isn't_ _usually a lack of customers at the station, it still shouldn't be to the extent of having such a sea of people, right? _Our party walked towards the station with feelings of anxiety.

"Wait a minute. If you want to use the teleportation system, you have to take off your cloak first. It's for security reasons." A large, burly fellow blocked our path.

_Take it off? Will I still be able walk away then? _The thought of the miserable situationthat I might experience if we got discovered as the members of Infinite Band made me unable to restrain myself from replying in a cold tone. "What? Is the teleport station operated by your family? Do we need your consent in order to use it?"

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The man scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. "That's not it," he said. "It's just that someone employed me to stop players here, so I have to make sure that none of the people passing by are the ones I have to block. It would be disastrous if I missed them."

"Block who?" _I think I probably know the answer to that._

The beefy man simpered. "It is the recently very famous Infinite Band!"

_As expected…_I thought helplessly. I conveniently PMed everyone, asking what we shoulddo. However, every single person replied to me with nothing but silence.

"Barge through," was Kenshin's single sentence.

"Okay!" I shouted enthusiastically, since I couldn't think of any other solutions anyway.

With a ram from me, I knocked away the heavily built guy. Taken by surprise, he was butted far away. However, before he was sent flying from the blow, he extended his hand to grab my cloak…

"AHHHHH! It's Prince!" A terrifying shrill rang out.

My forehead perspired furiously. _WE. ARE. DOOMED!_

Concert Tour Day 10

"Ugh, I don't want to eat roasted meat any more. For ten consecutive days, all three meals have been roasted meat! I'll vomit if I have to eat more of it!" wept Phoenix as she took a bite from the roasted meat in her hands, finally passing her limits of endurance.

*BARF*

I stared with cool detachment at Gui who was off to the side, puking so much that it was almost tragic. "We don't have any other choice. I also want to eat other kinds of food, but even Sunshine and Kenshin can't go out to buy food anymore. Whenever people see us or anyone in a disguise, they'll rush up as though they were all crazy."

Sunshine, who had always been smiling elegantly, revealed a rare glum face. With a sorrowful heart, he said, "The last time I went out to buy food for all of you, I nearly didn't manage to come back!"

"Having something at all to eat is already great," said Wicked coldly.

"Most importantly, we're going to be all out of meat buns soon. After that, what is Meatbun going to eat?" I stared, frustrated, at Meatbun who was currently playing the "Fly Fly" game with his wife, Fire Phoenix.

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"Knead the roasted meat into the shape of a ball, and treat it as a skinless meat bun to feed it?" _Who was the one who thought of such a rotten idea…?_

Concert Tour Day 15

"Everyone, hurry and run," Fairsky shouted at the top of her voice while running wildly, escaping from the square where we had just held our concert. Behind her, a long trail of perverts followed.

"Fairsky, come over here," Sunshine shouted to her from his flying carpet. He flew low in her direction and then extended a hand to pull her up.

"Phew! I should have everyone now, right?" Sunshine asked as he wiped away his sweat, relieved.

However, Gui's face was pale with fear as he cried out, "Where's my Highness, Prince?!

Somewhere in the human pile, I yelled miserably, "HELP. ME. AHHHH! Don't pull off my jacket! Give me back my pants! Oh god, I'm only left with this piece of clothing! Please don't take off my underwear!"

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**Chapter 6: Second Life****'****s Spokesperson **

"Xiao Lan, I can overlook the fact you've become a tranny. I can even overlook the fact that you have become so handsome. But after all that, you actually went and became a _singer_…"

Early in the morning, I was roused unceremoniously from my sleep by my mom. I blearily watched my parents as they sprayed out a mouthful of saliva as they ranted on, inwardly thinking it was lucky that I had been awoken by mom, otherwise I don't know if I could have kept my underwear from those fangirls…

Finally, my mother really couldn't stand my dazed, uncomprehending look anymore. Yanking my ear, she bellowed, "Do you know that the entire world is searching for the Blood Elf Prince?!"

"What?" I was instantly shocked out of my stupor. _The entire world?_ "Mom, you mean the entire _Second Life_, right?"

"Not just _Second Life_, but the real world is also looking for you!" Dad said, dropping the bomb on me and clearly relishing in it.

"Why is the real world looking for me?" I asked, perplexed.

Mom massaged her forehead, as if she had a headache. "Don't you realize that your singing is amazing? Many talent agencies, modeling companies and even _Second Life_'s corporation are looking for you to be their spokesperson."

My mouth dropped open. "Second Life's corporation? How could that be? Don't they know that I'm a tranny?"

"How would I know?" Mom retorted crossly. "I only know that they've posted screenshots of you on the home page of _Second Life_'s official site. I've even printed them out."

I snatched the pictures from my Mom's hand. The first picture was a shot of me using my dao to chop down an unknown person, the second was a close- up of my kiss with Phoenix and Fairsky, and the third was the Infinite Band's performance at the plaza. Every picture had a sensational caption, such as 'The crème de la crème of _Second Life_ – the Blood Elf Prince', 'Do you want to be like Prince, constantly surrounded by girls?', 'Have you dreamed of becoming world-famous like Prince?', and 'There's nothing you can't do, only things you never thought of doing. A world that's 99% realistic – _Second_ _Life _awaits you!'

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My hands trembled as I looked through the stack of Prince pictures. _What happened?_ I thought. _How did things turn out like this? Surely you realized that, with these_ _screenshots posted on the home page of the world's most popular online game, Second Life, the exposure is even N times higher than the nude photos of female celebrities!_

I yelled in desperation, "What, what should I do?"

My parents looked at me with solemn faces and said, "First, go and cook breakfast."

"Mom, Dad, that's hardly the point here!" A vein popped on my head. _I can't rely on_ _them after all…_

But under the fierce gaze of my parents and my stupid brother, I was nevertheless forced to make breakfast before I went to university. I chewed on my egg on toast as I rode the bus to school and, to my surprise, I discovered that there was a group of news reporters' vans outside the university. _What exactly is happening?_ I wondered. My mind was full of questions as I entered the grounds and stepped into the classroom.

My brother, Feng Yang Ming, who was walking next to me, gave a small whistle as he saw the crowd of reporters surrounding Professor Min Gui Wen. With a gloating tone, he said, "This time, the professor is in trouble."

"Excuse me, why did you decide to form a band within _Second Life_?" asked a male reporter who was pointing a microphone at Professor Min Gui Wen.

"Sorry, I'm starting my class now, so please leave before I call security," Professor Min Gui Wen responded frankly.

"So handsome…" said a nameless female reporter, with two hearts in her eyes.

The male reporter unrelentingly asked another question, "Do you know the whereabouts of Prince right now?"

"No comment!" Professor Min Gui Wen answered icily, his expression darkening.

"Then…"

At last, the security guard uncle rushed over and chased out the crowd of reporters. I sat dazedly on my seat, watching Professor Min Gui Wen, who was obviously having a headache, while listening to the gossip king Gu Yun Fei giving the class a report on how the whole situation had unfolded.

"Ever since our Infinite City's Infinite Band began their concert tour, they have become extremely popular, and a lot of people followed them from Star City all the way to Moon

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and Sun Cities to watch their performance!" Yun had a very proud expression, and he even turned towards Professor Min Gui Wen and called, "Isn't that right, Professor?"

Professor Min Gui Wen revealed a pained expression. "Yes, we were chased until we almost went crazy."

"I never expected that Prince would really be so handsome," said a female student, firmly holding onto the pile of photos I saw this morning.

"I heard that aē,"lotJingof talentmentionedagnciesworriedare**l**yooking. for Dàg

Yun also scratched the side of hisēr**ea**rlly."Dàgcan hide; even Professor was found the next day, ēbutatallthere. hasn't been any news about Dàg

"What a pity. If Prince appeared, it would definitely cause a sensation," another female student said disappointedly.

_Cause a sensation? If I, the only tranny of _Second Life_'s, were to appear, the sensation caused would probably be as great as the one surrounding _Second Life_'s release onto the market! _I thought helplessly on the side.

"That's for sure; Prince is so handsome, and he sings so well. If he were to become a singer, he would be incredibly popular with the whole world!" said another female student who was so enchanted that she was buried within the pictures.

"That's right; I went on _Second Life_'s official site and downloaded Prince's songs. There's _It's My Life_ and _Dreams Want to Fly_." A person held up the CDs.

_There— there are even songs you can download? _I was going to faint.

"Gui! Come out for a minute." Zhuo-gēge's voice came in from the doorway. I looked up in surprise at his unpleasant expression… and the group of reporters behind him.

"No matter what, I _am_ a professor, you should have some manners," Gui exasperatedly grumbled. He instructed us to self- study for a while, before walking out.

Zhuo-gēge met my gaze for a momen t _*SHIVER*_ and then stood at the classroom entrance and said to the reporters, "The professor and I do not know of Prince's whereabouts, nor of anything related to the issue of _Second Life_'s spokesperson. For all matters, please wait until after things have settled down, then Infinite City will release a statement."

"In regards to Infinite City's concert, it will continue as planned," Gui added.

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The group of reporters continued to ask questions incessantly. After a long while, seeing that Zhuo- gēge and Gui weren't going to say anything else, they all hurried off in swarms saying, "Hurry, go back and write the report, otherwise we won't make the evening papers."

After all the reporters had finally left, Gui concernedly asked Zhuo-gēge, "How is Prince's situation?"

"He hasn't been found out yet," Zhuo-gēge replied without changing expression. "Although, I think he should be careful and make sure that he doesn't tell anybody about his real identity, otherwise things will become problematic."

The last sentence was obviously directed at me.

hg

_ONLINE_

After I finished class as if I was sitting on a needled carpet, I virtually ran home, pulled on the game headset, opened the PM channel, and promptly started wailing out Lolidragon's name. "Lolidragon, what the heck is this _Second Life_'s spokesperson thing all about?!"

Lolidragon's helpless voice came back, "I'm sorry, that was the corporation higher-ups' decision. I couldn't do anything."

"What do you mean 'you couldn't do anything'?" I demanded. "You _know_ I'm a tranny, I simply can't be the _Second Life_ spokesperson!"

"Of course you can, you're just going to be a virtual spokesperson."

"Virtual spokesperson?" _What on earth is that?_ I thought, knitting my eyebrows together.

"The only thing you can't do is appear in real life. Everything else, like photos, advertisements, or even songs, they're not a problem. That's why the higher-ups decided to let you be an online and TV spokesperson," explained Lolidragon. "You have no need to reveal your true identity."

"But, but…" I tried to fight against it.

"This will also create a lot of benefits for Infinite City and Infinite Band," said Lolidragon excitedly. "Even if it's just for the point of building Infinite City's reputation, there are already many benefits. Did you know that even though Infinite City isn't open yet, there are already tons of people waiting outside of the city? Not to mention the

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people who want to join the Infinite City's army! There are so many that we need a strict selection process now."

"But…" I still wanted to protest.

"There's another point as well. The photo album we talked about before had difficulties in implementation, and distributing books and CDs in _Second Life_ used to be an impossible thing. However, because of you, the corporation now has specially developed these new functions. You should know how big of a help this is to Infinite City's economy, right?" Lolidragon's final words were just about to shatter my still-protesting heart.

"I still…"

"There's also spokesperson compensation; just give me your bank details and the money will be transferred to you," Lolidragon added her final attack.

"I am very pleased to be _Second Life_'s spokesperson. Please teach me well, Lolidragon," I said without any hesitation.

"…"

_Money! Wonderful, I can finally solve the difficult situation I'm facing due to my parents' still not earning money. Tonight we'll all eat Snowflake beef__15__ hotpot to celebrate! _Ithought, all smiles. _There's beef to eat. The feeling of being a spokesperson isn't bad at_ _all!_

While I was still rejoicing about having beef hotpot to eat, four shadows suddenly appeared. They were the people who had gone offline at the same time same place as me last night—the members of the Infinite Band. Surrounding me with ill expressions on their faces, they yelled in unison, "Prince! What exactly is going on with this spokesperson thing?"

"Uh…" I could only repeat exactly what Lolidragon had just said to me.

"…In short, I have, without reason, become _Second Life's_ official spokesperson," I sighed. _I really am too ignorant; I didn't know that playing a game could cause_ _problems. See, now _Second Life_ has explained away my ignorance as to the _real_ way to play a 99% realistic fantasy game, _I thought dizzily.

After listening to my explanation, the members of the Infinite Band all looked at me exasperatedly.

15** Snowflake beef: **A type of high grade beef wherein the marbling of intramuscular fat that looks likesnowflakes, hence the name.

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They stayed like that for a while. I, wanting to break the serious silence, had no choice but to put on a happy, smiling expression and say, "We still have to hold a concert in Sun City, is everybody ready?"

"Can we say no?" everybody asked me, pale-faced.

My face also fell. "I also want to say no, but today we have to finish this concert, and then hurry back to Infinite City, because Lolidragon says we have to make a photo album…"

"What? Photo album?" Wicked and Gui's expressions both changed, especially Wicked's, whose expression was freezing.

"Yes, photo album." I helplessly shrugged my shoulders. "Don't think that I'm the only one who has to make it; all of the Infinite Band members have to."

"But Prince, it's only your photos that will go on the official website, so don't! Why do you have to be the official spokesperson? There'll be even more love rivals!" Fairsky shouted willfully.

"Ay…" Phoenix sighed, distressed.

"Don't be the spokesperson, Prince." Fairsky anxiously gripped my arm.

"I can't, I've already told _Second Life_'s corporation that I've agreed…" _More_ _importantly, I've already taken half the money and ate the hotpot; what else can I do?_

"Don't!" Fairsky looked at me with angry eyes.

"I can't, I have to." I couldn't release my arm from Fairsky's grasp, so I could only drag her to the flying carpet with me. "Let's go everyone, and finish up the last concert of this tour."

"I forbid you to be a spokesperson, otherwise I won't perform anymore!" In a moment of desperation, Fairsky actually threatened me.

_This is annoying me to death, _I thought as two veins appeared, crossing my forehead.

_Being chased by countless female wolves, having to be the spokesperson, having to hold concerts, and even having to make a photo album… More importantly, I can't allow anyone to find out my real identity, especially with Jing and Yun continuously interrogating me at school for my current whereabouts in game… The recent events have had me annoyed and vexed and I still have to deal with Fairsky's willfulness. I don't have that much time!_

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"Stop being annoying. I will definitely be the spokesperson, whether or not you want to perform is up to you!" I angrily rebuked her.

"You, you…" Tears welled up in Fairsky's eyes, but she stubbornly didn't allow them to fall.

Looking on, half of my heart softened, instantly regretting yelling at Fairsky for no reason. _Even if I'm in a bad mood, I can't take it all out on Fairsky._ I was just about to open my mouth and apologize when…

Her head hanging, Fairsky's tears finally fell. She wiped them on her sleeve, then turned around and ran off…

"Fairsky!" I gave a start and shouted, but she didn't stop.

"It's way past the scheduled time for the concert," Wicked said, frowning.

"But what about Fairsky?" I anxiously watched as Fairsky turned into some alley.

"I'll go and find her," said Sunshine. "Kenshin and I have been walking around this area a lot lately, and we're familiar with the roads.

I worriedly pondered it for a minute. "Ok, Sunshine, you go find Fairsky. Kenshin, you should stay with us; you still have to watch over Phoenix later."

"Ok," replied both Kenshin and Sunshine.

I looked towards the direction Fairsky had run off one last time, filled with boundless self-reproach, hoping that I hadn't committed an irreversible mistake.

It felt quite strange performing with one person missing. Even though I sang the best I could, I had a perturbed feeling on my mind, hoping that Sunshine would find Fairsky quickly and also that she wasn't truly angry with me.

It was only when we had finished the concert and spotted Fairsky's silhouette on the flying carpet Sunshine had brought to rescue us that I let go of the burden on my heart.

"Fairsky, I'm sorry, it was only because I was in a troubled mood that I yelled at you. Please forgive me!" Hands together, I apologized towards Fairsky.

"Hmph!" Fairsky pouted and turned away.

I helplessly scratched my face. "Later we have to take photos, Fairsky, do you want to take them? Unless… You want to leave the band?"

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Hearing that, Fairsky turned back and shouted, "I'm not leaving! I want to take them."

Seeing Fairsky's pouting face, I couldn't help but chuckle, and then used a coaxing tone and said, "Ok, ok, we'll take them together."

"Your Highness, we have arrived at Infinite City." Gui pointed down excitedly from the flying carpet.

"Wonderful, we've finally arrived home." I happily looked at our home, Infinite City.

_Home really does have a familiar feeling. Look! Lolidragon is over there shouting and waving at us. _I thought, cheerfully and vigorously waving back at Lolidragon.

Lolidragon's broken voice came to us. "Prince, be careful! We're testing a new barrier, don't come close…"

"Eh?" We were still wondering what Lolidragon meant when…

_BANG!_

Lolidragon watched as the people on the flying carpet were each flattened against the barrier, and then slowly slid down the round-shaped shield, as if they were small birds hitting a glass window. She could only mutter to herself, "Too late."

"The Giant Egg Shield, like its name suggests, is shaped like a giant eggshell, and can firmly protect whatever you wish to protect. The area it covers continues to expand as I level, and right now it covers about one fifth of Infinite City. If I don't drink mana potions, I can only hold it for about 10 minutes, but if I have an infinite amount of mana potions to use, then I can hold it for at least two hours. It'll definitely be of a very, very big help in protecting the city."

After saying this, Yun embarrassedly scratched the back of his head. "Except I never thought that its first experimentalē." target would be you guys, Dàg

"Next time, explain what your Egg Shield thingy does _before_ I break my nose, okay?" I replied with an unpleasant expression.

"It's a Giant Egg Shield," Yun corrected.

"Dàgē,I've invented new Illusi onary _Fu_," Jing hurriedly took out a pile of _fu_ to show me, as if she was presenting a precious treasure.

I asked curiously, "Illusionary _Fu_? What do they do?"

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Jing coughed a few times and began to explain, "Illusionary _Fu_ are able to create illusions, as indicated by their name. To use them, firstly, when the exorcist is making the _fu_, they insert various illusions into it. Then, when you use the_ fu_, whichever illusion wasinserted at the time will appear in the area. For example, if I werethinking of a desert at the time, then when I used that _fu_, the image of a desert would appear. Even though the creations are only untouchable illusions, these _fu_ will definitely be a great help in confusing enemies."

"Oh? That seems interesting, let me try." I enthusiastically took one to play with. As I reached out my hand and threw out the _fu_, everybody craned their necks, waiting to see the result.

"Everybody seems so carefree. Don't any of you have things to do?" Yu Lian- dàsăo's voice suddenly came from behind, in that exceptionally gentle tone scared me so much that goose-bumps appeared all over my skin.

"T-there's things to do, I will go and do them right now." I turned around and the first thing that entered my sight could only be Yu Lian-dàsăo's deathly scary shadow smile.

"Then aren't you going to quickly go and do it?" Yu Lian-dàsăospoke again, smiling.

"Y-Yes…" I looked left and right, wishing that there would instantly be a job I could do…

Jing cougē,thatedisagain…". "Er, Dàg

"Don't disturb me; I'm looking for something that I can do." _Oh, over there seems busy, I_ _think I'll just go over there and help to move the timbers. _Seeing Yu Lian-dàsăo's smile, Ipicked up my feet and ran to join the ranks of the timber- movers.

"Dàgē…" Jing looked exasperatedly at me, as I enthusiastically moved the lumber.

"Prince, what are you doing?" Lolidragon, who had just rushed over, looked over with surprise at the timber- shifting me.

I put down the timber with an embarrassed expression. "Er, Yu Lian-dàsăotold me to look for a job to do."

"Yu Lian?" Lolidragon's face was one of complete confusion. "Isn't she in the Finance Department office? Just now when I came out, I saw her still in there."

"How couldărightit thbe? Isn't Dàs —…" I pointed to where Yu Lian-dàsăowas a moment ago, only to find that she was no longer there. I was completely confused. _What_ _on earth happened?_

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Jing smiledē,

helplessly. "Dàg that was the illusion which came out of the Illusionary _Fu_.

Just as I was inserting an illusion into that _fu_, Yu Lian-dàsăowas going around supervising peoples' work, so…"

"So you accidentally inserted that image in, and I coincidentally happened to take it?" The corner of my mouth was twitching. _That's not any ordinary luck._

Jing smiled at me apologetically.

"Forget it, forget it. Really, I almost got scared to death by you two clowns," I said as I patted my chest in relief, still shaken from before.

"Dàgēis so easily scared, I fear that later he really will be scared to death," said Jing, smiling radiantly.

I gulped, thinking, _That sentence seems to hold some sort of hidden message? And it's_ _not a very pleasant hidden message either! _"What do you mean?"

"Military. Parade. Ceremony!" Lolidragon said, voice resonating.

"Huh?" I was still confused about what a Military Parade Ceremony was, even though Lolidragon had already impatiently dragged me away.

After Lolidragon had pulled me into the room, she pulled a set of shining, light-weight silver armor out of her inventory bag, which looked as if it was meant for me.

"Why do I have to go to a military parade?" I asked, terrified, limbs shaking. _Is there_ _some sort of mistake? Me, a girl who doesn't even need to join the army, actually has to go to a military parade?_

"Because everybody wants to see what kind of personality the liege lord has." Lolidragon replied casually as she helped me put on the light-weight, silver armor.

"Isn't it just this personality?" I said, laughing bitterly.

Lolidragon shook her head. "I have to warn you first: if you bring your normal nonsense personality to the military parade, I promise that the military department will be the first to kill you.

"Oh, the Finance Department and the City Planning Department won't let you get away either," she added, distracted. "Now that you've become the spokesperson, your majestic manner has recruited a lot of soldiers for us, so the Military Department is extremely pleased. Moreover, there is a huge crowd of tourists waiting outside the gates and there are so many people waiting in line to buy houses in Infinite City that there are duels for

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them. The Financial and City Planning Departments have been able to heave a huge sigh of relief!"

"Also, you, the spokesperson is very important to _Second Life_, so if you dare ruin your image at the ceremony, then the amount of people trying to kill you would fill the Pacific Ocean."

I made a face and said, "True, and if I were to announce my status as a tranny, then the Atlantic Ocean might as well be filled too."

"Ok, ok, don't be so depressed. It's only putting on the attitude of the Blood Elf, going on stage and saying a few words. After that there's nothing else," Lolidragon said, patting my back after she had finished fastening up my armor.

"But I'll get nervous." Crestfallen, I thought, _Listening to Lolidragon just then, there's_ _bound to be five thousand soldiers. Five thousand! Where on earth did they all come from? I only became spokesperson a few days ago right? Ay, thinking about five thousand pairs, that is, ten thousand eyes looking at me, how can I _not_ be nervous?_

Lolidragon laughed loudly a few times. "Calm down, calm down, you think I still don't understand you? As soon as you get on stage you automatically turn into the fearless Blood Elf."

"Really?" I asked, depressed.

"Really. Now go!" Lolidragon pushed me forcefully.

_It's not necessary to push me that hard. _I grumbled quietly, looking towards the corridorleading to the practice grounds. Usually, you could just casually take a few steps and already be at the end, but today, the corridor seemed like an abnormally difficult, long and dark corridor. And while my footsteps were normally quick and light, now even lifting my feet seemed strenuous.

"Let's go." Lolidragon patted my shoulder.

"Prince, how come you're still here? Everybody's waiting for you." Wolf-dàgēcame over with his familiar ugly smile.

"Prince-gēge, you came back! Doll missed you!" Doll threw herself at me, giving me a big hug.

I returned the hug, smiling. "You aren't afraid that I'll steal your food?"

Doll poked her tongue out cutely.

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"Prince, that armor really suits you!" Gui's eyes were filled with infatuation, and I gave him a whack on the head.

"Hurry and go, Prince." Yu Lian-dàsăowa s still smiling, a smile filled with encouragement.

"Yes, let's go." I gave a relaxed smile, brisk footsteps steadily moving towards the dazzling light at the end of the corridor, with my fellow team members from Odd Squad following behind.

As soon as I walked out of the corridor, the overpowering sunlight was so bright that I could hardly open my eyes. I rested the back of my hand on my forehead to shade my eyes until they got used to the light, before putting my hand back down and looking out amongst the people. Rose and Broken Sword were smiling radiantly at me, Legolas still had a cold demeanor, Li'l Strong was carrying his large battleaxe, and For Healing Only remained, out of all the priests I'd seen, the priest who looked most like a priest.

I walked smilingly past Rose Team, after them were the members of Dark Emperor. Ming Huang's arrogance seemed like he still required more discipline, Feng Wu Qing with his irritatingly fake charming air, and Wicked had his usual icy expression, only his eyes showed his concern and anxiousness.

Nan Gong Zui, along with Ice Phoenix, White Bird, Kong Kong and the rest of the Righteous Blades, looked down proudly at the other soldiers as if they were showing off a treasure. At the same time, they were also nervously watching for any signs of dissatisfaction from me.

At this point, I finally saw the large practice ground clearly, which was currently packed with people, and directly in front of me was a podium. It was very obvious—I had to go on the stage, and then use the manner of the Blood Prince and my status as Infinite City's liege lord to greet everyone.

In an exceptionally calm mood, I slowly stepped up the stairs step by step to the podium. Under everyone's expectant gazes, I stood there with a smile that was calm and steady.

"I am Infinite City's liege lord, also known as the Blood Elf, Prince." Straight to the point, I identified my status.

"It really isn't anything extraordinary; it is just my position in Infinite City. Just like how you are the city's soldiers and protectors, I am the liege lord. To me, whether you are a soldier in the army, or a lord in a castle, we are all a part of Infinite City. In other words, we are all Infinite City, and Infinite City represents us. Together, let us expand Infinite City infinitely, and create an everlasting presence within Second Life," I finished, sonorous and forceful.

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Under the glowing, adoring gazes of those beneath the stage, I majestically left the stage, while the military department took over and began to arrange the soldiers into groups, and explain the military operations and training exercises etc. In short, all this had nothing to do with me, and I couldn't understand military organization anyway. I walked off the podium, saw Lolidragon fiercely waving at me, and I had no choice but to follow her…

"I didn't think that someone like you up on stage, can actually talk like a human," Lolidragon whispered in a low voice in front of me.

"Hey! What kind of attitude is that? I speak like a normal human easily!" I rebutted, rolling my eyes.

"Oh really? 'I'm hungry' also counts as speaking like a human?" Lolidragon asked.

Slightly guilty, I said, "Humans can also get hungry… In any case, where are you taking me?"

"Making. Photo. Album!" Another three sonorous and forceful words.

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**Chapter 7: Portfolio **

"First, let me introduce you to the must-have tools for making a portfolio! Number one is this creature I have here. Small, light and portable, this creature can be used both indoors and outdoors! You can even put it in a parcel, so that it's convenient to carry around." Lolidragon nodded toward the thing floating in midair that seemed to be a giant eyeball with bat wings, no matter how you looked at it.

Seeing that everyone was staring blankly at the eyeball/bat hybrid, Lolidragon coughed twice, to regain our attention. "I gave it a name; it's called a Photocritter. The Photocritter's biggest features are its ability to take photos, its memory capacity of five hundred photos, and its ability to record up to five hours of video. In addition, if you buy extra memory, you gain even more storage capacity. Another point that needs mentioning is this creature's digital clarity, which goes up to ten megapixels. Its uses range from taking photos during vacation for souvenirs, to photographing a murder crime scene for evidence! There's nothing it can't be used for!" Lastly, Lolidragon added, "Right now, the Photocritter is on sale at all major pet shops! But hurry! There are only five thousand critters in the first batch!

"Next, the second tool, which Jing created, was discovered completely by accident. This is an illusion charm with a 100% quality guarantee! It can portray all kind of illusions, from historical backgrounds to ornamental decorations! It's a real help when it comes to making portfolios!" Lolidragon said, spluttering saliva as she ranted on. She was clutching a stack of charms.

"Lolidragon, have you been watching the ETTV shopping channel too much lately?" I asked seriously.

"I wouldn't buy anything from that channel!" she cried, but then blushed and added, "But, as you know, Chanel recently changed seasons, so I went and got a job as ETTV's anchorwoman to earn a little something and go shopping16."

"…" Everyone was speechless for a while.

I suddenly remembered. "After we finish the portfolio, how are we going to distribute it?"

"I'm going to take it to _Second Life_'s official publishing office, and get an estimate on the price. After deciding on the print volume, they will probably send it over in a couple of days." Lolidragon said. "We are planning to sell it in the accessory store."

16 This is actually a Chinese pun, 血拼. It sounds like shopping in English, however here it means to spend a lot of money while shopping. Especially at a _very_ expensive store.

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_What? So now my portfolio is an accessory? What use could it possibly have? Do we distract our enemies with it? _I thought helplessly. Suddenly, an idea flitted through mymind. "What about a book store?"

"Open a book store? Is that a good idea?" Lolidragon said, hesitating.

"That's not a bad idea!" Gui suddenly spoke with excitement. "After publishing books becomes a possibility, there will be lots of players trying to publish their own works, but not many can be like us and put their books on sale in the accessories shop. But, if we open a book shop and allow players to consign their books, the commission we receive would also be a good way to earn money."

"But will there be any potential customers?" Wicked commented cautiously.

"That will depend on how good the books are. We will have to choose carefully the books to be consigned. After a while, I think some good authors will turn up. Good authors means lots of customers. Actually, most people don't have time to read while they are awake, but they can read books using the sleeping headset! That would be useful for a lot of people!" Gui said happily.

"And since that will add another unique asset to Infinite City, there will be more people joining!" Fairsky clutched her fists in excitement.

Lolidragon shrugged. "Then let's do a book store. Since it's part of the construction department's job, I'll leave it to those two leaders to discuss amongst themselves."

Gui nodded, eyes gleaming. He turned to Fairsky, whose eyes were also gleaming, and they started chattering about the bookstore.

"What I meant was, you can talk later, but now, let's start making our portfolio!" Lolidragon said with a smile that made everyone's hair stand on end. But then she said something that made the hair rise even higher. "Okay, then. Take it off."

"Take it off? Take what off?" I asked dumbly.

Lolidragon's eyes drifted from my face to my chest. That look… I couldn't help but grab my collar tightly. Then, her eyes drifted even further down… I grabbed my belt tightly, thinking, _Oh my God, Lolidragon, don't fool around, or else my portfolio might turn into_ _an adult-only sort of thing—_

hg

"Can I rest for a bit now?" I asked, still woozy. I never thought that making a portfolio would be so hard. It was a test of strength, endurance, and the ability to survive intense pain.

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The Test of Strength: I had to pose in various positions of unimaginable difficulty for Lolidragon to take shots of. Sometimes I had to stay in a pose for up to half an hour. I suspected that Lolidragon was sketching my portrait instead of taking a photo.

The Test of Endurance: Under Lolidragon's insistence that I expose the two points, I thought_, Fine,_ and agreed reluctantly. _Oh well, a guy's two points aren't that attractive_ _anyway. _But, under the coercion of Wicked's "Don't you dare or you are d-e- a-d!" lookand Gui's "Your majesty, you can't endure such humiliation" large and teary eyes, my move to take off my clothes froze in mid-motion. Then, I watched on as Lolidragon leading Phoenix and Fairsky going against Wicked and Gui. The two gangs started to argue very loudly about whether I should expose the two points or not, forcing me to be stuck in between taking off and putting on my clothes. _Really, exactly to whom do the two_ _points belong to anyways?_

Finally, I lost my temper. With a dark expression, I roared, "Shut up!"

Five of them turned to glare at me in unison. Together, they said, "You make the decision then!"

With five pairs of eyes staring at me, my anger disappeared completely. I said fearfully, "Then what about…what about going half exposed?"

"Taking off your shirt but not exposing the other point?" Lolidragon muttered, and then said unwillingly, "Fine, that settles it."

"Never! This one here will still see it!" Wicked gestured towards Gui.

"That's my line! Prince's body should never be seen by _you_!" Gui said furiously, gritting his teeth.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, scratching my face. _This won't work and that won't_ _work. Those guys are even more annoying than the girls… _I thought._ Shhiikkkk_…

Suddenly, a weird sound reached my ears. It sounded like…sticky tape? We turned around. There was Phoenix, with two pieces of sticky tape. She was looking at my chest…

Afterwards: If anyone ever says that the pain produced from taking sticky tape off an important spot is on par with that of giving birth, I will totally agree!

I turned my back on the site of that ghastly photo shoot, looking at Lolidragon with teary eyes.

"Can I rest now?" I begged.

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"You can rest…" Lolidragon replied. My eyes lit up. _I can finally tour Infinite City! I_ _can't wait to find out what delicious specialty foods my city has! _I thought, excited.

"…For a brief moment. We are starting rehearsal for the concert tomorrow."

"Rehearsal for the concert?" I repeated stupidly.

"Yep! Yu Lian is supervising because a lot of money had been spent on the concert," Lolidragon whispered quietly into my ear.

_Waaaaaaaa! This is hell! _I thought, close to tears.

hg

"Dàgê, even if we start rehearsing tomorrow and there is no time for you to come out and eat food then, you don't have to eat like that, do you?" Yun asked. He looked helplessly at me. I hadn't even spoken a sentence to them before starting my battle with the food.

Seeing that I gave no reaction at all, Jing also said helplessly, "Dàgê, if you want to eat something during rehearsal, just PM us and we'll send it over."

Hearing that, I finally set down the chicken leg in my hand, took a drink to wash the food down and said with a little embarrassment, "Thanks."

"Slow down. No one's trying to take the food from you." Wicked grumbled, not too happy.

"Your Majesty, would you like another order of french fries?" Gui happily passed me a napkin to wipe my hands, and Phoenix wiped my mouth with a handkerchief, while Jing and Yun looked on enviously.

"Hey, where is Fairsky?" Yun suddenly asked, confused.

"And Sunshine?" Jing added.

"Oh, they went on a stroll." I said, waving the subject aside. _But I wonder why Kenshin_ _didn't go…Don't harbor any suspicions — this guy never leaves my side, it's just that he's too quiet. _(Even this author didn't know how to tell everyone that he actually wasstill there. You can't just always say that he's sitting there icily with a poker face, can you?)

"Wow! That's rare. Fairsky actually bears to leave your side." Jing said, astonished.

"She said that she was going to check out the location of our bookstore." I said vaguely as I couldn't help stuffing myself with the fries Gui had just ordered for me.

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"Book store? What book store?" Yun asked dumbly.

"Infinite Bookstore, the one we're setting up soon; the first book store in Second Life," Gui told them with sparkling eyes. _Geez, no wonder he's a talking about_ _books and he goes crazy, _I thought as I ate the fries.

"So, where are we getting the books we're going to sell?" Jing asked, doubtful.

"First, we will have our Infinite Band portfolio on sale. Plus, I will write a few books to sell. Then, when we become recognized, we'll let others consign their books in our bookshop, or even solicit manuscripts, and we'll help them publish the book. These things aren't really hard for me." Gui's eyes lit up with the intelligence of 200 IQ points.

"Really? So… Um…" Yun mumbled like there was something embarrassing to ask.

I suddenly remembered. _Jing and Yun like to write stories. They often chose me as their_ _first reader for their Saddest-Story-in-the-Universe-and-History-of-Mankind tragedies. Well, truthfully, their stories aren't bad; it's just that the titles are so bad that one can't even comment on them. What kind of titles, you ask? The "Saddest-Story-in-the-Universe-and-History-of-Mankind" that you just read, of course._

"Can we consign our books in your store?" Jing cried, impatient.

"Of course! Since you guys are free these few days, take this chance to write it out. I will check it over, publish it, and we should be able to put it up at the opening ceremony." Gui was happy that there was someone here to help to write some books.

"Yes!" Jing and Yun hugged each other in excitement.

"Right, Jing, Yun, have you bought a house yet?" I suddenly remembered that they were choosing a house last time. _I wonder how it's going?_

"We just bought one. It's a really cute white cottage that even comes with a garden!" Yun said happily.

"Oh, I want to see!" I suddenly stood up. "Waiter, I'm taking away the rest of the food."

"Sorry, I can't stay any longer, Prince." Gui stood as well, sighing deeply. "Yu Lian told me to get back to designing the stage for the concert. There are also the bookshop designs too, and don't forget the books that I need to write."

"Wow, you sure are busy." _I really don't know how much time he spends on our class_ _material. Ten minutes? Maybe even less…_

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"Your Majesty, even though I am not here in person, my heart will always be with you." Gui, with large teary eyes, kept looking back at me, until he was kicked out by a deeply annoyed me.

"Since Gui's not here, I have to go back to the military department. A lot of unfinished work has accumulated." Wicked said.

_So, if Gui's here, you'd rather not care about the military department?!_

"In that case, I better go back to the finance department; Yu Lian is on the verge of exploding from stress…" Phoenix blanched horribly.

"Heh heh, it's ok, you can all go back. Whether something or nothing happens, don't come and find me again." I waved good-bye happily. _It's so rare! There's actually a day_ _when I can get away from those four and just relax. I've got to enjoy the peace._

"Dàgê, don't look so happy. It makes them really sad. They all had ghost fires floating beside them when they left." Yun was barely suppressing his laughter.

I relaxed. "If they hadn't left soon, I'd probably have exploded. Now, let's go and see that house of yours."

On the way to the house, Yun suddenly said, "Dàgê, there's a question we've been wanting to ask you…?" I stared at him. _Yun usually just says whatever he wants. Since_ _when did he start asking for permission?_

"What is it?" I asked.

"Dàgê, do you know Feng Lan?" Jing questioned and my heart skipped a few beats.

I stopped. _Why did she ask me that? Has she found out? No way! Is it that easy to tell?_ I thought. I used the calmest voice I could muster at that moment and said "Feng Lan? I don't know her. Why do you ask?"

"Just as I thought…" Jing mumbled.

I sighed in relief.

"After all, saying that you know yourself sounds pretty weird. Isn't that right, Xiao Lan?" Jing added lightly.

After my pulse stopped for an entire three seconds, then I covered my face, close to tears.

_I knew it, they found out. I'm finished! This is the worst scenario, to have my secret be discovered by Yun, the super broadcasting station! Once the news leaks out, just think_

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_about the fans swarming enough to fill out the Atlantic and Pacific oceans… Waaaaahhh! Where is my future?_

Jing patted me on the shoulder. "It's ok. I understand your problems, Xiao Lan. I've already used karate on Yun and warned him that if he told anyone your secret, my next karate moves will be used on a guy's most vulnerable spot. So he definitely won't leak the news."

_Whew! That was close. But how was I discovered? _"How did you guys find out?" I asked."Don't you always call me Dàgê?"

"It was because you would not tell us your in-game-name; we had to ask your brother and he said that you are a tranny in game," Yun put in.

_BROTHER, YOU IMBECILE! Don't force me to kill you to defend my honor! _I clenchedmy fist and started thinking about whether adding pesticides or rat poison to dinner would be the faster method.

"So we thought, you are a tranny player and you love bishies as much as I do, but you have no interest in a famous hottie like Prince. The only reason we could think of was that you were Prince himself. Also, although your appearance in-game and in real life are extremely different, your basic features are still very similar, so we recognized you immediately." Jing shrugged, unconcerned.

"But you know, you Feng siblings are so oblivious that it could go down in history. To think that your brother Yang Ming never realized that you were Prince, and he even knew that you were a tranny," Yun said with a face full of admiration.

"No one could be as good at guessing as you guys are." I mumbled.

"Well if it weren't for the fact that we can guess well, how else could we know about your real identity? And what's with making us call you the Dàgê here and Dàgê there?!" Jing gave me a knock on my head. _Oww… Why are all the women I know so violent? And_ _they all seemed to like hitting my head._

"I was saying that there was no one that was stupid enough to continue trusting us after so many betrayals from us. So it was you after all, Xiao Lan. No wonder you kept helping us." Yun couldn't help but complain. He and Jing had actually been so touched that they swore to follow Prince forever.

At this, what else can I do except rub the back of my head and laugh stupidly?

"That's not the point; the important point is, in that romantic and thrilling love triangle, who are you going to choose? The professor or the senior?" Jing stared at me.

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"Don't ask the same questions as my mom, Jing. I don't know!" _Romantic and thrilling?!_ _Jing, your descriptions are a bit too exaggerated. _I helplessly sighed.

"What are you worrying about? Just date them both." Yun mumbled.

"Hey! Are you a man? Why are you telling a woman to have two boyfriends?!" Jing pulled and shouted in Yun's ear.

I asked, as if puzzled. "Didn't we already agree that he's not a guy?"

"Xiao Lan!" Jing suddenly grabbed me, "Let's do an experiment."

"Experiment?" I asked stupidly.

"Go on a date with both of them in real life!" Jing's eyes sparkled in an extremely scary way.

"Eh?"

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**Chapter 8: Dating Diary **

"Professor, you really didn't have to go to all this trouble…" In tearless grief, I looked at Professor Min Gui Wen as he sat across from me.

"Don't worry. So long as I can settle my students' problems, a small favor like this isn't any trouble!" Gui's smile spread across his whole face as he took a sip of his beverage.

_Jing! You really will be the death of me. _I never would have thought that in order to getProfessor Min to go on a date with me, Jing would actually weave such an outrageous lie. Even I thought that her story was beyond logic when I heard it. What was even more incredible was that Professor Min actually believed it…

The story goes like this: Yesterday after class Jing pulled me over right in front of Professor Min.

"Professor, there is a very grave and urgent matter that I hope you can help us with." Jing put on an expression of profound grief and distress. At the time, I wasn't very sure what she was grieved and distressed about.

Professor Min, seeing that the matter looked quite serious, comforted Jing with his usual gentle smile. "What's the matter? Say it slowly; don't be nervous."

"Actually, it is Xiao Lan's problem. There's a stalker who's been harassing Xiao Lan. He has been bothering her for over a year, but still he refuses to leave her alone." Jing knitted her eyebrows together, teary-eyed.

"Is this true? Xiao Lan, are you unable to accept that person?" asked Professor Min.

_That person? Who is that person…? _I was thoroughly puzzled and only stared with blankeyes.

Jing suddenly shouted loudly, "Professor, look! Xiao Lan has been scared out of her mind by that guy's frightening harassment."

"Oh?" Professor Min frowned. "No wonder Feng Lan has recently been looking a little absentminded in class and is always running off in a hurry after school."

"…" _I was looking absentminded because I was intimidated by the reporters outside_ _trying to ask you where to find Prince… And if I don't leave in a hurry after school, some reporter with far-too-keen eyes might realize that I look like Prince. Wouldn't I be dead meat if that were to happen?_

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"That's right. Professor, you don't know how scary that guy is. Xiao Lan told him that she'd rather die than love him, but it was no use! Even kicking his ass with my karate didn't work. After that, all that we could do was tell him that Xiao Lan already had a perfect man who was handsome, mature, and reliable. However, he says that he refuses to believe it, unless…" At this point, Jing's face started to show signs of reluctance and embarrassment.

"Unless what?" Professor Min asked, extremely serious.

"… Unless he sees that man with his own eyes!" Jin sighed. "But where could we find someone to help us put on this show?" Jing shook her head in distress.

I suddenly had a look of epiphany_. I finally understand what Jing is trying to do! But, but_ _this lie is too lousy. Anyone with a bit of brain wouldn't fall for it, let alone Professor Min Gui Wen with his IQ of 200!_

"I understand. I will help to put up this show!" Professor Min let out a smile.

_It can't be! Professor Min, where did your IQ of 200 go? _I was incredulous as I looked atProfessor Min's earnest face.

"That's wonderful, Professor! Then tomorrow after school, you can take Xiao Lan out for coffee or go shopping or something. I'll be responsible for bringing that guy over, so that he'll finally believe Xiao Lan's words!" Jing happily exclaimed.

"Okay." Professor Min's face still held the same gentle smile.

Thus explains how Professor Min and I happened to be sitting in this open-air café drinking coffee for no apparent reason. I continued to have doubts as to how Professor Min could have fallen for Jing's story.

"Student Feng Lan, why hasn't that person come yet?" Professor Min wore a smile on his face.

"I, I don't know either…" _That person had better exist!_ I cursed Jing, whose current whereabouts were unknown, behind her back.

Professor Min's face suddenly became serious and he sighed. "Student Feng Lan, I don't think that person is coming, is he? Or rather, that person doesn't even exist."

"You knew?" I said in surprise. _Since he knew the truth, why would he still go out with_ _me?_

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Professor Min put on a forced smile. "Ever since I started teaching, I have heard all sorts of reasons for asking me out. However, the reason that you two came up with was the most exaggerated."

Hearing this, I could only smile foolishly. _That makes more sense!_

"Student Feng Lan, I want to tell you that I already have someone in my heart, so…" Professor Min abruptly showed an awkward expression. "So I'm afraid I can't accept your feelings."

I sat there stunned for some time before I realized that he thought the reason I invited him out was to confess my feelings for him.

"Student Feng Lan, don't be too upset. I truly have someone in my heart. It's not that you're not good enough…" Professor Min probably saw my dumbfounded look and started panicking as he tried to explain with everything he had.

"_Pfft_!" I couldn't help but laugh. _It's not my fault. When Professor Min is flustered, he_ _suddenly has Gui's foolish look. Seeing Professor's refined and serious appearance, wearing glasses and a white dress shirt, but revealing a look of foolishness is just too funny._

"Why are you laughing now? Women nowadays are so hard to understand," Gui muttered to himself.

"Is Professor's crush Prince?" I suddenly wanted to hear Professor Min say it out loud in real life, as himself.

"Yes, it's Prince." Although he wanted to feign calmness, Gui's face still reddened slightly and he looked embarrassed.

After a round of silence, I suddenly blurted out, "Won't you regret it? Prince is a man."

When he heard my question, Gui's expression suddenly changed into one of profundity. "Regret…? Prince is like a rose with thorns. If at first I had known about its thorns, then perhaps I would not have picked it up. However, I have already picked the rose up, smelled its fragrance and seen its beauty. If I put it down now, the suffering borne by my heart would be more painful than the pain of my bleeding hand, torn open by the thorns. Therefore, I cannot put it down."

After a good while, Gui's intense gaze faded away and he looked at me with a red face. "Sorry, that must have sounded strange," he said.

Smiling, I shook my head and then said solemnly, "Professor, promise me one thing, then we can end it here today."

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"What is it?" Gui was noticeably trembling in fear.

With gleaming eyes, I pointed at the menu and said, "Would you please treat me to spaghetti with clams in white wine sauce17 and borscht18?"

"Huh?"

Thus, after eating spaghetti with clams in white wine sauce and borscht to my heart's content, Professor Min bewilderedly paid the bill, and my date with Professor Min came to a satisfactory conclusion.

hg

That night, Jing and Yun excitedly dragged me out.

"Where are we going?" I asked uncertainly.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? It's to meet your next date, of course," Jing barked crossly.

"Oh…"

"Over there!" Jing hid behind a lamp-post, her finger pointing at Zhuo-gege, who was standing some distance away. "Xiao Lan, I told Zhuo Ling Bin that you really wanted to visit the night market19, but I didn't have time to accompany you so I asked him to go with you in my place. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Then hurry up and go! Remember to compare the two prospects." Yun suddenly pushed me out from behind the lamp-post. I had no choice but to walk towards Zhuo-gege.

"You're here, Xiao Lan." Zhuo-gege smiled at me.

"Yeah." I nodded my head.

17**Spaghetti with clams in white wine sauce: **This is what it looks like: 2008-10-09/1031423_ . And here the recipe for anyone who is interested (and can cook): . .

18**Borscht: **A soup of Ukrainian origin that is popular in many Eastern and Central European countries. Itis usually made with beetroot and/or tomatoes, which give it a reddish-purple color. For more information, see wiki/Borscht.

19**Night Market: **Also known as night bazaars, these are street markets which operate at night and aregenerally dedicated to more leisurely strolling, shopping, and eating than more businesslike day markets.

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"Where do you want to shop first? Or do you want to eat something first?" Zhuo-gege asked very considerately.

"Eat." _I never had any intention to shop around, so I can only say eat. It's really not_ _because I'm a glutton!_

By the end of our stroll, I was holding fried chicken in my left hand, red tea in my right hand, and I was still chewing the french fries that I had just stuffed into my mouth… Zhuo-gege was even helping me hold the chicken kebabs and liquor escargots.

"Do you want anything else to eat, Xiao Lan?" Zhuo-gege asked attentively.

I shook my head, pointing to a park bench not far away. "Let's just go sit down there and take our time eating."

"Okay."

While I worked on the food, I thought of my mother's words. _She said Zhuo-gege likes_ _me? Hmmm… I have to ask him. _Thinking of this, I absent-mindedly opened my mouth toask, "Zhuo-gege, do you like me?"

Zhuo-gege's body froze rather noticeably. He slowly turned his head to face me, his eyes filled with the uncertainty of whether to feel happy or helpless. He was silent for a long time. Finally he only said, "Yeah, I have liked you for eight years."

_Eight years? _My heart skipped a beat._ Has he really liked me for such a long time?_

"Liked me for eight years? Am I worth it?"

"Of course," Zhuo-gege replied without hesitation.

"But, I don't know whether I like you or not… I can't decide." Seeing that Zhuo-gege's mood was clearly a little downcast, I felt a bit at a loss of what to do. _Isn't this extremely_ _unfair for Zhuo-gege? Eight years… That's such a heavy burden that just hearing about it makes me gasp for breath._

"Never mind, I will wait for you." Zhuo-gege replied in another simple sentence.

I hesitated a little. "You…don't regret it? Maybe, maybe I…"

Zhuo-gege stood up with his back facing me, using a dreamy tone that I had never heard him using before. "The sunflower always faces the sun without regret or complaint. In the face of wind or rain, it always awaits the sun's warm smile. Although the time spent waiting for the sun is always so painful, the sunflower has never regretted and will never regret it."

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Seeing Zhuo-gege's broad and lonely figure, I abruptly realized that his ears were as red as a thoroughly ripe tomato.

"Sunflower, huh?" I quietly chewed on my food, not even noticing the taste inside my mouth.

hg

"What do you think of yesterday's dates?" asked Jing and Yun the next day, their eyes opened wide in excitement.

"Quite good." I scratched my cheek.

"So how are the prospects on both sides?" Yun was itching to know.

"Hmm… On one party's side, although he only paid once, the price for that one time was quite significant, and it left me with an endless aftertaste. On the other party's side, he paid continuously. Although the price he paid each time was small, and even though the taste was inferior to the former, the combined total was still remarkable," I said in accordance with the facts.

"What does that mean?" Yun asked in puzzlement.

Smacking Yun on the head, Jing said, "Dummy, can't you even understand a metaphor? The meaning is this: although Professor Min loved her for a shorter time, he still fell in love with her even though he thought that Xiao Lan was a guy. This sacrifice is of course very impressive. In addition, Professor's love is as passionate as fire. Thus, it definitely leaves a lingering aftertaste. On the contrary, Zhuo Ling Bin's love is as gentle as water. However, it's also like a slow and steady stream. His continuous sacrifices aren't as impressive as the sacrifice made by the Professor, but when we take into account the total time that he had loved Xiao Lan, the sacrifice he made isn't any less significant than Professor's. Do you understand?"

"I get it now," Yun realized with sudden comprehension.

"Yes. Isn't that right, Xiao Lan?" Jing asked proudly, showing off.

"No… I was referring to the food." I scratched my head.

"Food?" Jing and Yun stared at me with eyes wide open.

I nodded my head as if that were the most natural explanation. "Yeah, although Gui only treated me to spaghetti with clams in white wine sauce and borsht, the price of the meal

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was over eight hundred dollars20. It was really expensive, and the spaghetti was so delicious that I keep remembering its aftertaste. As for the night market snacks that Zhuo-gege treated me to, although they weren't as delicious as the spaghetti, there was a great variety. I really ate to my heart's content, so the total cost might not be less than that of Gui's treat."

"…" For reasons unbeknownst to me, the two of them began foaming at the mouth. Then, they glared at me with wide, white eyes.

Finally, Jing concluded, "Whoever falls in love with you will be cursed for eight generations."

_Achoo! _Min Gui Wen and Zhuo Lin Bin simultaneously sneezed in two differentlocations.

_Is someone cursing me? _The two thought at the same time.

20** Eight hundred dollars: **This is in New Taiwan Dollars, not US dollars. 800 TWD is equal toapproximately 26 USD (as of December 2010).

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**Chapter 9: The Concert **

_Online_

"Prince, hurry up and get over here! The concert hall has finished being constructed." I heard Yu Lian-dàsao's excited and slightly distressed voice just as I came online.

"Really? I'll come take a look." _I wonder what the hall looks like. It ought to be pretty_ _luxurious; after all, we did spend a fortune on it. _I thought to myself as I picked up mypace and dashed to the site. I was following Yu Lian-dàsao's directions, which led me just to the left of the castle.

Everyone was waiting for me when I arrived. Barely containing my excitement, I walked closer, wishing to examine carefully the concert hall where I would be performing.

"I-Impossible…" I stammered with my jaw dropped. _Heavens! This looks like something_ _that came straight out of our textbooks… An ancient Roman coliseum?!_

"Hehe, welcome to Infinite City's— No, it should be Second Life's, first concert hall: Infinite Rhapsody!" Yu Lian greeted with a laugh.

"This is awesome!" I said. With excitement spreading across my face, I let my eyes frantically take in the grandeur of the architecture. It was circular in shape and stood around twenty stories high. The primitive engravings on the ash-colored walls gave a rather ancient look. I walked closer to get a better view and saw that the engravings consisted of simple strokes depicting the various races holding different kinds of instruments. I ran my fingers across the engravings, unable to keep my hands off them.

"The theme of the engravings here is music," Yu Lian-dàsao explained, "The other sides show combat, nature, and all kinds of handicrafts."

"Prince! Don't just stand at the doorway, getting dazzled by only the exterior. Come and take a look inside!" Wolf-dàgê said as he walked out from the door. He hurriedly dragged me through the massive double-arched passage, which was large enough for several dozen people to walk through at once.

Stepping through the door, I stared in excitement at the incredibly magnificent scene before me. As I stood in the center of the arena, looking up and around at the rows upon rows of seats that seemed to stretch into the clouds, I impulsively blurted out, "Is this really where I will be performing?"

"That's right," Lolidragon replied as she walked towards me, smiling sweetly. "How is it? Is the place good enough for Your Highness to perform in?"

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"It's more than enough!" I answered, blushing. "It's _ridiculously_ spacious! It'd be an accomplishment if the audience could even fill up one tenth of the space here."

"Prince-gege is mistaken. This place is going to be packed to capacity," Doll refuted as she skipped over. "Doll has sore hands from selling too many concert tickets this past week."

"That's right!" Yu Lian-dàsao said, nodding. "If it weren't for the earnings from selling those tickets, we wouldn't have had enough funds to build this hall."

"I told you guys that Prince would draw out a large crowd," laughed Wolf-dàgê as he slapped me on the back energetically. "Though I will admit that I didn't predict that you'd become Second Life's spokesperson, Prince."

"I didn't think that would happen either…" I shrugged helplessly.

"In any case, Prince, just settle down and become one of the highlights of Infinite City," Yu Lian laughed heartily. An uneasy feeling formed in the bottom of my heart. _Don't tell_ _me there's something else they're going to make me do?_

As I was still thinking this, Yu Lian continued. "I heard the Construction Department is planning on building two bookstores. Prince, after the concert is over and the bookstores are built, you can conveniently hold an autograph session as well."

"Oh, sure." I sighed in relief upon hearing that it was just about an autograph session.

I turned towards the audience seating again and muttered with excitement, plus a hint of nervousness, "So this place is going to be jam-packed with people, eh…"

hg

"Prince! Prince!" Listening to the deafening roar of the crowd coming from outside, I felt tremendously nervous. I frantically did some breathing exercises. _Breathe in, breathe out._ _Breathe in, breathe out…_

"Ugh, still feeling pretty nervous." I looked helplessly at my fellow band members.

Gui was chattering like a parakeet, trying to calm me down. "Don't be nervous, Your Highness. Just pretend that the students—er, no, the fans—are rocks, and you'll be fine. Just perform like you normally do and it'll be okay." Gui looked at my pale face worriedly. I rolled my eyes in response. _Don't pretend that I didn't hear that bit about_ _students. So we're nothing but rocks to you eh, Professor?!_

"Just ignore them." Wicked frowned slightly and patted me on the back in an attempt to calm my erratic breathing.

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"What are you afraid of? It's just a bunch of people, that's all." Fairsky threw a haughty glance towards the crowd that consisted of as many people as there were grains of sand on a beach.

"I'm a little nervous too." Phoenix's face was just as pale as mine. _Finally, someone who_ _is normal like me, _I thought with satisfaction.

"Let's get this show on the road! Everyone still remembers the way we make our entrance as rehearsed?" Lolidragon poked out her head suddenly, smiling a Mona Lisa-like smile at my pale complexion.

I closed my eyes once more and breathed in deeply. When my eyes snapped open, only tranquility was left on my face. "Let's do this."

hg

_Passerby A's Concert Experience_

He was one of Second Life's professional players, but he had never thought that it would actually be possible to hold a concert in an online game. So, when he heard that Infinite City was planning to hold a concert, starring none other than the recently popular Infinite Band, he decided to set out for Infinite City to broaden his horizons.

"Damn, I had to wait five whole hours in queue before I could buy the ticket! Is this band really all that great?" he muttered to himself. He was feeling peeved by the long wait, yet he was also glad that he decided to come and witness such an epic event. How else could he have fulfilled his curiosity if he were to miss it?

_There sure are a lot of attractions worth visiting in Infinite City. Seeing the crescent shaped fountain in the Central Plaza alone makes up for the price of the ticket. Moreover, the actual city itself is so opulent and majestic! I wonder how much it took to finance its construction. _He admired the streets that were even wider and neater thanthose of the pre-programmed Sun, Star and Moon cities. The shops and markets beside the streets were all beautiful and unique in their own special way. He wondered how much it would cost to rent a shop and began calculating in his head.

But nothing could compare to the shock that the residential area gave him_. Is… is this still_ _part of a game? _He gaped, wide eyed and dumbstruck, at street after street of lovelygardened mansions, all so beautiful that it was hard to even take your eyes off them. He scanned each one greedily. After browsing and coveting the last of the mansions, he heaved a long sigh and said, "I should get one of these and sell off the house I have in Moon City. Once everyone discovers how lovely these houses are, the real estate demand in the pre-programmed cities will most likely slump."

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The next day, he hurried to the concert venue at the crack of dawn, hoping to get a good seat, but he miscalculated. There was already a huge line of people in front of him.

"How long have you been waiting here?!" he asked the ones in front of him in shock.

"We came here after dinner yesterday." The people near the end of the line said.

"We pitched our tents here right after we bought the tickets two days ago," a group of girls in the middle replied.

"Ha! That's nothing! I'm telling you, I watched as they built Infinite Rhapsody, brick by brick!" The man who was first in the line proudly boasted.

He was left completely speechless. With enough curiosity to kill a cat, he wondered impatiently exactly how strong the allure of Infinite Band was and what Prince, Second Life's rumored spokesperson, was using to draw out all these fans.

"Prince! Prince!" The girls next to him were cheering so loudly that he felt like his eardrums were on the verge of rupturing. He couldn't help but let out a sigh, wondering why he had allowed himself to be drawn into such pandemonium. _It really is way too_ _crowded, noisy, and tiresome_, he thought while massaging his exhausted body. All hecould do now was hope that this Infinite Band was talented enough to not make him leave disappointed.

All of a sudden, snow began falling from the sky. Startled, he examined the snowflakes as they drifted down toward him. Even the girls who had been screaming next to him just a moment before fell silent, bedazzled by the beautiful falling snow_. This is probably the_ _work of a mage, _he thought to himself.

Five pillars of ice suddenly solidified, starting from the sky to the ground. As everyone was still looking up in surprise, five blurry individuals came sliding down, one from the top of each pillar. Just as they were all about to reach the ground, the ice pillars suddenly shattered into countless tiny crystals, sprinkling themselves throughout the entire coliseum. The place was completely covered in a dazzling radiance, proclaiming the arrival of these five exceptional people.

"So this is Infinite Band?" He could clearly see the five people now, and indeed each of them had their own type of charisma. There was the proud and aloof flutist, the handsome and bewitching guqin player, the sexy and sassy female guitarist, the mature yet charming female drummer, and lastly the one wearing a blood tiara, the indescribably gorgeous lead singer wearing a faint and coy smile on his face. Is that…Prince?

Prince gave a small bewitching smile, lightly raised a finger to his lips and made a small shhh-ing sound, and spoke in a laid back yet mesmerizing voice. "No need to say anything more, so let's just start with a song."

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_This life, this love, this moment squandered away_

_As I exhaust my color onto your skies_

_Your desires, your words, your every demand_

_Actually brings me happiness all because you are_

_My source of joy, my source of pain_

_Adapted from: Swallowtail Butterfly_

_Lyrics and song by: Ah Xin, MayDay_

How should he describe his emotions upon hearing the sound of Prince singing? The voice was resounding and emotionally stirring, and yet it had a hint of trembling, like a butterfly humming without regret as it flutters into a fire. Moreover, the intense beat of the drums and the hearty vibrations of the guitar made his heart pound along wildly to the rhythm of the music, almost to the point of bursting apart.

After that intense experience, the first song was finally over and everyone, including him, was left completely speechless. But the craze was still shining through their eyes and drops of sweat fell as they gazed up towards the Infinite Band members onstage.

"Did you guys enjoy it?" Prince suddenly laughed without restraint, a laugh infectious enough to liberate the tense feelings in the hearts of everyone in the crowd.

"Yes! You were awesome!" someone shouted before anyone else could react, leading the entire stadium to then be filled with cheers and roars. He let his own voice join in the rumbles of the masses too.

"In that case…" Prince closed his eyes, as if pondering something. The fans in the audience, afraid to disturb his train of thought, quieted down one by one…

Prince slowly opened his eyes again, eyes that were filled with sentiment as he spoke in a gentle voice, as if whispering sweet nothings across a bed. "Love is always such a dilemma. Should you choose the one who loves you, or the one whom you love?"

The sound of the flute, hopelessly sorrowful, yet with an inkling of sweetness, suddenly reverberated throughout Infinite Rhapsody. The guqin then joined in, with an airy and flowing melody that accentuated the flute's lonely tune. Finally, Prince's voice emerged, low and warm, like the murmurs of a lover, completely different from the intense and resounding sound from the previous song…

In this manner, he was continually entranced by Prince's voice, from the first, second…fifth…to the tenth song, but he still couldn't get enough, and craved more.

"The next song will be the last one for today and is my favorite one of all: 'It's My Life'. Could everyone repeat with me loudly, 'It's My Life'?" Prince's words brought along regret and happiness at the same time.

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"…It's my life!" As Prince sang out the final stanza, the entire crowd fell into an unprecedented and complete silence, where only the sound of heartbeats could be heard throughout the arena.

"Die, Prince!" a cold voice rang out without warning, and only a flash of silver could be seen as everyone looked up. On the stage, Prince quickly staggered back.

"You're hurt, Prince!" From the stands, he could see the guqin player fearfully trying to step forward to take a closer look at Prince's left arm, which was drenched in blood. A female swordmaster was glaring angrily at Prince from the opposite side.

Prince gave a wave with his hand, paying no attention to his injured left arm. He calmly said, "If I recall correctly, I don't actually know you, so why do you want to assassinate me and ruin my concert?" As he listened from offstage, he began to tremble unconsciously. Though Prince's tone was indifferent, an unquestionable thought was formed in his heart—Prince is angry.

"Your lover took away my beloved from me, so I am here to kill you and make that bastard feel the pain of losing a loved one." The female swordmaster's eyes burned like a raging inferno.

Prince blinked conspicuously, and then asked in total confusion, "My lover? Are you referring to a guy or a girl?"

The female swordmaster's rage was enough to burn through the nine layers of heaven. "Of course he's a guy!"

Watching from the crowd, he didn't feel that the answer was obvious at all. He analyzed the situation, puzzled. _How strange. How could it be a guy? A guy stole away your lover?_ _What gender is your lover, then? _Prince, however, did not seem to be the least bitsurprised. He just scratched his head, gestured towards the guqin player and the flutist, asking, "Which one is it?"

"Guileastes, do you still remember me, sonny21?" bellowed the female swordmaster.

Gui, the guqin player who was being called out, shook his head, clueless. "Who are you?"

The female swordmaster grinded her teeth and roared again, "How dare you freaking forget about me?! Bastard, did you forget about Lovely Consort as well?!"

21** Sonny: **In Chinese, it's actually the fencer referring to himself as "老子", lit. "old man/father", so he'ssaying he is a generation higher, and thus deserving of respect. Basically an insult. Kind of like how white people called black men "boy" during the Jim Crow days. This insult is generally used by men only. There is a woman alternative "老娘", lit "old lady/mother".

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The color of the guqin player's face suddenly changed. He then asked with quite a bit of hesitation, "Who are you to her?"

"Sonny, you bastard! I'm Lovely Consort's husband. You have some nerve, forgetting about me." The female swordmaster looked angry enough to erupt anytime.

"Lovely Consort's husband? You are XiMen Feng22?" the guqin player asked incredulously.

"That's right, sonny." The female (?)23 swordmaster replied with a fiendish visage, a difficult feat, considering her elegant and exquisite face.

"How… how did you become like this?" the guqin player asked, his face pale with horror.

"It was all your fault to begin with! And what's with all this damn chit-chat? It's time for me to slaughter your lover, this Prince fellow," XiMen Feng shouted. Then, he suddenly drew forth a sword to attack Prince.

The following scene would be etched into his memory forever as he watched from the sidelines. That swordmaster called XiMen Feng was indeed strong – probably around level seventy according to his own estimates. Yet, she couldn't do anything against the completely unarmed Prince. Prince effortlessly dodged XiMen Feng's greatsword, and even analyzed her up and down with great interest.

Prince finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked, "You keep calling out 'sonny' like you're some old man, and you say that you're Lovely Consort's husband, but you clearly look like a girl. So really, are you a guy or a girl?"

The female swordmaster didn't reply, but vigorously continued to direct attacks towards Prince until her cheeks were flushed red with rage. She yelled loudly, "Bastard, are you even a man? All you do is dodge."

"Don't tell me you're expecting me to stand still obediently for you to hack at," Prince responded with a chuckle, amused.

"Exactly!" XiMen Feng bellowed with sword raised in preparation for another attack on Prince. This time, Prince actually did stand still, not budging from his original spot. Seeing Prince about to get his blood splattered all over the stage, everyone cried out in alarm… However, Prince suddenly gave a swift kick, sending the swordmaster's blade high into the air. Next, he saw Prince actually using a roundhouse kick to send XiMen Feng out of the arena and then casually catching the sword as it fell from the sky.

22**XiMen Feng: **The manhua calls him Western Wind, but we're going with XiMen Feng since Xi Mendoesn't actually mean western; it's just a surname.

23**(?): **Yes, this was in the original and is therefore being left as is.

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Prince paid no heed to the female swordmaster who was coughing up blood furiously on the ground, her face full of hatred. He leisurely turned to face the audience and apologized with a faint smile. "I'm sorry for this interruption to the concert. I hope nobody minds. In any case, this marks the close to today's concert. I hope everyone will continue to support Infinite Band by buying a copy of our upcoming portfolio at Infinite City's bookstore, which should be opening very soon."

The concert drew to a close, but he was still thinking about all that had happened as he walked through the wide streets of Infinite City. He reminisced about Infinite Band's extraordinary performance and the even more astonishing battle skills displayed by Prince. He always thought Prince became a spokesperson only through the virtue of his face. Who knew that his display of strength could be so exciting to watch? He couldn't help but mutter, "It really wouldn't be a bad idea at all to become a citizen of Infinite City."

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**Chapter 10: XiMen Feng, Someone in the Same Situation as Me? **

With his face pulled down into a troubled frown, Gui spoke in a deeply apologetic tone, "I'm truly sorry, everyone. My personal affairs have caused the concert to be interrupted."

"It doesn't matter; it wasn't that big of a deal anyway. But what is the truth about the situation between you and XiMen Feng?" I replied as Wolf-dàgēhealed the woun d on my arm.

"He robbed me of my lover, don't you FREAKIN' understand?!" XiMen Feng, who was tied up tightly off to the side, roared suddenly.

"Besides my Prince, you've stolen someone else's man as well?" Fairsky looked at Gui in disbelief.

Gui's face flushed bright red, and he roared back with clenched fists, "I did not, and Prince is not yours either!"

Wicked coldly asked, "Then why would this girl make such an accusation?"

Hearing Wicked's words, Gui deflated like a punctured balloon. He replied, as if tormented by a splitting migraine, "I don't understand either, but since she said that she's XiMen Feng, and even mentioned Lovely Consort… So I guess it must be related to that incident. Before joining Odd Squad, I had teamed up with a couple, namely XiMen Feng and Lovely Consort. However, Lovely Consort later confessed that she had fallen in love with me. In order to avoid Lovely Consort's constant badgering and XiMen Feng's onslaught, I had no choice but to flee."

"Bastard, it's all because of you that Lovely Consort had a change of heart," XiMen Feng was so angry that the veins on her head were bulging out, a sight unbefitting of her elegant face.

"Uh… sorry, I have a question." Looking at XiMen Feng's noticeably busty chest, I hesitantly spoke up. "You… are a girl, right? And Lovely Consort, it sounds like she's a girl too, right? Don't get me wrong… I have nothing against homosexuals."

"You're the damn homo! I'm a guy, sonny!" XiMen Feng glared at me fiercely.

_A guy? Could this XiMen Feng be like Ming Huang, a male who looks like a female? _Iwas a bit suspicious. _But that can't be; Ming Huang's chest is as flat as an iron board_ _and XiMen Feng's chest… Hmph, it's two sizes larger than mine as a girl. How could this be a guy?_

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I tilted my head, doubtfully studying XiMen Feng's pair of meat jugs. _Don't tell me these_ _are fake? _I absent-mindedly placed my palms on the two blobs of flesh._ Mmm, they're soft. _I squeezed them twice._ They're quite bouncy too. Strange, they have to be real!_

"P-Prince, Your Highness…!" Gui's eyes bulged out, fixated on me…well, on my hands.

Phoenix and Fairsky were also staring at my hands with flushed faces. I wasn't sure whether or not I was seeing things, but it seemed like both of them were swallowing their saliva and looking at my hands with expressions of desire.

"Get your filthy hands off me, sonny!" XiMen Feng, who had froze up in shock, finally snapped. XiMen Feng's eyes were staring at my hands so hard that they looked ready to jump out of their sockets. Flustered, I withdrew my hand to avoid the possibility of her putting her neck on the line to bite off my hand.

"You're obviously a girl," I pointed out the truth without any reservations.

Everyone nodded. I had already so brazenly grabbed her for confirmation, so could there still be any room for error?

"If it weren't for that bastard Guileastes, I wouldn't have fallen to this state!" XiMen Feng bellowed angrily.

"What do you mean?" I scratched my head, still unable to make heads or tails of the situation24. _Don't tell me Gui can even perform a sex-change operation?_

Acting like he owned the place, Boss25 XiMen Feng sat down without any courtesy. With his legs crossed, he snorted a little, and began telling his tale.

24** Unable to make heads or tails of the situation**: Here, Yu Wo uses "丈八摸不着头脑", (zhàngāōm bbu zháoǎo)whichtóunis the shortened/slang version of a Chinese idiom, '丈二金刚，摸不着头脑' (zhàngīāōbumèrǎo)zháoj. tóu n

In some Chinese idioms, the first phrase is a description for a riddle, while the following phrase offers the explanation. In this case, the first phrase 丈二金刚 (zhàngīāng) èrmeansj 'Twelve foot tall Monk (Also

known as Vajrapani)', the following phrase 摸不着头脑 (mōbu ǎo)zháo tóu n means 'can't touch his head'. Literally, it means the monk is so tall that you can't touch his head. The whole idiom basically means something that is so surprising or bizarre that one wouldn't know what to do immediately. It best describes the confusion/questions one usually has in the middle of a thought process (i.e. Imagine you're in the middle of solving a murder case, 'how could the murder occur when the room is locked from the inside?' is such confusion).

Yu Wo, however, exaggerates the idiom by saying that the monk (problem) is eighteen feet tall, and thus Prince could not reach its head (understand) . [Credit to Erihppas]

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"Damn it, after I found out Lovely Consort had a change of heart, I vowed to PK26 that punk Guileastes until he returned to level one. Who would have guessed that the punk would preemptively escape, forcing me to hunt him down for many miles."

At that, Gui smiled helplessly.

"Luckily, that punk Guileastes was so conspicuous that you could find his whereabouts just by asking around casually. I pursued him all the way to a cliff and I found a piece of that bastard's clothing by the edge. Surely, that bastard must have hid under the cliff to hide from me! Hmph, you think I'd just give up like that, sonny? I lowered a rope on the spot and continued the chase." XiMen Feng seemed particularly proud of his own perseverance.

My gaze shifted to Gui. _He doesn't seemed like one that would climb down a cliff just to_ _avoid someone; a bard's stamina isn't that great, and he could very well lose his grip halfway and fall to his death._

Presently, Gui had assumed a resigned expression and he wordlessly mouthed the words: diversion tactic.

_That explains it. _I scratched my head._ Looks like Gui also realized that XiMen Feng is not one to look before he leaps._

"Who would have thought that instead of finding that punk, I'd encounter some sort of hidden quest instead?" XiMen Feng made a strange face. "That damn mythical beast even went as far as to say that I would receive a random divine punishment if I couldn't defeat it. There was no way in hell that I could defeat that freak of a monster whose hide was as thick as a steel wall, so I had to receive its divine punishment. Who would have imagined that the random divine punishment would turn me into a girl!" XiMen Feng complained loudly.

At that, Lolidragon's, Wicked's and my own expression changed slightly. _Never would_ _we have thought that I wasn't the only tranny in Second Life! To think that I have a comrade here! The only difference is that I'm a woman who became a man, and he's a man who became a woman. I wonder who is more unfortunate?_

After a while, as both of us were in the same boat, I half-heartedly opened my mouth to comfort XiMen Feng. "Err, at least you still look quite pretty."

"Bullshit, it's darn troublesome!" XiMen Feng roared loudly.

25**Boss**:老大usually means boss. Prince was just jokingly calling XiMen Feng that because he acts like hecan just do whatever he wants, as if he owned the place. [Credit to Erihppas]

26**PK: **Gamer term for Player Kill in this case, though PK can also refer to general player vs player combat.

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_Troublesome? I thought it's alright. At least the game doesn't simulate women's monthly 'problem'… _I thought.

"Are you looking down on women?" Lolidragon snorted coldly.

"Women mean nothing." XiMen Feng slowly stood up, and walked towards the window as his legs were untied, allowing the final rays of the sunset bathe his body. "The trouble I mentioned ain't gotta do with women, but…"

As the sun set, night suddenly descended outside, and XiMen Feng's body also began to change: her body slowly grew taller and brawnier, her long hairstyle became a buzz cut, the curves of her chest slowly flattened down, until finally, she became a he.

We gaped in surprise at the inconceivable transformation, unable to snap out of it for quite a while, until at last, I let out a breath and said, "That sure is faster than a sex change operation."

"XiMen Feng, what exactly is going on here?" Gui asked in bewilderment.

"It's all that mythical beast's fault." XiMen Feng spoke in a rough, manly voice that suited his crude language. He impatiently creased his brow. "I didn't want to become a woman, so the result of our negotiation was that I'd become a woman in the morning, and transform back into a man when night falls."

"That sure is troublesome," I said, resisting with difficulty the urge to smile.

"No shit! Oi, untie me quickly. The rope is freakin' tight," XiMen Feng had an expression of discomfort.

Gui looked at me with a bit of hesitation. After I shrugged, indicating that it didn't matter, Gui turned to face XiMen Feng again. "Before I untie you, you must first promise that you will never harm Prince."

XiMen Feng scoffed. "No can do. Even if I don't fight him for the sake of revenge, I'd still like to challenge him, sonny. This pretty boy got some skills."

I burst into loud laughter. "Why don't you just join Infinite City? Then you'd be able to challenge me whenever you want."

"Prince, that's not a good idea. What if he hurts you?" Gui had concern written all over his face.

I replied without any fear, "It'll be fine. I haven't fought any monsters for some time now and I'm feeling rusty. At least now I'll have someone to spar with. If I get injured, I'll just have to find Wolf -dàgē for healing and if I die, it would just mean that I have to

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practice harder. But," I confidently challenged XiMen Feng, "I have no intention of losing."

XiMen Feng's eyes lit up. "Ha! Looks like pretty boy got some guts!"

"Stop calling me pretty boy, or I'll start calling you hot babe," I said to XiMen Feng in a semi-threatening manner.

"You wouldn't dare!" XiMen Feng roared furiously.

"Of course I dare to, XiMen you hot babe with C-sized cups," I unsheathed Black Dao and cut open the rope that bound XiMen Feng with one slash.

XiMen Feng's eyes shone with excitement as he brandished his sword, gazing at me like a greedy tiger. I could see that he was also a lover of combat.

"Don't disappoint me, XiMen Feng." I held up Black Dao, eyes sparkling with the excitement of returning to battle.

XiMen Feng immediately charged forward without thinking. I shook my head. _XiMen_ _Feng may like fighting, but he doesn't like to use his brain to fight. _I shifted aside mybody slightly, dodging XiMen Feng's incoming thrust while simultaneously giving him a push, forcing him to almost fall flat on his back.

"Damnit!" XiMen Feng growled loudly. Dissatisfied by his loss, he charged towards me again.

Seeing that he still hadn't understood the point, I raised my eyebrows slightly. _It seems I_ _will have to let his body remember the lesson instead. _I found an opening, grabbed a holdof XiMen Feng's wrist that was holding his sword, and fiercely landed a kick to his stomach with my right foot. He painfully gritted his teeth while I snatched away his sword, smiling faintly. _Let the massacre begin!_

I used all four limbs, plus both sword and sheathe as lethal weapons… Head butt combo! Cross cutter! I even kicked my boots off toward him as I shouted repeatedly, "Lets see if you dare to interrupt my concert ever again!"

"Whew! That fight felt so liberating," I said as I happily put my Black Dao away, cracked my neck and did some stretches. _Alright! Time to eat._ Before I left, I didn't forget to turn around, gesture at the lump of bloody flesh on the ground, and give instructions to Wicked, who was in charge of the military department. "Remember to recruit XiMen Feng into the army. His level and martial arts skill aren't bad at all, and he can even freely use sex appeal as a tactic. It would be difficult to recruit even a single person with this kind of talent in ten years."

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"Yes," Wicked said as he gazed at XiMen Feng with furrowed brows, probably plotting to find the most screwed up, overworked unit for him to join.

"Alright, let us all head to the Infinite Restaurant to eat!" I led the group joyfully, preparing to go to my most beloved Infinite Restaurant for a free meal… _Hehehe, not_ _having to pay for meals at the Infinite Restaurant has proven to be the biggest perk since I became the liege lord._

"I've already made plans with Sunshine to try the foods from street vendors, so I won't be coming along," Fairsky said with a bit of hesitation.

"Oh," I replied while biting my thumb. _Fairsky and Sunshine seemed to be getting closer_ _these days. Have they become good friends? That's not a bad thing… At least it keeps Fairsky happy._

"Alright, let's go eat!" Just as I was about to raise my legs and walk in front, two hands suddenly rested on my shoulder.

"Prince, the bookshop is almost ready and the autograph session for the portfolio is next week. Please remember to practice making your signature look neater." I turned around to see Yu Lian-dàsăosmiling at me. She then turned towards Gui and asked, "How are

the books coming along?"

Gui nodded and answered, "I have two books that are ready to be published, plus the one that Jing and Yun gave me. So there are a total of three books that can be displayed on the day of the grand opening."

"Prince, the construction of Infinite Rhapsody has caused Infinite City's budget to be in the red again," Yu Lian-dàsăo's smile was bright beyond comparison. "We'll have to organize more concerts and sell more portfolios in order to earn some cash, so please work hard on singing and selling your portfolios, do you understand?"

"Understood…" I swallowed stiffly, and my head felt numb from thinking about what I had to do.

The days that followed were a living nightmare. Within two weeks, Infinite Band had performed five concerts. Moreover, in order to attract audiences, every concert featured new stunts, such as jumping through hoops of fire to appear on stage and descending onto the stage dressed up as angels.

_(That was when I finally realized why angels in paintings are always depicted standing up, straight as an arrow with only their arms stretching out slightly… It's obvious! If you're carrying a pair of wings weighing over thirty kilograms on your back, what can you do besides stand up straight?!)_

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What was even stranger was the fans seemed to really like the minor interruption that XiMen Feng stirred up during the first concert. Thus, in every subsequent concert, XiMen Feng, under the smiling supervision of Yu Lian-dàsăo, was forced to challenge me in

front of the audience. Then I'd have to start kicking his ass. The harder he got his ass kicked, the happier the fans would be.

_Sigh, it must have been hard on you, hot babe XiMen Feng._

(XiMen Feng furiously roars: I'm a guy, damn it!)

Next, the bookstores were finally done being constructed thanks to all the hard work from Gui, Fairsky, and the others. They built two bookstores. One was in the middle of downtown and the other was combined with a café, built on the lakeside with a nice atmosphere and great lighting, specifically designed to be a couples-trap. Therefore, my signature, which I had spent many days practicing, would finally be put to good use.

On the day of the autograph session, there was a surging sea of people… Wait, what? That phrase is too ordinary—it's not my style? Alright then, that horrendous autograph session was swamped with so many people that it seemed as if Jolin Tsai27, Jay Chou28, Andy Lau29 plus Stephanie30 all appeared together in Ximending31. In short, people of all ages and genders huddled together in one massive crowd. There were men, women, and lechers, with ages ranging from five to fifty.

"Thank goodness we have the flying carpet! I don't think we could enter the bookstore otherwise." I released a sigh, looking down at the horrifyingly jam- packed crowd.

27**Jolin Tsai (**蔡依林**, _Cài_****_ī_****_línY_**** ): **A Golden Melody award–winning Taiwanese Mandopop singer. She isextremely popular in not only Taiwan and China, but has also seen great success in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, as well as having a strong fanbase in the United States. (For more information, please refer to wiki/Jolin_Tsai)

28**Jay Chou (**周杰倫**, _Zh_****_ō_****_u Jiélún_**** ): **A Taiwanese musician, singer, music and film producer, actor, anddirector. He is known for composing all his own songs and songs for other singers. His music has gained recognition throughout Asia and his career now extends into directing, acting, and running his own record company, JVR Music. (For more information, please refer to wiki/Jay_Chou)

29**Andy Lau (**劉德華**, Liú Déhuá): **A Hong Kong Cantopop singer, film actor, and producer. He has beenone of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time. In the 1990s he was branded by the media as one of the Four

Heavenly Kings of Cantopop (四大天王) with Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, and Leon Lai. (For more information, please refer to wiki/Andy_Lau)

30**Stephanie (**萧蔷**, ****ā****oXiQiáng): **Famous in Taiwan as a model and actress. She was extremely popular inthe late 1990s and early 2000s and was branded by the media as Taiwan's Number One Most Beautiful Woman. (For more information, please refer to wiki. /Xiao_Qiang)

31**Ximending (**西门町**, ****ī****X mén ding, also known as HsiMenDing): **A well-known neighborhood andshopping district in Taipei that is largest pedestrian zone in Taiwan. It is located in the northeastern part of Wanhua District and is also the most important consumer district in the west side of Taipei. It is the source of Taiwan's fashion, subculture, and Japanese culture.

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"Sunshine, land on that makeshift stage," Gui said as he gestured at a very small stage, complete with tables and chairs, surrounded by soldiers led by Nan Gong Zui for security purposes, to prevent the fans from running onto the stage.

"Sure." Sunshine obediently directed his flying carpet to land slowly on the stage.

I jumped off the flying carpet first, smiling slightly at the screaming female fans below the stage. Then I walked to a pre-arranged table and sat in the chair.

"The autograph session shall now begin," I said as I exhaled deeply, picking up the pen prepared by the workers as I readied myself for the possibility that I might have to sign until my arm fell off.

"Thank you for your support.", "Handshakes are fine.", "Uh, kisses are not acceptable!", and "Zui! Hurry and drag this fan off the stage!" were my various comments as I signed.

I gave out autographs while answering each and every fan's questions with a gentle smile. From time to time, there would be fans who wanted to kiss me, and some of them were so unwilling to be rejected that they would just forcefully throw themselves at me. Only after Nan Gong Zui dragged them away could I continue signing autographs. This cycle continued to be play out: sign, answer, be offered a kiss, be forced a kiss, and watch them get taken away…

Out of the corner of my eyes, I would occasionally sneak a peek toward the other members of Infinite Band. Gui's situation was no different than mine, except that as a bard with not much strength, he had already been kissed forcibly on his cheeks by "wolves" several times… Gui was currently holding back tears of grief as he continued signing and was even using XiMen Feng, who was previously enjoying a break, as his shield. The jealous fangirls had already used their wolf claws to scratch several bloody crosses on poor XiMen Feng the hot babe, and he wasn't even allowed to retaliate.

(_As Yu Lian-dàsăowould say, the paying customer is king, so no matter what the fans do,_ _they are always right._)

In contrast, Wicked was in a much better situation. Being a warrior and with his aloof face, hardly any fangirls dared to approach him wantonly with their mouths. Instead, they gazed at him in a tender, yearning manner, as though ready to swallow him up if the opportunity came.

Since Phoenix and Fairsky were both girls, allowing the male fans to do as they pleased with them was obviously out of the question. The duo was surrounded by so many Infinite City warriors that I could barely even see their silhouettes_… What kind of attitude_ _is this? Why is Zui the only warrior protecting me? A bunch of lechers who'd forget about their liege lord at the sight of women…_

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The autograph session went on like this until even XiMen Feng the hot babe had became XiMen Feng with the buzz cut. We continued signing autographs, except now it wasn't just Gui, but everyone in the group who were holding back tears as they signed. If there weren't any fans looking at me, there was a very good chance that I would have cried out loud. I glanced at my right hand mournfully, which was shaking uncontrollably as though as I had a stroke, while keeping count in my mind how many people were still lined up.

"The last one…" I finished giving out my final signature, feeling deeply moved. Luckily, it was a dude and it was quite obvious from the way he kept looking back towards Fairsky and Phoenix that he wasn't the slightest bit interested in me. _What a perfect_ _ending_. I felt touched beyond words.

Sure enough, just as I finished signing, he immediately ran towards the duo, and ended up sliding into a half-kneeling position on the floor. A colossal bouquet of red roses appeared out of nowhere in his left hand and an enormous ring with a diamond the size of a baseball appeared unexpectedly in his right hand.

"O dearest Lady Fairsky, my love for you flows ceaselessly like the Yellow River, stretches on infinitely like the white clouds above, and crashes wave after wave like the ocean tide…" Such nauseating drivel gushed forth endlessly from this animal's mouth, and the sounds of people puking all around flowed ceaselessly like the Yellow River as well.

"…So, beloved Lady Fairsky, please marry me!"

"Sorry, I have to tell everyone, there's already someone that I'm in love with," Fairsky announced straightly, not even sparing a glance at the mongrel onstage, and then bowed towards her fans below the stage to express her apologies.

"Who is it? Who is the one that dares to steal away my woman without regard for his own life?" Below the stage, Fairsky's fans began to riot. I sighed helplessly. _I probably_ _have the most enemies in the world._

Then, Fairsky inhaled deeply and raised her head to gaze at the sky towards Sunshine, who was sitting on the flying carpet. "He is the one that I like."

"Ehh?" Including mine and Sunshine's, there were five "ehh" sounds.

Fairsky gazed at the astonished Sunshine with her cheeks flushed red. After a long while, she turned and bowed to me. "Sorry Prince, but I realized that I have fallen in love with Sunshine, so I can't have feelings for you anymore."

"T-this…" I stuttered awkwardly for quite a while, but couldn't seem to squeeze out even half a sentence.

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_Oh, why does my head hurt more now compared to the time Fairsky tried to force me to marry her? Fairsky, if you had a change of heart and fell in love with someone else I would be 120% supportive, but couldn't you pick a more normal partner? First you fall for a tranny like me, and now you pick him? You might as well continue loving me because that would be just homosexual, but you're now in love with an NPC! What would that be called?_

_Even bestiality is better than falling in love with a NPC. At least a beast has a physical body, but NPCs… Don't tell me you would insist and say, "That's right; I'm in love with several lines of computer code."?_

"Sunshine, don't you like me?" Fairsky asked in a calm tone as she gazed at Sunshine earnestly, sounding fully confident.32

"I… I…" Sunshine knitted his eyebrows tightly; he was clearly at a loss.

"You really like Fairsky as well?" I paled in shock_. Sunshine is an NPC. Even though he_ _has gained self-awareness, he is still different from an ordinary human being. For example, he does not know how to tell a lie, so he cannot comfort people with white lies. If he didn't have feelings for Fairsky, he would have said so directly, and yet he could not seem to speak? Does that mean…?_

Sunshine turned towards me, confusion written in his eyes.

"Prince, this is not a good place for an interrogation!" Gui pulled me away, gesturing at the audience below the stage.

"You're right." I could only forcibly suppress my anxiety, reassuming the appearance of the Blood Elf Prince.

I put on a polite smile and said with a charming tone, "The autograph session shall end here for today. Infinite Band shall work harder in the future, and we hope that you would continue to support us. Thank you."

The seconds I waited as the crowd dispersed felt like years. Then, I immediately dragged Fairsky and Sunshine away with me. _Where to go?_ I hesitated for a moment_. Right, to_ _Jing and Yun's house. _After making up my mind, I swiftly PMed Jing and Yun, tellingthem to wait for me at their home.

32** Sounding fully confident: **Here Yu Wo uses the idiom "胸有成竹"ōng(xiǒuychéng zhú), literally

"having had the images of the bamboo ready in one's bosom". It is later used to refer to making extensive preparation before doing something, and having full confidence in the final success. It also indicates that someone can remain composed no matter what happens. Refer to this website for the story the idiom originated from: Chinese/Idiom_ ?id=51.

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Just as I started walking, I suddenly stopped and turned to face the other Infinite Band members that were following close behind. I said in a highly threatening tone, "No one is allowed to come along, you hear?"

The trio behind me froze conspicuously. Seeing my stern expression, they all nodded in unison.

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**Chapter 11: The Great Patch **

After I had dragged Fairsky, Sunshine, Jing, and Yun into the room urgently, I rested my hands on Fairsky's shoulders and said very solemnly, "Fairsky, you cannot love Sunshine." I ignored Jing and Yun for the time being as they stood on the sidelines. Upon hearing my words, they were so surprised that their eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their heads.

Fairsky opened her mouth and then closed it again, before finally managing to spit out a single word: "Why?"

I knitted my eyebrows tightly, looking at Sunshine and wondering whether or not to reveal the fact that he was an NPC. In response Sunshine knitted his eyebrows in the same way.

"Allow me to explain, Prince," Sunshine said in a pained voice.

"Then tell me, why can't I love you?" Fairsky asked with a trembling voice. "I refuse to believe…I _definitely_ refuse to believe that you don't have any feelings for me. After all, we've gotten along so well these past few days, haven't we?"

_Gotten along really well? When did this happen? _I thought, frowning.

"No wonder theēhavechancbe**e**ns oflowerusser**e** around Dàg

was actually off falling in love with someone else," Yun muttered to himself before the "two" females, Jing and I, quickly covered his mouth.

"But I have no way to love you. I can't possibly love you, I…" Sunshine hadn't even finished his sentence when he was suddenly forcefully kissed by Fairsky. He was so shocked that his arms waved frantically, trying with all his might to push Fairsky away. But the game's cruelty was in play here – a mage's strength cannot compare to a thief's.

Meanwhile we, the three outsiders, stared open-mouthed at Sunshine as he was forcefully kissed without any guilt in our consciences. Then the scene which often appears in romance novels simply unfolded before our eyes: The person being forcefully kissed (usually the female lead, but in our situation it happened to be the opposite) begins by struggling for a while, but when they can't pull away, they helplessly allow themselves to be kissed, until finally they even begin to tightly embrace the person who is forcefully kissing them… Now Jing, Yun, and I stared dazedly at Sunshine and Fairsky hugging and French kissing each other, the two looking deeply intoxicated.

"Such deep feelings, how moving!" Jing took out a handkerchief and began wiping questionably genuine tears away from the corners of her eyes.

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Yun patted ēmy,it'**s**houlder,notasif winkedyouneedandFairsky,said,"Dàgsowhy don't you just give her to Sunshine?"

"Don't need, my foot. That's not the point; the point is that Sunshine isn't even human!" I yelled loudly. These two best friends of mine hadn't even grasped the circumstances!

As I finished yelling, I noticed that Jing and Yun were staring directly behind me while wearing exceedingly awkward expressions. I turned around and saw that Fairsky had finally broken off that long make out session while I was speaking and was now standing behind me, visibly fuming.

_*SLAP* _I was hit across the face with a force so great that I nearly sprained my neck.

"I misjudged you, Prince. Even if I don't like you any more, you shouldn't insult Sunshine and say that he isn't human33." Fairsky held back tears, her disappointed gaze fixed upon me.

_This is a huge misunderstanding. I wasn't insulting him, I was only pointing out the truth_,I thought, rubbing the painful area of my cheek.

"Fairsky, Prince is telling the truth, I really am not human," Sunshine said with great difficulty.

"Sunshine, why are you insulting yourself as well?!" Fairsky's expression changed to extreme disapproval as she shouted at Sunshine.

Sunshine held Fairsky's shoulders tightly and, with a level of agitation I had never seen before, said, "I'm not insulting myself, Fairsky. I am not of the human race: I am only a self-aware NPC."

Fairsky froze for a long time. Then, with a tone of tremendous disbelief, she faintly said, "What did you say?"

"I am an NPC," Sunshine repeated, sounding pained.

"That's impossible. That's utterly impossible. How can you be an NPC? You're lying to me!" Fairsky yelled. "Even if you don't like me, you don't have to lie to me like this!"

"Fairsky, this is the truth. Sunshine and Kenshin are both my humanoid pets. The difference between them and regular NPCs is that they've achieved self-awareness." I sternly shattered Fairsky's last shred of hope. _Short term suffering…is better than long-term suffering, right?_

33** "…say that he isn't human": **不是人(bú shì rén), literally "Not human". This is a common insult inChinese that means the person doesn't have any human conscience anymore, or that the person is an animal.

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"How can this be…?" Fairsky kneeled weakly on the ground, her tears falling like a broken string of pearls and her choking sobs heartbreaking to hear.

Aside from allowing Fairsky to cry to her heart's content, there was nothing else we could do, so we stood dumbly off to the side.

"Fairsky…" Sunshine knelt down next to her with a dismayed expression and Fairsky buried herself in his chest, crying her heart out.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intentionally hide it from you." Sunshine embraced Fairsky dearly, his eyes filled with infinite regret.

"It's your fault! It's all your fault for deceiving me!" Fairsky began to violently and uncontrollably pound her fists against Sunshine's chest, howling in sorrow. "How can this be?! I even thought that I had finally found my true love! You big liar, why were you being so nice to me? So nice to the point that I couldn't help but fall in love with you, and only then do you tell me that you're an NPC! How do you expect me to accept all this?!"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tricked you." Sunshine could only apologize profusely, his haggard expression a startling sight to behold.

Seeing this pair, one crying like a waterfall and the other continuously blaming himself, I felt pity towards them, and couldn't help but open my mouth to comfort Fairsky. "Fairsky, it's not like Sunshine was doing it on purpose. Even though he's an NPC, I'm sure his feelings for you are real and that he really wasn't deliberately trying to hide it from you. So there's no need to blame him anymore."

Beyond all expectations, Sunshine unyieldingly replied, "No, this is precisely my fault. No matter what, I shouldn't have allowed Fairsky to get her feelings hurt."

As Sunshine finished speaking, the sound of Fairsky's sobs suddenly faded. She lifted her head with a captivated expression and the look in her eyes…was one that made my hair stand on end, as it had the sort of determination shown when putting one's life on the line.

"Sunshine, when all is said and done, do you love me or not?"

Sunshine gave a beautiful, mournful smile. (_The description is strange, but believe me,_ _there are no words more suitable._)34"Is it possible for me to love somebody? Fairsky, Iam only a sequence of numbers, a computer program. I don't understand love, nor do I know whether or not I can love someone."

34** "The description is strange, but believe me, there are no words more suitable.": **This is a realsentence from Yu Wo. The description is strange in Chinese because it is usually used to describe a _female_ smile.

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Fairsky looked directly at Sunshine. "Do you like being together with me?"

Sunshine stiffened slightly, and then nodded his head.

"Aside from me, is there anyone else whom you have the same feelings for?"

Sunshine firmly shook his head.

"Then, ignoring everything else, would you be willing to stay with me forever?" Fairsky's expression was one of extreme yearning.

Sunshine considered this very seriously, and as I said before, he cannot tell lies, so he earnestly replied, "I am willing. In fact, it's one of my greatest desires to be able to spend an eternity with you, Fairsky."

_This is bad! _My internal alarm began ringing incessantly.

"Then I am willing as well," Fairsky said with a resolute expression. "I don't care if you're a human or not. To me, you have more emotions than a human. I don't care whether or not you understand love. If you don't, then I will help you to understand it."

"But Fairsky, I don't have forever, and there is no way for me to stay with you forever." Sunshine had a happy but worried expression. After all, he was living a life that wasn't really a life, merely bound to a game system.

"People say it's ok that we don't have forever, it's more than enough that we have this time together. Regardless of what the future might be like, right now I just want to be with you! Do you understand?" Fairsky asked.

"I understand." Sunshine's smile was as radiant as his namesake.

"Uwaah, what a speech! Just live in the present. It's so moving!" Jing held a handkerchief and was desperately blowing her nose.

"Ay, thisē,soisdon'just fr**a**te,in onDàgtheir parade any longer!" Yun patted my shoulder once again.

Hearing those two spouting nonsense, Sunshine and Fairsky spun around, looking at me with frightened yet longing expressions. It was the type of expression made by a daughter who is scared that her evil stepmother won't let her marry the person she loves… _Hey,_ _don't get me wrong, do you really think I'm that cruel?_

I was also moved and so after robbing Jing's handkerchief and blowing my nose with it, I said in a sobbing voice, "Since neither of you have any objections, do as you please."

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"That's wonderful, Sunshine!" Fairsky grabbed Sunshine, and then hugged and spun him around in circles, before once again forcefully kissing him.

_Fairsky, show some reservation… If not, at least consider the fact that there are three singles watching right over here. This kind of lovey-dovey display will only make us die of envy._

"Prince, what on earth happened?" Lolidragon's voice suddenly came up on the PM channel, giving me a huge fright. "I just heard a very strange rumor."

"You're talking about Fairsky being in love with Sunshine, right?" I replied helplessly, watching the happily spinning and kissing couple.

"So it's true?" Lolidragon sounded dumbfounded, as though she had just heard that her Chanel brand products were fake. "Have you told her that Sunshine is an NPC?"

"I told her, but after she finished crying, she said she didn't care and the two of them are currently reveling in the celebration of their love."

"Celebration, my foot!" Lolidragon abruptly bellowed, almost deafening me. "This situation is very serious! Think about it; even if _Second Life_ could exist forever, the news that Sunshine is self-aware can get out at any time. If Sunshine then gets erased, what would Fairsky do?"

"But those two said they don't care about what happens in the future and just want to live in the present…" I frowned, thinking, _Even if they did say that, if Sunshine were to_ _disappear then Fairsky would definitely be very heartbroken, wouldn't she?_

"And also, no matter how self-aware Sunshine may be, he is still only a sequence of numbers. Perhaps he simply cannot understand the meaning of love." Lolidragon's tone grew progressively worse.

I considered this calmly. "I think he understands."

"How would you know—?"

I interrupted Lolidragon and said with conviction, "Fairsky is very sincere about this, and I think that if Sunshine doesn't understand what love is, there's no way that he could have made Fairsky fall in love with him this seriously. There's nothing we can do about it."

Lolidragon was silent for a while, before slowly saying, "No matter what, this situation is bound to end up in tragedy, Prince."

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"Maybe a miracle will happen." I gave a speculative look at the couple drunk with happiness, although even I was not putting much faith in the chances of such a miracle happening.

"Okay then, we'll leave Fairsky's situation alone for now. After all, we don't have any other ideas." _It seems as if Lolidragon has more she wants to say?_

Lolidragon took a deep breath before continuing. "Prince, I have something important to tell you: _Second Life_ is going to have a great patch."

"A…great…patch?" I repeated as I froze. _A patch? I haven't even played through the_ _game thoroughly and it's already going to have an update patch?_

"Yeah, and the biggest change is that the three pre-programmed cities, Sun, Star, and Moon, are going to be opened for player invasion," Lolidragon said excitedly, "Right now everyone is discussing which city they'll invade first, and they all agreed that they will wait for the liege lord's decision. Prince, can we capture Star City? I love the European feel of Star City!"

"We're going to invade cities?" My expression changed slightly. _Infinite City has only_ _just finished construction and we already have to invade more cities? Seems like I really have a life of hard work; I can't even rest for half a moment._

"Yes, 'Infinite City's Liege Lord', and this time you better not sneakily disappear again," Lolidragon replied mockingly.

I shrugged. "As long as Nan Gong Zui doesn't ask me to go drinking again, I think I can obediently stay in Infinite City this time."

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**Extra Chapter: The Sun should Shine in the Fair Sky **

"Stop being annoying. I will definitely be the spokesperson, but whether or not you want to perform is up to you!" Prince angrily rebuked.

Even after she had run away, she could still vividly see Prince's impatient face as he scolded her.

"Prince really stepped over the line this time. I like him so much, but how can he be such a playboy? And he even accepts both males and females!" Fairsky cursed as she cried. The strong words that Prince had used had really hurt her.

"I ran away so long ago… Why hasn't anyone chased after me yet?" Fairsky wondered, looking over her shoulder as she ran. _Don't tell me that they really don't want me_ _anymore? That's bad! _Fairsky started to run back anxiously.

_Pow! _She crashed into someone else as she ran around a corner.

"Hey! Don't you know that you should open your eyes and look around when you are walking?" Fairsky scolded angrily as she massaged her red and painfully swollen forehead.

"Fairsky, it's me, Sunshine," the man she'd crashed into said. As a physically weak mage, Sunshine had sustained far greater damage than Fairsky, and was in a state of dizziness. If it weren't for Fairsky's familiar loud voice, he wouldn't have even realized it was her who he had crashed into.

Fairsky finally saw that the dying person lying on the ground was one of her own teammates.

"Sunshine? Why are you here?" Fairsky asked.

"I came to find you." Sunshine replied as he slowly got back to his feet.

"So only you came to get me… I don't want to go back," Fairsky said while childishly refusing to get up from the ground. When she thought about how everyone didn't care about her, her heart filled with resentment and her eyes started to moisten.

"We were really overdue for the start of our concert, so everyone had to go perform first," Sunshine explained gently.

"I don't care. I won't go back. No one likes me anyway." As Fairsky spoke, tears started to fall from her eyes. _That's right; Prince has always disliked me for being unreasonable,_ _while Phoenix, Wicked, and Gui are my love rivals._

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"There are people who like you. Like me; I like you very much," Sunshine said, smiling. He had always thought that this girl who liked to shout and voice her opinions loudly was interesting. _She always speaks her mind and expresses her feelings honestly, not like_ _others who think one thing and say another. Those people really give me a headache._

Hearing such a straightforward answer from Sunshine, even an outspoken girl like Fairsky couldn't help but blush and say, "You are lying! I'm so unladylike! I don't know where to draw the line when I speak, I'm not as pretty as Lolidragon or Phoenix, and I'm always being unreasonable…!" As she listed out her shortcomings, Fairsky realized that she really did have many faults and began to sob. _No wonder no one likes me. But if they_ _want me to be gentle like Phoenix, or charming and beautiful like Lolidragon, I can't do that either. Is it my fate to never have a place in Prince's heart?_

Sunshine couldn't help but laugh as he watched Fairsky ignoring him and sinking into depression by herself. _She's really a cute girl,_ he thought.

"But you are honest, not like others who always hide their real feelings," he said.

"Really…?" Fairsky asked doubtfully in a quiet voice. "But everyone else said I was being unreasonable like this."

"You _are_ unreasonable. If you weren't unreasonable, you wouldn't be you," Sunshine replied with a smile.

"What? I am not unreasonable!" Fairsky's temper flared up again.

"Well it's true. If Wicked wasn't always serious, he wouldn't be Wicked. If Gui stopped being weird, he wouldn't be Gui either. Furthermore, there is Kenshin." Sunshine laughed aloud. "If one day Kenshin suddenly became a chatterbox, I probably would think he had gone crazy." Sunshine continued gently, "This is why your honesty is the most appealing part about you, Fairsky. Don't force yourself to become gentle, because you would lose your shine if you did that."

"Really?" Being spoken of by Sunshine like that, Fairsky blushed uncharacteristically.

"Yes!" Sunshine nodded with conviction.

Fairsky stood up with a pouting mouth and said reluctantly, "Ok then, let's go back."

"Ok." Sunshine smiled again while taking out his flying carpet, preparing for the "rescue operation" that the band would need. If they were late, those four people might even have all their clothes torn off, like last time, when Prince nearly suffered such a fate…

"You are such a weird person, always smiling. What's so funny?" Fairsky continued to nag even as she got on the flying carpet.

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Sunshine answered her with a laugh, "Since there is nothing to be sad about, of course I will smile."

"What a weird person," Fairsky mumbled, and yet she liked Sunshine's warm smile a lot.

hg

Fairsky was prepared to take a walk in the city in order to find a suitable site for building the bookshop. But Prince, being a glutton, was never going to abandon his food in favor of accompanying her for a walk in the city. Fairsky complained quietly to herself, _I_ _wonder why Prince loves to eat so much…_

"Gui asked me to go look by myself. Hmph, as if no one knows he just wanted to stay by Prince's side a moment more." Fairsky pouted, reluctantly preparing to find a site alone.

Hearing Fairsky's sulking mumble, Sunshine laughed and said, "Why don't I go with you?"

At Sunshine's words, Fairsky's plaintive eyes immediately became pleading. "Are you really willing to go with me?" she asked.

"Of course I am. Kenshin, do you want to go as well?" After Sunshine answered Fairsky, he turned to look at Kenshin, who was being cold and quiet as usual.

Kenshin shook his head. "No."

"Is that so? Then let's go, Fairsky." Sunshine looked at Fairsky with a smile, while the latter's heart suddenly began to beat faster for no apparent reason.

"Sunshine, where do you think the best place to build the bookstore would be?" Fairsky asked while hugging Sunshine's arm happily. "Should we build the bookstore in somewhere remote for the quiet, tranquil atmosphere, or in the downtown area where there is a lot of traffic?"

"Can't we build at both sites?" Sunshine asked, puzzled.

"Build at both sites?" Fairsky repeated while her innate business mind started to race. _He_ _has a point. Both bookstores target different people. We can build a normal bookshop in the downtown area first, and then when the first bookshop becomes popular, we can build another bookshop and café combination at somewhere quiet._

"Sunshine, you are too clever." After deciding on the sites, Fairsky was so happy that she forgot herself and she hugged and kissed Sunshine.

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"Is that so?" Sunshine was totally mystified, but he still touched the cheek that had been kissed while smiling foolishly.

"Honestly, Infinite City is getting busier with each passing moment. It will definitely be a successful city," Fairsky commented as she cheerfully watched the people around her walking on the streets that she had designed together with Gui, praising the beauty of Infinite City. She felt touched that this peaceful time had arrived after all the hardships she had gone through.

"Let's go and take a walk in the city square!" Fairsky suggested. _The fountain in the city_ _square is very beautiful. When I saw the design drawn by Gui, I swore to myself I would definitely go and take a look at it once it was built. Although Gui is a weird guy, a gay, and shamelessly tries to fight over Prince with me…his talent is the real thing._

"Sure, I want to take a look too," Sunshine answered.

"Wow! There are so many people here!" Fairsky gasped in surprise at the sea of people.

"Of course. This is one of the most famous tourist attractions of Infinite City after all— the Wishing Fountain of Love," Passerby A suddenly said from beside them.

"The Wishing Fountain of Love?" Both Fairsky and Sunshine were stunned. Since when did it have a name like that?

"Yes. Rumor has it that if a couple throws coins into the fountain and the fountain sprays water, they will be granted eternal love. That's why everyone is queuing up to throw coins," Passerby A explained.

"Is there such a thing?" Fairsky asked in puzzlement.

"This rumor was spread by Yu Lian," Sunshine remembered. He whispered gently in Fairsky's ear, "She said that this is a good way to earn money as people in love always have a lower IQ."

"Oh, I see. But now we can't see what the fountain looks like," Fairsky said while eagerly trying to catch a glimpse of the fountain from afar. "Since we don't have other important things to do, why don't we queue up to see the fountain too?" Fairsky suggested.

"Sure," Sunshine gladly agreed. He always liked to stay in places where people gathered, to observe them.

After waiting for an extremely long time—until the sky had grown dark and the light of the stars shone upon the ground—Fairsky and Sunshine finally saw the fountain. Despite

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the late hour, the two were actually lucky because the fountain's entire beauty could only be revealed at night.

"So beautiful!" Fairsky couldn't help but exclaim as she finally fulfilled her wish to stand beside the fountain. The fountain itself was shaped like a crescent moon and was made of a fully transparent material that had a silvery, sparkling powder encased in it. The silvery sparkling powder looked like stars hiding inside the fountain, winking at people who passed by. Over the top of the central water column was a gentle yellow sun, which bathed the city square in its soft, gentle light, giving the whole city square a romantic atmosphere. It was no wonder that couples in love would have lower IQs here.

"Let's throw coins too." Seeing other couples doing so, Sunshine couldn't help but want to dig out some coins as well.

"Alright. The money is going back to Infinite City anyway," Fairsky said as she failed to suppress her laughter. _Even if we don't throw the coins, they will eventually get robbed by_ _Yu Lian anyway._

"We should throw one together. Everyone else is doing it like this," Sunshine noted while taking Fairsky's hands and placing a coin in the middle of their cupped palms. He didn't notice Fairsky's blushing red face as they did this. On the other hand, even if he did notice Fairsky's red face, he probably wouldn't understand what was happening anyway.

"Throw!" both of them shouted together.

As the coin touched the surface of the water, a water column unexpectedly started to spray, and the lovely water dance was activated. While the graceful streams of water danced in the fountain, surrounding people gave them looks of blessing or envy. Fairsky and Sunshine both looked helplessly at each other with red faces and embarrassed expressions.

All of it was a coincidence! Wasn't it?

"Sunshine, what would you do if you loved a person very much, but that person didn't love you?" Fairsky asked while licking the Tanghulu35 she had just bought. Sunshine was happily eating ice cream at her side.

After some thought, Sunshine answered, "I have never loved a person before, so I don't know what I'd do."

"You've never been in love before?" Fairsky asked, astonished. _Impossible! Sunshine,_ _who looks like he's twenty-years-old or older, has never loved anyone before?_

35** Tanghulu: **A traditional winter snack. Please refer to wiki/Tanghulu for moreinformation.

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"I don't think so. What kind of feeling is love?" Sunshine asked in bewilderment. He couldn't help it. After all, it had been only half a year since he had gained self- awareness. Furthermore, he had never been outside of Demon Cave until two months ago. He couldn't have understood what love is in such a short time.

However, Fairsky was startled too. _What is love?_ She answered with slight hesitation, "If you love someone very much, you think of that person all the time, you want to stay by that person's side, and when you are at that person's side, you're very happy…"

"I see. So Fairsky must like staying with Prince a lot? When you're together with Prince, you're very happy?" Sunshine asked Fairsky in response.

Fairsky was totally stunned. _Am I really happy?_ When she thought back, it seemed like she was always angry over Prince's attitude toward her, and she had to be the love rival of Phoenix, whom she actually got along with. It seemed that…she wasn't happy at all?

"Fairsky?" Sunshine asked, looking at her uncertainly after not hearing an answer for a long time. Unexpectedly, he found that there were tears flowing down Fairsky's cheeks. He couldn't refrain from reaching out and wiping the tears off her face with his hand, asking, "What is the matter? Why are you crying?"

"I…I suddenly realized that when I'm with Prince, I'm not happy at all," Fairsky replied in a choked voice.

"Isn't everything fine then if you don't stay with Prince?" Sunshine asked her, slightly puzzled as to why she continued to do something that didn't make her happy.

"But…but…" Fairsky was reluctant. _I have chased after Prince for so long. If I give up_ _now, it would be such a pity._

"Moreover, Fairsky, you never laugh when you are at Prince's side! I think you are more beautiful when you are laughing!" Sunshine said with a brilliant smile. "Just like this."

"Really? I'm prettier like this?" Fairsky asked while she unconsciously started to smile too.

"Yes," Sunshine said with conviction.

Fairsky continued to smile and said, somewhat touched, "Sunshine, I'm always very happy being with you! Are you happy too when you go out together with me?"

"I'm very happy," Sunshine answered without even faltering, and then he seemed to abruptly realize something. "Oh! I like to stay with Fairsky a lot, and I can't wait for every date with Fairsky. Am I in love with Fairsky then?"

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"What nonsense are you saying?!" Fairsky exclaimed with a completely red face.

_Sunshine always says whatever he wants without some consideration beforehand! He's even gutsier than me!_

"It isn't love?" Sunshine asked, slightly disappointed, as he had thought he had finally understood what love is.

Both of them walked in silence for some time, until Fairsky couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Do you really, really like being with me?"

"I like it very much," Sunshine said, nodding firmly.

When she saw that Sunshine answered her question without even a slight wavering, Fairsky blushed so deeply that even her ears turned red. She asked in a stuttering voice, "T-then do you have any other person whom you like more than me?"

Sunshine thought hard and answered, "I like Prince very much too, as he is also easy to get along with…"

_He likes Prince? Is he a gay too? _Fairsky heart started to sink…

"But, I like being with Fairsky more, because it's easier to guess what you are thinking about than Prince, since you express everything on your face," Sunshine explained with a smile. _Hahaha, Fairsky's ever-changing expression always makes me feel like laughing._

"I do not!" Fairsky denied loudly. _I totally don't express all my emotion on my face._

"Don't you?" Sunshine couldn't help but laugh out loud. _Then who is this person who's_ _pouting right now?_

"Stupid, of course I don't," Fairsky answered. She was so embarrassed that she became angry and slapped Sunshine's back forcefully.

"Ouch, that's painful! Don't hit me; I'm only saying the truth," Sunshine said, laughing loudly as he dodged Fairsky's deadly slaps.

As she watched Sunshine protect his back with both of his hands while retreating backwards and watching her cautiously, Fairsky couldn't help but chase him while yelling, "Don't run, let me hit you!"

"I've caught you!" Fairsky ruthlessly pounced on Sunshine as though as she was a hungry tiger pouncing onto a lamb, knocking Sunshine on to the ground.

Looking at Sunshine's brilliant smile, Fairsky couldn't refrain from smiling too. She buried her face into Sunshine's chest and repeated firmly, "I've caught you."

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"I've caught you too," Sunshine said, as he hugged Fairsky back and ruffled her hair happily.

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½Prince Volume 4 : The Buskers of Infinite City

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**S****YNOPSIS****:**

As the assault on the city reached its climax, I returned – and not a moment too late either. With me came four uniquely talented "persons". _Hmm…Those two can pass off for_ _"persons", I guess! _What effect will Lü Jing, Gu Yun Fei, Kenshin, and Sunshine'sabilities have on the battle? What will the outcome of the battle be?

_Wah! Are you people serious? Even if the treasury's short on funds, surely you're not going to force the "important and powerful" me onto the streets to earn money with my voice and looks? It's fine if you just want me to be a singer, but now you want to produce a photo album? And you want me to go topless? (Hey, the reporters have been too close for comfort recently; I think I'd better be more careful…)_

_I've been promoted from busker to the spokesperson for Second Life? First let me clarify_

_– am I going to be a female spokesperson, or a male one? This is a fine mess…_

_Fairsky's fallen in love with someone else? Oooh, thank God! So who did she fall in love with? I must properly convey my gratitude to him. What? It's S.U.N.S.H.I.N.E! Fairsky, you…! Can't you fall in love with a normal person? At least fall in love with a "person"!_

**A****BOUT THE**** A****UTHOR**:

Yu Wo:

Who am I? Sometimes I am like a warrior, wielding a sword on the battlefield with limitless passion and energy. At other times, I resemble a mage, with a mind devoted to research, completely absorbed in the things I like. Or I might be like a thief, leading a free and easy life, letting fate lead me to distant and unfamiliar lands. Occasionally, however I am similar to a priest, with a gentle heart, filled with compassion towards the living things of this world. Ultimately, I am a kindly Fantastical world

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The Buskers of Infinite City

**H****ALF**** P****RINCE**** V****OL****. 4**

**Original novel in Chinese by: **御我** (Yu Wo)**

**Table of Contents **

**Disclaimer ...**

** 4**

**Chapter 1: Infinite City Will Never Fall ...**

** 6**

**Chapter 2: Snake Kiss ...**

** 15**

**Chapter 3: The Busking Tour Group ...**

** 26**

**Chapter 4: The Most Important Matter in Meatbun****'****s Life ...**

** 37**

**Chapter 5: The Diary of a Suffering Street Musician ...**

** 45**

**Chapter 6: Second Life****'****s Spokesperson ...**

** 53**

**Chapter 7: Portfolio ...**

** 66**

**Chapter 8: Dating Diary ...**

** 74**

**Chapter 9: The Concert ...**

** 81**

**Chapter 10: XiMen Feng, Someone in the Same Situation as Me? ...**

** 89**

**Chapter 11: The Great Patch ...**

** 100**

**Extra Chapter: The Sun should Shine in the Fair Sky ...**

** 106**

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**Disclaimer **

Please take note of the following:

- The following translation½Princeof is by Prince Revolution! and is a "by fans, for fans" translation.

- This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this, you have been ripped off!

- Prince Revolution! does NOT ask for donations, payment, or anything else of the sort. We do not benefit monetarily from our translations AT ALL.

- We only ask that you do NOT steal credit or attempt to profit monetarily from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across any individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translation.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthels are held by Yu Wo, the author of the novels.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthel artworks are held by Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu,

the cover artists for the first and second editions of the novels respectively.

- Copyrights½Princetomanhuathe artwork are held by Cai Hong Zhong, the artist½Princeforthemanhua.

- Prince Revolution! has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novels into English. However, this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

- As such, please cease distribution of this PDF once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

**Links**

Prince Revolution!

Yuʼs WoBlg

.cc/blog/kim1984429

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**C****REDITS**

**Translators:**

Amgine (chapter 9)

Anglestagium (chapter 6)

Eilinel (chapters 1 and extra)

Erihppas (chapter 10)

Evangeline (chapters 7 and 9)

Raylight (chapters 5 and 8)

Samuki (chapter 2)

Spence (chapter 4)

Starie (chapter 11)

**Proofreaders:**

Bridget (chapters 1-2, 4-6, 10 and extra)

BurntSugarCookie (chapters 7-10)

CJFrost (chapters 8 and 11)

EvlNabiki (chapters 1, 4, 6 and 9)

Iskeirka (chapters 2 and 7)

Shadow Rebirth (chapters 1-11 and extra)

**C/E Editors:**

Amgine (chapters 10-11)

Angelstagium (chapters 1, 7-8 and extra)

Eilinel (chapters 3-6 and 8-11)

.Phatansy (chapter 2)

Rena (chapter 4)

**PDF and eBook Formatter**

Katerina

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**Chapter 1: Infinite City Will Never Fall **

"Don't bother about me! Hurry up and riddle them with arrows!" howled Fan, who was pinned to the ground under Wolf-dàgē'sfoot.

I raised my eyebrows, but just as I was about to say something…

"The mages have already cast a protective barrier around us, so long- range attacks from archers should be useless against us," Broken Sword said doubtfully. "Has Fan become so consumed with rage that he's lost his mind? Why would he give such an order?"

"Even if he were to give orders, why would he so openly announce them? Why didn't he use the PM system?" Wicked analyzed calmly. "I think he must have given a different order via the PM system. Looking at the current situation, he probably ordered them to charge and then have the thieves or warriors with high agility rescue him during the attack."

"That's right; we must not fall into his trap. We should start forming our defensive line right away." A woman with a commanding aura walked up to us. She looked like she was going to give orders, but after some hesitation, she looked at me, "Liege lord, is the formation of our defensive line at this time acceptable?"

I smiled while looking at her, _Wow, such a cool, smart, and beautiful girl–but who on_ _earth is she? _I was puzzled, but still dutifully answered, "Of course it is, but please askthe mages to remove the protective barrier and attack the enemy's rear with AoE1 magic attacks, or help our side defend with simple spells."

She was struck dumb, then replied frantically, "No, we can't do that! If the opponent switched to attacking us with arrows or spells, we would sustain heavy damages due to our tight formation."

"Believe me, there will be no problems." I looked at her resolutely, "There is no time to explain now. Please, just follow my orders."

Despite my words, she continued to look dubious. She turned towards Zui as though looking for help. "Do as the liege lord orders," Nan Gong Zui said without any hesitation, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

1 **AoE: **(Area of Effect) Spells that have an area of effect from around the target or a radius from the caster.

2 **Guazi: **A popular snack for the Chinese. They usually are made from melon seeds, but other variation

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"Prince, please stand back a bit." Wicked said coolly, "You are our leader; your job is to give us instruction and to be our pillar of spiritual support. The front line is not your place."

My face dropped. _But I want to fight too!_ I stared at Wicked with a pitiful expression, but even acting pitiable was of no use this time, as Wicked's determined expression did not even flicker, so I could only rub my nose and obediently listen to his words.

"I will stand back. Kenshin, remember to help me protect them," I said to Kenshin, feeling disgruntled.

I walked to the back and stood in front of the group of mages. I saw that our opponents already stood in their offensive formation and White Bird had also given the orders for defense, so now both sides seemed to be waiting for a signal to start the battle.

"Prince, are we really going to remove the protective barriers?" Rose and the other mages asked with some hesitation.

I gave a wave of my hand while keeping my eyes trained on the tense situation in front, "Yes! All of you should just attack with spells without worries."

I suddenly thought of something, and turned towards Sunshine to ask, "Sunshine, can you use the spell that's able to chase people? The one you told me about before?"

Sunshine smiled gracefully, "Guided Arcane Missiles? Yes I can, but I will need a long time to lock onto the enemies."

"Mm, you can take all the time you need; just make sure you cast it before the battle ends." I nodded and then returned my gaze to the front line.

_Eh? Why hasn't it started after so long? I'm almost falling asleep. _Feeling extremelydispleased, I shouted at Kenshin listlessly, "Kenshin, did you fall asleep? Quickly start the battle."

Kenshin turned his head to look (glare?) coldly at me, slowly drew his katana out, then suddenly disappeared from his location.

In the blink of an eye, while everyone was still stunned, the sound of a howl suddenly came from the enemy's side. After that, the sounds of different people's howls seemed endless. Everyone stared at the sight of a red figure that jumped here and there without pause. Wherever he went, enemies' stomachs were cut open and intestines flowed out. Bodies lay all over the place and the flowing blood formed a river.

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_Sigh! Kenshin, can you stop disembowling our opponents? We could easily slip if we stepped on the intestines that have been dropped onto the ground! You should consider the effects for our side._

The opponents, who were only able to react after their initial shock wore off, finally started to hunt down Kenshin. I snorted, _If even I was unable to follow the speed of a_ _level 100 Kenshin, how would it be possible for you all to catch Kenshin? If you all can even touch a corner of Kenshin's clothes, you would already be considered incredible._

"Everyone, quick, follow the original plan; don't be distracted by him!" a warrior who was pretty good-looking yelled with all his might as he saw the situation going amiss.

Under the roar of this person, everyone from the enemy side suddenly rushed towards Infinite City. When they drew near the defensive line, countless Fireballs, Ice Spears, Wind Blades and Jaws of Hell "greeted" them and killed a row of enemies straight away. Then, before I could even clap my hands and applaud them, another wave of spells attacked. It was so fast between waves that there wasn't time enough to bat an eyelash. I looked over to the group of mages, slightly perplexed. _Ooooh! So they are attacking in_ _turns. Furthermore, they are moving with perfect coordination, taking turns and casting spells without missing a step._

"Magical attacks? They have removed their protective barriers? Mages, quickly attack!" There was another anxious roar from the opponent side.

Then, as our side watched on with some fear in their eyes, I admired the sight of a multitude of spells—plus one smelly sock that came out of nowhere—being hurled in my direction. _Sigh, a liege lord is a liege lord indeed; eight out of ten spells were aimed at_ _me. _I raised my eyebrows, unconcerned, but Gui, who was at my side, suddenly rushedout to stand in front of me, and hugged me tightly. A vein throbbed on my temple while I smiled tightly.

_Gui, I am really touched that you are willing to help me block the attacks, but I'm more angry than touched about the fact that you slyly hugged me again. _I ruthlessly pinchedGui's face, hard.

"Ouch!"

Then, as I expected, the sound of many cries went up again.

"What is happening?" Gui, who was originally prepared to be a meat shield, had forgotten about the pain from my pinch. He stared in a daze as the spells that flew close to his head suddenly reversed their direction and blasted the enemy mages into the sky.

"Good job, Yun," I praised Yun, who also stood quite close to me, and he signaled a "V" to me.

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Facing the shocked stares displayed by both sides, I calmly explained, "Rebound Barrier is a special skill in a job that is extremely obscure—the Barrier Master. It's just nice that there was a Barrier Master, Gu Yun Fei, among the people I brought back."

Everyone looked towards Yun. Just when Yun was feeling high spirited and proud…

Gui looked at Yun, smiled, then said, "Yun Fei, you had only scored a C in your mid-term literature exam, please work harder for the final exam. You should learn from Lü Jing, as her grade was A+."

Yun looked overjoyed instead of disappointed and he mumbled to himself, "I scored a C! I thought my exam result this time would have definitely been closer to the cup size of Tian Xin, a F."

_I wonder what I scored on the exam? I really, REALLY want to ask… _I fiercely tried tocontrol my mouth in case I asked Gui accidentally.

"You should quickly set up your Rebound Barrier," I could only order Yun with a bit of resentment, since I couldn't ask about my result.

Yun exaggeratedlyē." gave me a 90 degree bow, "Yes Dàg

The battle had cooled down for a bit as the opponent side seemed helplessly bewildered. I couldn't help but laugh loudly as I leisurely walked to the side of Legolas. "Do you have an extra set of bow and arrows?"

Legolas stood bewildered for a moment, then handed me a bow and a quiver of arrows. I waved my hand to call Jing over, drew the bow and notched an arrow, while Jing automatically tied a piece of _fu_ paper to the tip of the arrow. I released the arrow …and hit some unlucky man on the shoulder, then the _fu_ suddenly exploded, sending the man and a few unlucky people around him up to see Buddha.

When everyone looked at me with admiration, I revealed a faint smile as usual, but I was actually thinking in my heart…_Shit! I missed the target! Originally I wanted to shoot the_ _warrior on the left that was so ugly he hurt my eyes. How did I hit the people on the right instead? _I furrowed my brow, drew the bow again and shot another arrow.

_Damn! Why did I miss again? _Being slightly annoyed now, I swiftly pulled the bow andcontinuously shot the arrows like mad. I was shooting so fast that Jing almost had no time to tie the Fu on to the arrows in the quiver.

In the end, the entire front row of people died, except for the ugly warrior that was still standing and looking at me with wobbly feet. _Hmph, this time I will kill you for sure._ I drew my bow again, aimed, and shot the arrow…

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"…" With a swipe of his sword, Kenshin deflected the arrow that was flying towards him. Coincidentally, the deflected arrow struck the ugly warrior.

_Good thing I didn't choose to be an archer in the beginning, _I rejoiced silently and thensmiled innocently at Kenshin while the latter speechlessly glared at me.

"Sharpshooter!" Hearing the shouts of admiration from our side and seeing the terror in the eyes of the opponents, I scratched my face, _This…really is a beautiful_ _misunderstanding._

The opponents seemed to be at an impasse now. I thought, _Well it's to be expected; they_ _can't use spells and arrows since they are worried about the attacks being reflected back and if they charged at us directly they have to face both warriors and mages at the same time. What can they do even if they outnumber us? _I started to feel bored, as the outcomeof the battle seemed to be decided. So, I took out a packet of guazi2 from my pouch and started to crack them open.

"Hey Prince, the battle is still going on, don't you think you are too relaxed?" Lolidragon said while watching my actions with a vein throbbing on her temple.

I continued to chew on my guazi. Just when I tried to explain to her that I was feeling bored, a huge beam of light rose up and shot toward the sky behind my back. As I raised my head to observe the light and crack my second guazi, the beam of light divided into one hundred smaller beams of light in the air, and descended from the sky. Everyone finally realized what was happening when the first small light beam killed an opponent.

_Guided Arcane Missiles, is an ability similar to guided missiles. The only difference between them is that while guided missiles can only target one target, Guided Arcane Missiles can target one hundred people at once. However, its disadvantage is that not only does it have a casting time long enough to make one fall asleep, the caster also must look at each and every target in the eye in order to lock on. Therefore, this ability is extremely useful for defending castles but not much else, similar to Yun's Barrier Master abilities that are only useful for defending too._

As this attack had killed one hundred people simultaneously, the morale of the attacking side was dropping lower and lower; some people had even went as far as to stand there helplessly without doing anything. I saw a man with green hair and blue eyes roar, "Stop!"

Everyone in the attacking side froze immediately, while everyone from the defending side looked towards me. _Oh? So it's my turn to talk now? But my mouth is full of guazi…_

Thus I was forced to suavely raise my right hand and everyone from our side stopped instantly too.

2** Guazi: **A popular snack for the Chinese. They usually are made from melon seeds, but other variationsuch as sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are common too.

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The green-haired blue-eyed man drew a deep breath and said, "We surrender."

"Kui, you are not allowed to surrender!" Fan roared angrily.

That man, Kui, looked dejectedly at Fan, "Fan, it's over. There is no need to make our brothers pointlessly lose levels."

"No matter what the situation is, I forbid you to surrender to him." Fan said while giving me a malicious glare.

I swallowed the guazi in my mouth calmly and turned to give Wolf-dàgēalook… Wolf - dàgēimmediately stompe d hard on Fan's chest. I watched with satisfaction as Fan vomited a few mouthfuls of blood and was unable to talk again. Then I turned in Kui's direction and said, "Surrender? Won't you regret it? You still have a lot of people that can fight."

Kui smiled bitterly, "Fight? From the moment you dropped from the sky, I should have known that it was over. When that man who was so agile that he was like a ghost started to butcher our people, I had faintly guessed the outcome in my heart. When I learned of the Rebound Barrier, I could only pray for a miracle to happen. But what really made me give up was the fact that after you used the bow to shoot us one by one like in an FPS3 game, you took out the guazi to eat. It was then that I realized that you never took us seriously, and that this whole battle was only a game to you.

"'GAMESTART', really was game start." Kui said while smiling with a touch of bitterness.

After listening to Kui's words, I raised my head and laughed while saying, "You are really interesting. Are you interested in joining Infinite City?"

Kui was stunned for a moment, and then he replied, "I have already joined Fan's Divine Coalition."

With a smile that was dripping with malice, I said, "If you refuse to join Infinite City, I will kill all your comrades present here and declare all members of Divine Coalition to be KOS."

Kui's face was filled with anger.

3** FPS: **(First-person shooter) A video game genre which centers the gameplay around gun- and projectileweapon-based combat through the first person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. See Wikipedia ( wiki/First-person_shooter) for more information.

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I ignored his anger and roared on, "Anyone from Divine Coalition that joins Infinite City will be treated as a comrade. Those who don't will be banned forever from Infinite City and hunted down within its walls."

The opponents started to riot upon my declaration and many of them were infuriated. When I saw this, I smiled faintly and said, "What are you all being angry for? I'm just helping you find a reason to quit Divine Coalition."

"…" Kui and the other members of Divine Coalition quieted down after they heard this and looked undecided.

_If they are in doubt, it means that they actually want to join Infinite City very much; it's just that they are still undecided because of worthless reasons such as loyalty, their strength of character, and reputation. _So, without waiting for them to agree to joinInfinite City, I raised my brows and told Nan Gong Zui, "Zui, go and ask Kui how many members there are in Divine Coalition and discuss with him how to fit the people into Infinite City."

Zui nodded and walked to Kui. Kui smiled with bitterness for a moment, then stopped doubting and started to discuss intently with Zui.

I revealed an extremely malicious smile as I crouched down to see Fan's eyes that visibly shone with anger and hatred, and said, "Fan, oh Fan, what do you suggest I do with you now?" I deliberately paced around as if unsure and continued, "You can't beat me in a one-on-one duel and now you also lost in a battle. What can you do now?"

At this time, Kui walked over with a pleading expression. He watched his former superior Fan with a sorrowful gaze and said, "Prince, can you please let Fan go?"

"Let Fan go?" I asked with a soft voice and furrowed my brows deeply.

"Please Prince, let Fan go," Ice Phoenix, who had been standing silently with her head bowed at the side all this time, suddenly raised her head and pleaded with me.

I sighed deeply and said solemnly, "If I let Fan go, will you let yourself go?"

Ice Phoenix lowered her head and didn't say a single word while crying continually. My heart ached as I watched her cry… _Erm, my heart aches because we both are women, so I_ _know her feelings; don't think too much everyone… I still prefer handsome men._

"Never mind. Wolf-dàgē,heal him up and then let him go." I ordered helplessly. _Really,_ _originally I had wanted to try The Ten Torture Methods of the Manchu Dynasty on him!_

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After being healed, Fan stood up calmly; his eyes were so calm that it was unsettling. He said, "Prince, you are indeed a worthy adversary. I, Fan, swear to you that I will return and the next time, I will defeat you fair and square."

I raised my brows and said, "I will be waiting for you at Infinite City."

Fan gave me a last look before his lonesome figure walked out of Infinite City.

"Wicked and Broken Sword, we should lead the surviving comrades to tidy up Infinite City. The city is a mess now and it's an eyesore!" I said. After I watched Fan walk out of the gates of Infinite City, I suddenly realized the gates were slanted and barely hanging on their hinges. It really went against my virtue of cleanliness so I couldn't help but feel like wanting to tidy it up.

Therefore, a fierce battle for a city that shocked the heaven and earth and made both the devil and god cry, ended clumsily, with the sound of us hastily moving bricks and wood.

"This battle that wasted countless amounts of money and levels of comrades just suddenly ended with a mess like this? Who is going to be responsible for the financial loss?" Yu Lian- dàsăosobbed tearlessly in Wolf -dàgē'slap.

"Mm, after accepting everyone from Divine Coalition, our military strength has greatly increased. I think there isn't anyone who would dare to attack us for now," said Madame White Bird, who seemed quite happy.

"We have to redesign and reconstruct the gates again." Gui said, releasing a heartfelt sigh while observing from afar the terrible state of the four gates.

"I wonder how much money Yu Lian will agree to give us?" Fairsky was depressed too; the battle between The Social and Construction Department and The Financial Department would just be starting now.

"I have to lay the traps all over again…" Lolidragon said with a pale face. _Thousands of_ _traps!_

"Prince, you are finally back." Nan Gong Zui said to me.

"Yep, did you miss me?" I asked him with a smiling face.

Nan Gong Zui contemplated for a moment and replied, "I rather did, especially when the battle was drawing near."

"Who said that he missed Prince very much?" Wicked, Gui, and Fairsky, three people that were separated in three different corners turned their head back as one and roared.

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Their eyes plainly showed that they would kill the next person that dared to join the battle for Prince.

Zui's face was expressionless, although I saw that he was dripping cold sweat… He turned his head slowly and said, "I'm saying, Liege Lord, welcome back to Infinite City!"

"Liege Lord, welcome back to Infinite City!" some random person suddenly roared, whom I strongly suspect to be that fellow, Kong Kong.

"Liege Lord, welcome back to Infinite City!" Everyone roared joyfully. The battle just now had ended so fast that everyone hadn't had time to react to it yet. Now the joy of successfully defending our city had finally burst out.

I also laughed wildly while raising my Black Dao high, and yelled, "Infinite City shall never fall!"

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**Chapter 2: Snake Kiss **

"Prince, the people you've brought back are rather remarkable, aren't they?" Lolidragon asked suspiciously. "Where on earth did you find them?"

I shrugged. "Jing and Yun are my classmates; it's just a coincidental meeting. Plus they just found out that I'm Prince. As for Kenshin and Sunshine…" I hesitated. _Should I tell_ _her?_

"They're NPCs from a hidden quest, right?" Lolidragon stated matter-of-factly.

"How did you know?" I demanded, shocked.

Lolidragon froze for a moment, and then she retorted, "I'm a hidden GM, remember?"

"Oh…," I scratched my cheek. _Didn't she say that hidden GMs are exactly like normal_ _players? That's why I thought she wouldn't know!_

Lolidragon sighed deeply and shook her head in disbelief. "You're one lucky dog, to even be able to complete this super-duper disgustingly difficult hidden mission! You know, Lantis and Kenshin were only created for fun; no one ever expected anyone to complete the mission!"

"Uh, there's actually a reason behind that," _Should I tell Lolidragon about Kenshin and_ _Sunshine's 'awakening'? _I hesitated a little; after all, Lolidragon was a Second Lifeemployee. Who knew if she would report this incident?

"It would be best for you to tell everyone that they're your humanoid pets soon; I've already seen a lot of people treating them like players," Lolidragon nagged.

"No, I can't tell." I waved my hands frantically.

Lolidragon asked suspiciously, "Why?"

"Uh, because they've gained self-awareness now and I have no intention of treating them as humanoid pets. In fact, I want them to be just like normal players." I explained everything in one breath.

"Self-awareness?" Lolidragon paled.

_As expected, it really is shocking… _I took a deep breath, and then said seriously,"Lolidragon, could you please not tell? Don't inform anyone else about this, okay? Especially not the people from the game company, or else Sunshine and Kenshin would be in danger. I don't want them to be deleted, so please."

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Lolidragon's stern expression remained in place for a moment, leaving me in suspense. Finally, she lost it, bursting out into a guffaw. Waving her hand, she said, "Relax, I won't say a thing. It's not every day that NPCs gain self-awareness. Something as fun as this, how could I tell the company and let them spoil my fun?"

I was speechless. _Whichever company that had hired Lolidragon must be really_ _unfortunate._

The door opened with a thump – Lolidragon and I looked toward the entrance, as a familiar petite figure leapt into my arms and murmured into my ear, "Prince, you've finally come back, oh how I've missed you!"

I looked down, expressionless. _Fairsky really is like an unstoppable, determined roach…_

Then another very familiar black-haired head latched onto my back . I looked back in stoic silence. This one had even more vitality than Fairsky – Gui, with skin so tough that even bullets could not penetrate it, was looking at me with tear-filled eyes. "Your Highness, you've finally returned! I've been so worried!"

Worse still, standing in front of me with popping veins on his head, Wicked had long since drawn his sword. I looked impassively at him as he kicked Fairsky and Gui off, and then gave them the beating of their lives… The beaten duo, not wanting to take this sitting down, ganged up against Wicked. Fairsky blocked Wicked's attacks, while Gui shot cold arrows4 at him, turning Wicked into a bloody pincushion.

"Not stopping them?" Lolidragon asked coolly.

"It's a good show to watch, why stop it?" I replied in the same cool manner.

Just then, Wicked's longsword was flung into the air by Fairsky, grazing my cheek and leaving a bloody line… The three brawlers paused to look back at me with regret and heartache in their eyes. I wiped the blood from my cheek with the back of my hand, smiling slightly. "Hitting me too? Interesting!"

Finally, Lolidragon ended up munching on guazi while watching as I thrashed the trio, chatting with me the whole time. "Prince, why don't you take Phoenix on as well? She's been moaning about Fan day and night; Nan Gong Zui's frustrated, as is White Bird."

"Who's White Bird?" I punched Gui with my right hand, stepped on Wicked with my left leg, and tickled Fairsky with my left hand using all my strength.

"Oh, you still don't know. I'll tell you all about what's happened!"

Lolidragon told me everything that had transpired during my absence.

4** Cold arrows: **A term in Chinese that literally means sneaky attacks using arrows.

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"What? Rose and Broken Sword are together?" I paled; in shock, wondering if we had to give them red packets5 soon. _It can't be, right? Recently mom's been running out to play_ _all the time and she hasn't written any manuscripts; our house's finances are a mess._

_Where am I supposed to get the money for the red packets? _When I thought of this, Ilashed out more violently at the trio on the floor.

"Are you jealous?" Lolidragon lifted an eyebrow.

At this time, the almost dead trio on the floor leapt up suddenly, looking at me with worried faces. I replied hotly, "No way!"

"That's good," someone from the side sighed in relief. I looked over to spot Broken Sword, Rose, and… everyone else.

"When did everyone arrive?" I asked stupidly.

"They started trickling in when you began beating the trio up." Lolidragon shrugged.

I smiled awkwardly at all of them. "Uh, hello guys."

"Pfft!" Yun suddenly burst out laughing… _Hey, what's wrong with you, guys don't go_ _"pfft", only girls do that! What business do you, a grown man, have laughing like that?_

"Dàgē,how come you're becoming more and more stupid? In the beginning, you were even the picture of sternness."

I aimed a flying kick at him. _Exposing my cover? Are you courting death?_ After kicking him, I smoothed my clothes, and gestured at the four people I was about to introduce to everyone. "This is Gu Yun Fei, a barrier master; Lu Jing, an exorcist; Sunshine, a mage; and Kenshin, a warrior."

Yun, who had been thrown to the floor by my kick, looked sullen before posing like a mermaid. "Hi everyone, I'm the Gu Yunē." Fei who's always bullied by dàg

"I'm Lu Jing. I'm really happy to meet everyone," Jing posed shamelessly in a cutesy manner in front of the crowd.

"I'm Sunshine, pleased to meet you," Sunshine smiled elegantly with a tinge of warmth.

5** Red packets: **These are mainly presented at social and family gatherings such as weddings or on holidayssuch as the Lunar New Year. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits. The act of requesting for red packets is normally called (Mandarin): 討紅包, 要利是.

(Cantonese):逗利是. A married person would not turn down such request as it would mean that he or she would be "out of luck" in the new year. In keeping with Chinese customs, newly wedded couples are also usually expected to be extremely generous with the amount offered in the red packets, so as to receive blessings for a blissful marriage. See wikipedia ( wiki/Red_envelope) for more information.

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"Kenshin," Kenshin said curtly.

Seeing as all four had finished their self-introductions, I guessed that it was time for me to introduce everyone else to them. But… I counted the amount of people present, and decided to forget about the introductions. I said carelessly, "You guys mingle slowly and get acquainted with each other."

"Prince, the comrades you've brought back this time are extremely talented!" Wolf-dàgē patted my head fondly.

"Of course they're strong; you don't know how much time and effort I've spent on them!" I sighed, misty-eyed, thinking back to that time…

hg

I had finished the arduous climb up the highest peak, Azure Mountain, only to find the three old prophets standing in front of the stone monument, saying, "Come on! Young one, if you defeat us, you can become the Demon King…" Ah, that's not right! Defeat them, and they would give me a pile of dung. I stared at it, face full of disbelief, as I thought, _What would I need a pile of dung for? I'm not planting any crops, so I don't_ _need fertilizer, right?_

"The main point of this mission is to give you a Great Returning Pill. The stone monument's name and the prophecies are extras," Kenshin explained slowly. Seeing the disgusted look on my face as I looked at the pile of 'Returning Pills', Kenshin added, "If you eat the Great Returning Pill, your experience points will be multiplied by ten during a period of three days."

"Oh? That's quite impressive," I smiled nicely at the three old farts. Respect to the elderly was an alien thought at the moment.

Kenshin and I gave the three old farts a good beating before taking the dung and stone monument down the mountain along with us, finding there the two familiar people who were in the midst of a good barbeque.

"The two of you share this pile of dung and then we'll go to the Ghost Cove and train." I snatched away the aromatic freshly- roasted meat and, ignoring the shocked expressions on their faces, force-fed them a half of the pile each. Seeing that both of them had fainted immediately after, Kenshin and I had no choice but to carry one each and rush back to Ghost Cove.

When we returned to Ghost Cove, I struggled for what seemed like forever at Broken Cliff before being kicked down by an impatient Kenshin… After saving Sunshine, we helped Jing and Yun to train like mad at Ghost Cove. With the help of the Great Returning Pill, both of them managed to level up nearly 15 levels. Lastly, we used

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Sunshine's flying carpet to hurry back to Infinite City. Because I was afraid that we wouldn't make it back in time, I had even threatened the carpet, forcing it to fly at a breakneck speed… If it didn't, I would have used it as an entrance mat at Infinite City, free for all passers- by to clean their shoes on.

hg

_Sigh! _These two life-long friends of mine and the two NPCs who had gained self-awareness spent a lot of my time and effort! Ah well, the end justifies the means.

I stopped reminiscing and looked back at everyone else, only to notice that they all looked frustrated yet were at a loss of what to do. When I followed their gaze I saw… Ice Phoenix! _Ah_, I sighed, _I had already promised Nan Gong Zui that I'd take care of his_ _god-sister, plus Lolidragon has also told me to take Phoenix under my wing, so it looks like I can't escape this matter anymore._

"Phoenix…" I affixed an angst-ridden expression on my face and walked toward Phoenix.

Phoenix yelled at me in panic. "Don't come over here!"

I stopped in mid-step and softly said one line. "I didn't know you hated me that much."

"No, no, it's just that you…" Phoenix didn't know what to say for a while, and then she started crying.

_I actually made Phoenix cry! _I became flustered too._ At a time like this, what should I do?_

In the midst of the panic and disorder, I seemed to hear Lolidragon whisper, "Go and hug her, you idiot."

_Roar! Easy for you to say! _But seeing that Phoenix was crying so miserably, I could onlybury my sighs deep in my heart and hug Phoenix gently, while consoling her. "It's alright, don't cry, no one will blame you."

At first, Phoenix struggled in my arms, but the more she struggled the tighter I held her until she was finally snug in my embrace, weeping her heart out.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it, b-because Fan he- he begged me, and I still can't forget him…" Phoenix wailed her explanations out in my arms.

_Was I too merciful to Fan, to just let him off like that? Ay, I'm becoming less and less bloody; next time I will improve!_

"It's okay, you can start forgetting now. If you think of him, you can just come and hug me." As I spoke, I stroked Phoenix's long hair; I was beginning to understand why men

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love girls with long-hair; smooth and fragrant, long hair is really a pleasure to touch indeed.

"Prince…" Phoenix shyly buried her face in my chest until only two red ear tips were visible.

"Hmm?" I lifted my nose out from Phoenix's silky hair and realized that I really shouldn't have looked up, as I immediately noticed three vengeful spirits… Gui was being held up by Wolf-dàgēin mid -air with his legs kicking out at the air; Wicked was held back by Zui and White Bird, his eyes blood-shot; Fairsky was being pulled back by Rose and Broken Sword, so angry that her cheeks were puffed up.

I broke out in a cold sweat and stiffened – Phoenix obviously noticed that too as she lifted her head up shyly. She then noticed the three vengeful spirits… Her expression changed; she looked at me with a strange resolve… Ugh, I suddenly had a very bad premonition, and while my instincts have never been right about good predictions, they're superb when it comes to the bad.

"Prince, if you really accept me, then kiss me." Phoenix closed her eyes and lifted her head high, every inch the picture of a maiden waiting to be ravished.

_Ugh… I was right again. Kissing her would be no problem at all, since I've already kissed more interesting people – for girls I've kissed my own cousin, for guys I've kissed the game's NPC, Kenshin. What more could frighten me? However, if I were to kiss her in front of the three angry spirits, I'll never have another peaceful day. Gui would cry until the Great Wall of China falls down__6__, Wicked would nag to me about girls' chastity, and Fairsky would go crazy; she might even challenge Phoenix to a duel._

In my hesitation, Phoenix had already opened her tear-filled eyes, but she was doing her utmost to hold back those tears. How… extremely heart-wrenching!

I made my decision. No longer hesitant, I lifted her shocked face, and kissed her roughly.

"Snake kiss7, Prince, give her a snake kiss, then she'll really be yours, heart and soul." Lolidragon seemed unusually excited as she cheered us on in the sidelines.

_Snake kiss? What's a snake kiss? Kissing a snake? _I was baffled.

6 **"…cry until the Great Wall of China falls down": **There's a story about this saying. The building ofGreat Wall of China caused a lot of people's deaths so the people in ancient China were unwilling to go build it. However, the emperor of that time forced the men to leave their homes to build the Great Wall. A woman called Meng Jiang Nv had just married when her husband was forced to go build the Great Wall, and he died. Legend said Meng Jiang Nv cried days and nights under the Great Wall after her husband death until the unfinished part of Great Wall was shaken and fell down.

7 **Snake kiss: **Snake kiss is pronounced the same in Chinese as 'tongue kiss'…which, as you can guess, is aFrench kiss.

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"Stick your tongue in Phoenix's mouth and move it around; that's a snake kiss." Lolidragon's voice rang out in the PM channel.

_Oh…. _I did as I was instructed, and stuck my tongue into Phoenix's mouth and moved itaround… Finally, when I ran out of breath, I stopped the snake kiss, and licked my own lips, wondering _Had Phoenix eaten some candy? Why does her mouth taste sweet?_

"So stimulating…" Lolidragon said dumbly. I shot her a glance, thinking, _Lolidragon,_ _even if you want to try it out, please don't look so eager! Have some self-restraint, alright?_

I looked down to see how Phoenix was faring, only to see that her eyes had already formed two giant hearts and her entire body was limp, remaining upright only through the support of my two arms… _How could this be? I only felt that it was a little numbing, and_ _sweet! _I scratched my cheek and decided not to think about it any further. As long as Icould seduce Phoenix away from Fan, all was well! _But I still have the problem of the_ _three vengeful spirits to deal with!_

I handed a still-swooning Phoenix to her sister, White Bird, and moved toward the team of resentful spirits who were standing like statues, frozen to the ground with shock at what I had just done. First, I walked to Fairsky's side and smiled at her. She couldn't help but to smile back, then… I repeated my actions and gave her a good snake kiss. Looking at another heart-shaped-eyed girl in my arms, I suddenly felt that it was extremely fun!

I threw Fairsky over to Rose and turned my head to look towards the two men. I frowned.

_I don't mind kissing girls, but if it's men… After all, I'm a young maiden; it wouldn't seem too good if I did that, right? But, I really want to know if kissing guys or girls feels more comfortable._

"Prince, your highness…." Gui's tears had already formed two waterfalls, and his voice was full with grief.

I was thinking, _Okay, I'll kiss him once, seeing that he's so pitiful…_But just as I was about to walk toward him, and Gui looked extremely ecstatic when…

"You're not allowed to kiss him; I'll leave the issue of you kissing girls alone, but… You! Must! Not! Kiss! Gui!" Wicked's flames of wrath were strong, almost to the point of materializing. I stopped walking, for the safety of my life, and shrugged at Gui.

"Wicked, what quarrel do you have with me?" Gui's eyes were full of pain and anger.

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"Hatred as deep as Blood Sea!8" Wicked glared right back.

I turned around, no longer caring about the brawling duo and stretched lazily, only to find out that… I was hungry. "Lolidragon, I'm hungry."

Lolidragon looked unfazed, as if she already knew that was coming. "The food has already been prepared, and you can familiarize yourself with the new members White Bird, her husband Outside Window, Feng Wu Qing's 'parents', and so on while you are eating."

"Feng Wu Qing's 'parents'?" I emphasized on the word 'parents'. _If I'm not wrong,_ _doesn't Feng Wu Qing have the same parents as me?_

"Yeah, this time in the siege, Feng Wu Qing's 'parents' helped out a lot, plus they've already decided to settle down in Infinite City," said Lolidragon, emphasizing the word 'parents' as I had.

"…" My shoulders slumped down; I had just managed to get out of one storm, when another one comes – I was beginning to suspect that I hadn't yet made my peace with any unhappy deities somewhere.

I followed Lolidragon to the dining room…and started sweating like mad. _Is there_ _someone getting married? How come it looks like a wedding feast?! _I could only see rowupon row of lanterns and ribbons, all with a red theme color, and counted scores of round tables with everyone sitting in their proper places, all wide- eyed with excitement, watching my entrance. Suddenly I felt as if Lolidragon and I were the long anticipated bride and groom. I even looked back to check if there was a giant 'Congratulations' stuck to the wall behind me.

What the…? That's what I get for turning back to look; it's unknown whether the word was painted on with coloring or whether it was actual blood. It looked like it had just been written because it was still dripping.

"Liege Lord, would you like to go over the city's operations or finances first?" An unfamiliar face… This should be the White Bird that Lolidragon was talking about! She was holding a thick stack of paper, blocking my way toward my lovely dining table, her expression respectful yet not too humble.

"Let's eat first!" I waved my hand; nothing is more important than my wonderful food.

Upon hearing that, White Bird put away the papers in her hand and said, "Yes, my Lord. Then would you please announce the commencement of dinner?"

8** "Hatred as deep as the Blood Sea": **Usually this phrase is used for a really deep hatred, for examplewhen the enemy had killed your parents…hence the blood sea part. The blood sea part also can mean that you hate your enemy so much that you want to see his blood flowing out so much that it can form a 'sea'.

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I rubbed my nose; I wasn't used to being addressed so politely. "Everyone, it's time to eat."

The quiet crowd suddenly roared back to life, and I too was eager to sit down and enjoy my exquisite meal of… White rice, meat floss, and egg soup? I blinked but it was still those three things. _It can't be… Are those appetizers?_ "Lolidragon, these are…"

"Main dishes." Seemingly knowing what I was thinking, Lolidragon replied without a moment's hesitation.

"This…," The corner of my mouth cramped as I recalled Zhuo-gēge telling me something about Infinite City's financial woes. _But is it really this bad?_

"What's the matter? The person who spent 5000 crystal coins taking a ship to Eastern Continent isn't satisfied with the food?" Yu Lian-dàsăo's warm voice ra ng out, but I felt like I'd fallen into an ice pit and couldn't stop shivering.

"These dishes are wondrous; I haven't had such, such healthy food in ages!" To prove my point, I even lifted up my rice bowl and started shoveling huge amounts of plain rice into my mouth.

Yu Lian-dàsăogave a small smile once again. "Prince should have been rather well -fed during this trip, right?"

_Right… _I started sweating violently. Suddenly, I had an inspiration that I hoped wouldsave my skin; I snatched up my backpack and dug out a gleaming red ruby (_Remember_ _which one this was? The one on a certain someone's large door… I had hacked it down before leaving.) _I presentedăo, itthiswithis littleshakingbrother' "Dàs

gift of appreciation, please accept it."

Yu Lian-dàsăosignaled for Phoenix to take the ruby. Phoenix actually…sniffed the ruby before saying, "3000 crystal coins."

_Oi, you're a phoenix, not a dog…yet you sniff?_

Yu Lian-dàsăoused her eyes to cue Lolidragon next, who threw down her chopsticks hurriedly to say in a calm and dignified manner, "Prince, because of the city's economy crisis, we've decided to send you out to earn money."

I pointed to my own nose, face full of shock, thinking _Me? Earn money? Spending it all_ _is more likely… What if! What if they really want me to work as something like a male host? _I paled and asked, "How am I going to do that?"

Doll suddenly broke out in a radiant smile, "Prince-gēge is so good -looking."

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Lolidragon nodded. "Plus Blood Elf's name is so well-known."

_I'm done for, I'm done for; they really want me to work as a male host? My first part time job and I have to sell my body? No way, this will never do, if news of this spreads, how am I, a little maiden, supposed to continue living? It's impossible… _But – I eyed YuLian- dàsăo's widening smile… _Ugh, I'll at most be a male escort, selling my smile and_ _not my body; I can still tolerate that… _I looked at Yu Lian- dàsăo's smiling face again…

_Ugh, at the very most, I'll accept selling my body to 'beauties'._

"According to what Lolidragon said, you can sing rather well?" Wolf-dàgēsuddenly asked out of the blue.

I was stunned. _Do I sing well?_ I turned toward to Lolidragon, face full of puzzlement.

"Didn't you sing 'It's My Life' to me before?" Lolidragon lifted an eyebrow. "I dare say that at the very least you're a match for the original singer."

"Prince, you sing, and I'll help you to play the accompaniment!" Gui raised up his guqing and started tuning.

_Use a guqing to play rock and roll songs? We'd better not, right? Even if the original singer didn't turn in his grave, the guqing string would surely break… _But, looking at theanticipation in the eyes of the crowd, I was too embarrassed to say no, so I had no choice but to discuss the choice of songs with Gui. "Let's change it to a song with more sentimental feelings, that one isn't very suited for accompaniment on guqing."

"Which one then?" Gui asked.

I didn't need to think twice, "Dreams Want to Fly."

As Gui played the first note, I too immersed myself in the song's lyrics. I opened my mouth and sang:

_Dreams want to fly_

_Flying with wings wouldn't be amazing any longer, feathers are too soft Dreams are heavy and burdening, nothing seems more difficult than taking-off I jump, I leap, I will try_

_I fall, I'm hurt, I pity myself_

_Crossing over heart, over hardships, but not over feelings,_

_Taking the final step, hurting myself, hurting others, but I can't hurt eternity, Legends, created with sadness, bitterness and sorrow_

_Touched only by wanting to fly, and flying Dreams want to fly_

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Dreams Want to Fly by Yu Wo

I stopped singing, took a deep breath, and came back to reality. When I opened my eyes again, everyone in the audience seemed absorbed in my singing. I could only scratch my cheek; _did I really sing that well?_

Yu Lian-dàsăowas the first to open her eyes; they shone with bright excitement as she said, "We've struck gold!"

"Huh?" _What does she mean? How come I feel so uneasy again, especially after spotting_ _my parents sitting at the table to my left, looking like they're deep in thought? _My heartstarted racing at the thought.

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**Chapter 3: The Busking Tour Group **

"You want me to be a singer, and have a concert?" I began to feel slightly dizzy. _What_ _on earth is everyone thinking_?_ Aren't I the Lord of the city_?_ How did I turn into a singer_?

"Yeah, just take a look at yourself." Lolidragon shoved a mirror at me. "Look at that invincible, super-duper handsome face and tall, perfectly proportioned body. Look at that cool and elegant poise (as long as you don't open your mouth), plus those power vocals! If you don't sell your bo— I mean, records, isn't that a heinous waste of natural resources?"

I glanced at Lolidragon, wondering if I had heard her beginning to say 'body'. "But, this is an online game. Who becomes a singer in a game, and actually holds concerts?"

"And has a photo-shoot," Lolidragon added, and whereupon catching me paling at an alarming rate, quickly quipped, "Don't worry, we won't have you bear it all; at most just a little, little bit…"

"A little, little bit?" I asked with a hint of suspicion. "Really just a little, little bit?"

"Yeah, a little, little bit!" Lolidragon laughed with deep sincerity. I later found out that Lolidragon's 'a little, little bit' had two 'little's in it, so in her mind that defined two particular little bits…9 _Lolidragon, who on earth taught you your Chinese_?

"Wait a minute, this isn't the point! How am I supposed to become a singer? I'm not even a bard," I retorted.

Lolidragon lifted an eyebrow. "When did you start being concerned over what we can and can't do in the game? Do what you feel like doing—isn't that your style? The crux is in whether you want to do it or not."

That gave me some pause. _Before… Yeah, I think I really did whatever I wanted to do. A_ _singer… _I tilted my head to the side._ Sounds rather interesting! _In the end I laughedaloud. "Alright, being a singer seems rather tempting."

"Great, now let me think… First off, you guys will have to tour through the three cities of Sun, Moon, and Star in order to publicize and make a name for yourselves. —And earn some money while you're at that," Lolidragon added hurriedly upon catching Yu Lian-dàsăo's brilliant smile. Seeing that her smile had warmed a little, Lolidragon heaved a

sigh of relief and continued, "Lastly, after you gain popularity, come back to Infinite City

9** "…defined two particular little bits": **In Chinese, it is said "exposing three bits" when the guy isexposing both his nipples and XXX. So when Lolidragon says "a little, little bit" here, she actually means the exposing Prince's nipples.

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to hold a concert. This is because, one, we can earn money from that and, two, it can help us boost Infinite City's population. It's definitely killing two birds with one stone."

I thought for a while, before asking, "So do I have to bring Gui along as my musical accompaniment?"

Hearing this, Gui's eyes lighted up immediately. "Can I follow His Highness Prince, please?"

"Not only Gui—I think we have to look for a few other people and form a band," Lolidragon said. "After all, Second Life has no audio tracks that we can make use of." She hesitated. "I don't know if Second Life's craftsmen can make things like instruments, though…"

"I don't know about drums, but they can make guitars," Fairsky suddenly blurted out. She stuck a hand into her bag and drew out a guitar. "I have one."

"You know how to play the guitar?" Lolidragon's eyes shone.

Fairsky nodded regally. "Of course. I've been learning for ten years; I play really well."

"Great, we've got one more member!" Lolidragon noted down happily.

I chowed down on my meat floss10 on rice mixed with scrambled egg soup, slightly dubious over whether people could mix guitars and _guqins_ together. _Whatever. Anyway,_ _I'm only responsible for singing, so I'll leave the rest up to Lolidragon! Hmm…meat floss scrambled egg porridge doesn't taste bad!_

"I want to go too," Wicked said coldly, glaring at Gui. "I won't let Gui have the chance to be alone with Prince."

"You—!" Gui clenched his fists in anger.

"Can you play any instruments?" Lolidragon asked with great interest. Her eagerness for more chaos was written across her face.

10** Meat floss: **Also called rou song in Chinese. It is a dried Chinese meat item that has a light and fluffytexture similar to coarse cotton and it is made by stewing cuts of pork in a sweetened soy sauce mixture until individual muscle fibers can be easily teased apart with a fork. This usually happens when the collagen and elastin that normally hold the fibers have been cooked out of the meat. The teased-apart meat is then strained and dried in the oven. After a light drying, the meat is mashed and beaten while being dry cooked in a large wok until it is completely dry.

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"The Chinese flute11," Wicked answered simply.

_Wow, that's just great. _Guqin_, guitar, and the Chinese flute? That's a mix comparable to the bowl of messy things in my hand._

"And me!" Phoenix said hurriedly, seeing that three of the four admirers of Prince had already joined.

"And what can you play?"

"I can play the drums, and have been at it for ten years too," Phoenix boasted, irking Fairsky who was at her side. "I'll look for craftsmen to make a drum set for me immediately. They can definitely do it!"

"Okay, Gui plays the _guqin_, Wicked the Chinese flute, Fairsky the guitar, and Phoenix the drums." Lolidragon noted that down before wrinkling her brows. "We'll split into two groups then, with the guys being in charge of the more sentimental songs, and the girls the rock songs."

I sighed heartily and looked into the distance. "Times have really changed. The guys are all choosing to be more sensitive, while the girls all like rock music – it seems like I'm getting old."

Lolidragon whacked me soundly on the head and PMed to me, "That's why you, neither female nor male, have to sing both kinds of songs!"

_Ouch! _With tears threatening to spill over, I pouted and muttered sullenly, "I said I'll singalready! Why did you have to hit me on the head? I'll become stupid!"

"Heh heh heh, so the members of Infinite Band are decided," Lolidragon said. "Gui, get to work on the lyrics and the tunes of the songs. Wicked, get started on choreography. Prince, start memorizing the lyrics. Fairsky and Phoenix, let's go prepare the performing costumes." Lolidragon's eyes shone as she grabbed the two girls and left so fast that they seemed to have teleported away.

"Gui… Do you know how to write songs?" _Why didn't I know that Gui knew how to_ _compose music and lyrics?_

Gui's expression was extremely troubled. "Me? I've never written a song before."

We sunk in silence for a moment, then I turned to Wicked harboring a tiny glint of hope. "You know how to dance?"

11** Chinese flute: **There are many different types of Chinese flutes, but the one that is being played byWicked is called Xiao in Chinese. It is an end-blown flute and generally made from dark brown bamboo. Please refer to this link for more information: wiki/Xiao_%28flute%29.

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"Yeah," Wicked replied, and my hope blossomed. "I've folk-danced before."

My heart chilled abruptly, turning as cold and hard as a frozen fish that could be used as a murder weapon.

Lolidragon suddenly stuck her head back into the room, "If you guys don't do well, you'll be kicked out of Infinite Band. Prince is the exception, but if he doesn't do well, he can only eat plain rice for all his meals." After saying that, she drew her head back to wherever she had come from.

Two bulging veins throbbed on my forehead. If my heart was as cold as a frozen fish before, it was a volcano now. _Damn that Lolidragon, always using food to threaten me!_ _Don't let me find any of your weaknesses, or I'll #^&%!* you! _(Due to excessiveviolence, this phrase was censored so that the author would not be banned by the writing community!)

hg

In the days following this event, a particular literature professor was seen determinedly reading elementary school music textbooks while giving lectures on the history of literature. What was more ridiculous was that he actually managed to make sense in his teaching. _Hey! Genius shouldn't be used like that!_ Besides that, another particular icy hunk would suddenly break into dance hip-hop, waltz, and even Taiwanese opera while conducting experiments in his post-graduate class, leading people to suspect that the experiments had somehow messed with his brain. It had even instigated an ongoing investigation.

As for me, because the songs were not done yet, I was forced to train my vocals, singing 'Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti' continuously. Lolidragon, Fairsky, and Phoenix also kept hauling me away for measurements, or for impromptu fashion shows in which I was the model. Originally, as a girl, I quite liked picking out clothes, but every time I changed into a new suit, I had to face the lecherous eyes of three female perverts. That's not fun at all, especially when I realized that the amount of cloth was rapidly declining… I ran away in panic.

However, after I ran away, and when they failed in getting Wicked to participate in their 'fashion shows', they eventually got hold of defenseless Gui and were making him wear swimming trunks… What? How would I know? What rubbish; how could I miss out on such eye-candy?

All in all, Infinite Band had thus come into existence, and the first song, dance-steps, and costumes were soon ready.

The first rehearsal made its debut in the square of Infinite City.

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I wore a black and red themed, skin-tight suit that exposed half of my shoulder plus arm and long boots, oozing sex appeal while looking cool. Behind me were two sexy beauties dressed in the same theme, with one wearing a mini-skirt and the other hot- pants. In her short boots, Fairsky was as feisty and pretty as a dancing fire, while in high heels, Phoenix was as sophisticated and cool as cold ice. With both of them trailing behind me, we stepped onto the makeshift stage.

Looking at the pairs of longing eyes below the stage, I felt a sudden urge to sing my heart out, to satisfy both the audience's and my own desires. I closed my eyes, thought about the first song Gui had written and submerged myself in the lyrics of the song. It was highly emotional, and I began to sing in a high and powerful voice bearing a tinge of sorrow, like how the moth is attracted to flame.

_You laugh, you cry, your every action is my Bible that I recite with care._

_I'm happy, I'm sad, I give up my freedom in life for you, I want to be directed by you. You are fire, you are wind, you are a devil weaving a web, a temptation from the angels._

_From: Swallowtail Butterfly_

_Lyric and song by: Ah Xin (a singer in the famous Chinese band, May Day)._

I sung, accompanied by Phoenix's strong drum-beats and Fairsky's wild guitar chords, dancing Wicked's sensually choreographed dance, just as if I were the moth that was flying to the flame, singing out my swan song, surrendering my body to passionate love without a care.

When the song was done, the people under the stage looked intoxicated. _It seems like I_ _really can sing rather well! _I thought happily.

"This song doesn't seem as well-sung as _Dreams Want to Fly_!" Lolidragon said with a frown.

Her comment hit me on the head like a giant iron hammer; I looked at Lolidragon tearfully, wailing, "How can that be? I've practiced this song for a long time!"

"Maybe you're lacking in emotion." Lolidragon glanced at Gui. "It's very obvious that you've never been in love, especially the one-sided, bitter-sweet sort."

As Lolidragon spoke, Gui's expression darkened. In the end, he opened his mouth and sang the same song. _(To avoid the suspicion that I'm filling in the words for more money,_ _the lyrics have been removed…)__12_

Even though we had sung the same song, the depth of emotions conveyed had such a huge difference. I understood what Lolidragon had said about 'lacking in emotion' – I

12 Yu Wo started off as an internet writer. Chinese internet sites usually pay money depending on the words count. The normal rate is about 3 cents for 1000 words * the number of people who subscribe to the text.

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didn't know how complicated Gui's voice could be, so sad yet determined, so hurt yet sweet, especially when he was staring at me. I almost, almost did not dare look in his eyes; I was afraid that if I did, if I was not careful, I might…anger Wicked further, whose glare had gone beyond freezing point. If Gui had made a single movement, Wicked would have started making human meat buns.

Especially with those two women behind me, who were equally eager to make human meat buns… _You've got to be joking! Only I can thrash Gui, other people don't even_ _need to think about it!_

Thinking about that, it seemed like a long time since I had last beaten Gui up… I summoned a warm smile, and spoke in my warmest tone, "Gui, teach me how to sing."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Gui ran toward me with a touched expression, and I too watched him run toward me with happiness, before carrying him up with a single hand. Leaving behind a "I'm off to practice", I dragged Gui into a random room and— Heh heh heh!

"In any case, we'd best up the pace of our practice. We're going to kick you off to the three cities to for your tour within a week, maximum. Remember not to ruin the reputation of Infinite City," Lolidragon nagged at the remaining members of the Infinite Band.

"Yes!"

hg

One day, after finishing singing practice, I suddenly had the feeling that I had been ignoring a certain four people that I had brought to the city. _I wonder what're they up to?_ Feeling a little guilty, I PM-ed them.

"Jing, Yun? Where are you guys?" I asked with a bit of worry.

Yun replied immediately in high spirits, "We're picking out a house!"

"Picking out a house?" I paused.

"Yeah, as a citizen of Infinite City, Gui said we can buy property for half-price here!" Yun said excitedly.

"After selling the ship ticket that we didn't use, plus a bit of our savings, we can buy a rather nice place!" Jing couldn't hold in her excitement either. "That's why we went to choose a house now; if we wait until Infinite City opens its gates officially, we'll be competing for houses with a lot of people."

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"Ohhh, so should I get started choosing a house soon too?" I asked urgently, but then I remembered that all of my money had been taken away by Yu Lian-dàsăo. _Ugh, I can't_ _afford a house! Don't tell me I, as Lord of this city, will have to live on the streets?_

Yun askedē,youme shouldinafunnybestayingone,"Dàgatthe palace, right? What do you need a house for?"

Jing, on the other hand,ē sounded as if she didn't know whether to cry or to laugh, "Dàg Odd Squad, Dark Emperor, Rose Team, Nan Gong Zui, and so on, all the important people in Infinite City, stay in the palace. You're the Lord; you can't be expected to use money from your own pocket to stay outside, right?"

"Oh, so that's how it is," I realized. "Tell me when you guys are done choosing a house, and remember to invite me over sometime!"

"Of course!" Yun replied.

I suddenly remembered my other question. "Oh yeah, do you know where Sunshine and Kenshin are?" I asked.

"They seem to be at Infinite Inn a lot." Jing thought for a while. "If not, they'd be walking around Infinite City."

"I'll go look for them then," I said as I started to worry. _After Jing and Yun pick their_ _houses, what's going to happen to Kenshin and Sunshine? Where are they going to stay? I don't have extra money to help them buy property… _I scratched my face and decidedthat, at most, they would move in with me! _I don't think I'll be using my rooms a lot_ _anyway._

I ran hurriedly to the inn, immediately spotting the duo sitting together and drinking tea. I sat down, grabbed Kenshin's tea, and gulped it down, before asking in a calm tone, "How've you been these days?"

Kenshin glared at the cup in my hands, then took another cup without a word and poured himself a new cup of tea. Meanwhile Sunshine replied, smiling, "We're fine. We've been walking around this city, people-watching and drinking tea here."

"That sounds so boring!" I felt guilty for bringing them over and then neglecting them. "Why don't you guys come with me on the concert tour? This way you'll get to see other cities."

"A concert tour?" Sunshine looked perplexed.

I scratched my head in embarrassment. "A concert tour is putting it nicely. Actually, we're just busking in the three cities."

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"Busking?" Again, Sunshine looked confused.

"Singing songs on the streets," I explained again.

"Why do you want to sing on the streets?" Sunshine asked with an elegant smile.

"To earn money…" _Huh, how come I feel like I've met another Meat Bun?_

"Why do you want to earn money?" Sunshine asked tirelessly.

I shot a glance at Kenshin who was doing nothing. "Well, why don't you ask Kenshin? I'm not very sure of this myself."

Sunshine frowned. "When I ask questions, Kenshin doesn't reply."

I looked at the silent Kenshin and kind of understood why he kept his silence. If I were to be alone with Sunshine for several months, I think even a chatter-box like me would learn the meaning behind "silence is golden". I started to think that maybe the noisy Yun and overly-curious Sunshine would get along nicely.

"Anyway, just follow me on the tour," I changed the topic.

Sunshine gave me another warm smile. "Okay."

"Those two people have been looking like they want to come over and talk for a while already," Kenshin spoke up suddenly, pointing behind my right shoulder.

"Oh?" I turned to look, and immediately stiffened. I couldn't move, because the two people who were mirrored in my eyes were my two good-for -nothing, play-the-entire-day-away-without-cooking-or-working parents.

They became very excited when they saw me turn around and started waving their hands at me frantically while running over to my table. My mom looked super excited as she started speaking. "How are you, Lord? Do you remember us? We once met at the Adventurers' Tournament and our son is Feng Wu Qing of Dark Emperor!"

_Yeah, and your daughter's the Lord of Infinite City too. How could I forget my mom and dad? _I thought helplessly, whilst still plastering a smile on my face. "Of course. You'reLovely-dovey Husband and Lovely-dovey Wife, right?"

"See, hubby, the Lord really remembers us!" My mom looked touched as she said that.

"I told you! How could the Lord forget us? Think about the day of the siege, and how full of vigor, all-powerful, and almost godly the Lord was! He scared the enemies so much

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that they lost control of their bowels and immediately knelt and surrendered. A Lord like this could hardly forget us!" My dad thumped the table emphatically.

"Don't- don't get too excited," I said hurriedly, thinking, _Almost godly? I really want to_ _know which god descends like how I had when I fell from the carpet._

Dad rubbed his head rather apologetically. "I'm sorry, I got too worked up. But the Lord really is great! My wife and I willingly accept our loss; our past grudges are all forgotten."

_Forgotten is fine, forgotten is fine. _I heaved a sigh of relief.

"And the Lord isn't just good at martial arts, even his voice is wonderful!" My mom said, looking at me with a bright smile.

"Not really." I put on a smile as well.

"But Xiao Lan, don't you like _It's My Life_ the most? Why didn't you sing that, or sing your second favorite, _Dreams Want to Fly_, instead?" Mom asked, puzzled.

"Oh, that's because the _guqin_ isn't suited to rock music, so I had to choose something more sentimental," I replied while smiling.

"Oh, so that's why!" The three of us laughed, our smiling expressions surprisingly similar.

"Prince, your nickname is Xiao Lan?" Kenshin quipped from the side.

My smile froze, as I finally realized what my mom and dad had said. My eyes popped and I sweated a few buckets of cold sweat before I swallowed with difficulty and looked at the two grinning people.

"You, I, no—" I stuttered.

"Don't deny it, Xiao Lan. Do you think that the part of our brains that recognizes people is naturally retarded, like Yang Ming?" Mom's voiced floated over the PM channel.

"How did you find out?" I asked, a little put out.

"It's very simple," Dad explained gleefully. "First, Yang Ming said that you were a tranny in Second Life (_Stupid brother, your mouth is too big!_). Second, Ling Bin likes Xiao Lan, but he pesters Prince in the game – taking that guy's stubborn nature into account, the chances of him two-timing you is below zero, so the most likely conclusion is that Prince and Xiao Lan are the same person in the first place. Third, Xiao Lan, you're

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always singing those two songs, so who wouldn't recognize that voice? Uh…except for my stupid son, Yang Ming."

I paused for a second, before coming out with only more questions. "What did you say? Zhuo-gēgēlikes me? Doesn't he like Yang Ming?"

Mom and Dad paused for a while, too. "Ling Bin likes Yang Ming? How is that possible? Doesn't he pester you a lot?"

"Zhuo-gēgēonly wants to protect me, right?" I questioned stupidly. _According to what I_ _had concluded before, isn't Zhuo-gēgēcompeting against Gui for my brother's_

_affections? Huh? That's strange… Then why are they always sticking to me in the game, and not Feng Wu Qing?_

My dad and mom were stunned… And then my mom fell into my dad's arms, sobbing. "Hubby! Why are both our children so retarded?"

"Ay, it must be because we forgot to pray to the fertility goddess before they were born." My dad shook his head, sighing.

"So does Zhuo-gēgēlike Yang Ming after all?" I titled my head to one side, biting my fingers while deep in thought.

"Of course not!" my dad and mom yelled in unison. My mom even grabbed my ear (_Ow_ _ow ow!_) and shouted, "You shouldn't let down his devotion! Ling Bin has liked you foreight years! He's a top scholar, and a hunk to boot. If you don't bring him home and get married to him, who're you going to marry?"

I snatched back my own ear, rubbing it morosely, "Zhuo-gēgēhas liked me for eight years? Then…" I suddenly recalled the fight between Zhuo-gēgēand Gui — _Could it be_ _that the person they were fighting over wasn't Yang Ming? It was me?!_

"Say, are you going to bring that hunk Ling Bin back so mom can have some eye candy?" Mom had my poor ear back in her pincer-grip again.

_Mom, you've finally shown your true color_s_! _"But, but, I don't know if I like Zhuo-gēgēor not!" I replied helplessly. "And if I marry Zhou- gēgē, Gui will definitely cry until the Great Wall falls down."

"Gui?" Mom batted two large, innocent eyes. "Is that the drool-worthy hunk of a bard?"

"Yeah, and he's my university's professor!" _Hey! Mom, it isn't good to drool over other_ _guys in front of your husband… Even though dad seems to have gotten used to your fetish for pretty boys_.

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"A professor! Really?" Mom's face filled with longing, before she blinked her eyes at me. "He's handsome too. A different type from Ling Bin, but both are undeniable hunks that can feed you for life. Ahaha, not bad, not bad, Xiao Lan! Just choose either of them; Mommy has no objections."

_Of course you are fine with any hunk as your eye candy! What objections would you have? _I sighed, thinking about going out soon with two guys and two girls to busk, plusthe fact that they were all my admirers… _Things are going to get messy._

"Anyway, mom, don't say anything about my secret." I looked stern. "Not even to Yang Ming. If you tell anyone, I'll marry an ugly guy and pollute your eyes."

Mom looked horrified. "Don't, don't! I swear I won't say a word. Xiao Lan, you have to remember that you must choose one out of the two hunks to marry!"

I nodded my head tiredly. _Who should I choose_? _Forget it, I'll cross that bridge when I_ _get there_.

As for whether my dad would spill the beans… Have you ever heard of "hen-pecked"? What my mom says, is what my dad says! You get it now, right?

Once again snatching Kenshin's tea, I deliberately ignored Sunshine's "I've got a question" expression while rubbing my temples. _Ay, it seems like things are getting out of_ _hand._

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**Chapter 4: The Most Important Matter in Meatbun****'****s Life **

"Roll call! Prince, check. Gui, check. Wicked, check. Fairsky, check. Phoenix, check. Kenshin, check. Sunshine, check," Lolidragon muttered to herself as she confirmed everyone's attendance. "Seeing as we're all here, I shall begin. Today is the day we start the busking tour and, after much deliberation, it has been decided that we will start the tour from Star City, then on to Moon City and finally, Sun City."

A slight quizzical look spread across my face. _Much deliberation? Throwing dice is_ _considered deliberation? Ok, maybe if we count the fact that we took forever to choose the color of the dice._

"First, you guys will perform publicly at the town square of each city once, then at different bars a few times, and then once more at the plaza. An important reminder: after each performance remember to say that you guys are from Infinite City and that there will be a concert in Infinite City in about a month. Understand?" Lolidragon said with a stern expression.

Everyone nodded their head wearily, since we had already heard this hundreds of times. Our band's main goal right now was to build Infinite City's fame and get a big fan base, and also to earn money.

"Alright, Infinite Band, depart!" Lolidragon shouted enthusiastically. With our blood boiling with excitement as well, we shouted, "HERE WE GO!"

"Oh yeah, as a side note, Yu Lian said there aren't enough funds, so she asked you guys to cover your travel and living expenses by killing mobs," Lolidragon added casually.

_Ah…no wonder Yu Lian-_dàsăo_ took all my money yesterday. _I turned and looked at theothers, all of whom were wearing a grave expression. _Oh lord, looks like we were all_ _robbed yesterday._

"We'll have to kill mobs for money I guess…" I said somberly. _You've gotta be joking!_ _We need to transverse the entire continent in a month, and perform in all three cities? You want me to run for president or something? Even a presidential candidate gets a jeep!_

"We can use my flying carpet," Sunshine suggested with a faint smile.

I turned my head sharply in Sunshine's direction and gazed at him, touched by his offer. _Rescuing him was indeed a great idea. _"It's settled then, we will ride on the carpet," Isaid happily.

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"It's lucky that we still have roasted meat to eat." A sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I wolfed down the delicious pile of roasted meat in my hand. Above me Meatbun was riding atop of Fire Phoenix, having the time of their lives in the air.

"Yeah," Gui sighed, "after I wrestled some lodging money from Lolidragon, I completely forgot about food expenses. Fortunately, we have Fire Phoenix and Meatbun here, so we don't have to go hungry."

Fairsky and Phoenix, now slaves to the great taste of the roasted meat, lost all their lady-like composure as they wolfed down the food, eating almost as fast as me. As for Kenshin and Sunshine, Sunshine kept bombarding the ever silent Kenshin with questions as the two of them ate together.

"Where are we going to stay tonight?" Wicked casually asked.

"In the park?" I suggested. "That way we can use the money to buy food."

"Prince, you shouldn't be going through this…" Gui said with a pained and tender look, then suggested, "Actually, we should sleep in the town square; that way we can wake up tomorrow and sing right off the bat."

I nodded. "You're right."

"What?! Sleep in the town square?" Fairsky and Phoenix both spluttered out incredulously after they anxiously swallowed their roasted meat.

"Why not? It's just a bit of sleeping time before you log off and after you log on." I shrugged, not caring about their disbelief.

"NO!" Fairsky shouted with a blazing red face. "What kind of joke is this? We can't do that, even if it's only for a little while. A girl's sleeping form should NEVER be seen by strangers!"

Even Phoenix, who rarely agreed with Fairsky, was nodding furiously.

"Let's stay in an inn then; girls should not carelessly let others see them while they sleep," Wicked said while glancing at me with a meaningful look. _Oh yeah, I'm one of_ _the girls too, huh… I almost forgot. _I rubbed the back of my head with a foolish smile onmy face.

"Then we shall rent three rooms. Fairsky will share a room with Phoenix, Sunshine will share the room with Kenshin, and Wicked and Gui will take the last room…" I tilted my head in thought. _What about me? I don't think I can share a room with Phoenix and_ _Fairsky, right? After all, I'm a full-blown male in game with a XX! What if the two of them decided to use force with me? …What should I do?_

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_Yet, I can't possibly sleep in the same room as Gui and Wicked, since I'm still technically a girl…must have…restraint… (The definition of restraint: Even though I want it very much in my heart, on the surface I must still pretend that I don't want to do it…if only Zhuo-gēge didn't know who I was, how great would that be! I could stare at two super attractive guys…while they sleep…I can't help but want to drool as I imagine the scene.)_

_So annoying! _This is the first time that I have found my tranny identity to be annoying."I'll sleep with Sunshine and Kenshin then." Finally, I made my decision. _It should be_ _alright, since both of them aren't really "human" anyway, and they are pretty good looking too._

Upon hearing that, both Gui and Wicked turned to look at me expressionlessly. Then, Gui started to show sadness, disappointment, self pity, and other such emotions across his face while Wicked squinted his eyes dangerously and fire started to sprout from his irises…

I began sweating furiously, and so I said, "Fine, I'll sleep by myself."

Upon arriving at the inn, I said goodbye to everyone in a plaintive voice and headed toward my room, planning on retreating into a corner.

"Prince," Gui suddenly called out, dashing towards me. He summoned Fire Phoenix before continuing. "Here, take Fire Phoenix. Then, if you get hungry, you can have some roasted meat to eat."

"Gui…" Touched, I gave him a look of gratitude, happily took the food supply, and walked to my room.

Once in my room, I hastily took out Meatbun, wanting to get some food in me before I logged off. "Meatbun, spit out some meat."

"Okay Mommy!" Meatbun happily spat out a pile of meat. Fire Phoenix, knowing the drill, instantly breathed a flame out and grilled the meat to perfection. I happily wolfed down the food while observing the two pets playing at the side. They seemed to be getting along really well.

"Fire Phoenix, Meat-bunbun wants to ride on your back!" Meatbun said while earnestly rubbing Fire Phoenix's leg with its head in a cajoling manner.

Fire Phoenix haughtily raised its head at first, then it glanced at Meatbun's wide and innocent eyes, and sighed, (_I swear to god, I really saw it sigh!)_ "What am I going to do with you? …Get on."

Meatbun cheered as Fire Phoenix hoisted it onto their back with its beak.

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"Fiery fly fly!" Meatbun started to shout again, and Fire Phoenix's eyes was filled with a helpless expression as it flew in a circle around the room with Meatbun on its back.

My mouth was slightly ajar. _Is this normal interaction between pets? Pets with AI are_ _really something. Even their emotions seem so real. The helpless expression in Fire Phoenix's eyes is exactly the same as my expression every time I have a conversation with Meatbun… _I closed my mouth and continued chewing my roasted meat.

Meatbun continued cheering non-stop while saying, "Fiery is the bestest! Meat-bunbun wants to fly with you forever!"

"Really?" Fire Phoenix's flame seems to get a little hotter. …_Kind of like…blushing?_ _What an absurd idea…_

"Yeah! Meat-bunbun's favoritest one is Fiery!" Meatbun shouted out, "Just like Mommy!"

I proudly nodded, _Good Meatbun, you didn't forget your good ol' mom._

"Then Meatbun, would you…like to marry me?" Fire Phoenix asked slowly.

…_My eyes widened with shock, and my delicious barbeque fell out of my now O shaped_ _mouth._

"What is 'marry'?" Meatbun asked, blinking its big, innocent eyes.

Fire Phoenix said solemnly, "I'm not too sure myself. I only know that if we get married, we can always stay together."

Meatbun started to jump around wildly on Fire Phoenix's back, "Okay! Meat-bunbun wants to be with you forever! Marry, marry!"

I closed my mouth, picked up the fallen meat, and stuffed it back in my mouth and continued chewing. _What is this? Did a bird just propose to a meat bun? What's worse,_ _that particular meat bun is my daughter! This…this…is more ridiculous than a science fiction novel and scarier than a horror story!_

Lolidragon's words came back to me_. I think she said that two pets can have children?_ _What kind of messed up children would they have?! Meatbun stuffed with Phoenix meat…? That…is actually the best scenario… I mean, what if they gave birth to a Phoenix with a Meat bun for a head…ugh, I think I'm about to faint._

When I was still imagining how a phoenix with meat bun head would look like, Meatbun and Fire Phoenix had already approached me and Meatbun was happily squealing at me, "Mommy! Meat- bunbun is gonna marry Fire Phoenix!"

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I was totally stumped. _What should I say? Do I congratulate them?_ Jumping up, I grabbed the two pets, kicked open my door, and stomped towards Gui and Wicked's room.

"Gui! Your son seduced my daughter!" I roared as I kicked their door down as well.

After I made my entrance, I looked at the two people in the room, rubbed my eyes and looked again. Then my jaw dropped. This wasn't my imagination; I was really seeing Gui on top of Wicked. To be more specific, both of them were on the ground tangled together, and Gui, who was on top of Wicked, looked up at me, obviously shocked as well.

"Uh… Sorry to disturb you guys. I'm so sorry." After a moment, I rubbed the back of my head, slightly embarrassed, and closed the door.

"Prince, Your Highness! Wait! This is a misunderstanding!" Gui's desperate cries rang out from behind the door.

Then, with a cry, Gui crashed through the door. I dodged nimbly and watched as Gui landed in a heap beside me. I looked back into the room and saw Wicked standing straight as a pole, with a vein popping out of his forehead and his right foot out. Clearly, the culprit responsible for Gui's sudden flight out of the room had to be Wicked.

I glanced at Gui, who was now dazed from the fall, then at the furious Wicked, and I asked stupidly, "Are you guys playing SM?"

"NO WAY!" Wicked said through clenched teeth.

"Then why did you kick Gui out? Weren't both of you…?" I paused there and coughed; it is something that should not come out of a lady's mouth.

"NO!" Gui and Wicked shouted at the same time.

"He suddenly jumped on me!" Wicked said while shooting daggers at Gui with his eyes.

"Oh Gui, aren't you a bit too rough?" I asked with a shake of my head.

Gui's blood drained from his face and he hastily tried to explain. "That was an accident, I didn't mean to…!"

I interrupted, "Oh, so you couldn't stop yourself?" I nodded in understanding. _Well after_ _all, Wicked is a hottie as well. Of course Gui couldn't resist the temptation, so he jumped Wicked…_

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"…I just heard your cry all of a sudden, so I tripped and accidently fell on Wicked! That is all!" Gui finished his sentence. Then when he heard what I had said, his face went blank.

"Prince!" Wicked's passive face had suddenly changed. "Your left hand…!"

_My left hand? _I looked down. My poor left hand had been holding onto Fire Phoenix thewhole time and now the smell of freshly roasted meat was wafting from it.

"Ahhh!"

After everyone had been drawn over by my scream, they all stared at me with bewildered eyes. Hence, I was forced to explain why I had kicked Gui and Wicked's door open while Ice Phoenix tended to my mutilated left hand with red potions.

"In summary, Meatbun and Fire Phoenix are getting married," I finished.

Upon hearing the news, their reactions all mirrored my own—mouths and eyes wide with disbelief.

"I know that pets are able to get married…but I've never heard of such a ridiculous pairing." Fairsky said while giving weird looks to the nuzzling love bird and meat bun.

"Master, I am going to marry Meatbun," Fire Phoenix told Gui in an almost commanding tone.

"Oh…" replied a bemused Gui who didn't look like a master in the least. Then he frowned. "But how do you get married?"

"No idea," Fire Phoenix said nonchalantly.

"Do you really want to marry my Meatbun?" Seeing Fire Phoenix so void of responsibility, I immediately thought with some anger, _I don't want to marry my cute_ _little Meatbun to this, this haughty chicken! What if it takes advantage of my Meatbun? What if it cheats on my Meatbun?_

Fire Phoenix nodded seriously. "I really like Meatbun."

I attempted to stare Fire Phoenix down, but it didn't back down. Instead, it raised its wing in a protective position around Meatbun. At last, I sighed and thought, _It looks like Fire_ _Phoenix sincerely likes Meatbun. _I shook my head._ In this day and age, not only can you not keep a grown-up daughter from marrying, you can't even keep a daughter that is a meat bun from marrying… But thinking on the bright side, at least from now on this couple can specialize in making me barbeque anytime I want._

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With the heavy heart of one about to be parted with their only child, I said, "Then it's settled, let me consult my game guide and check how pets get married."

"Game guide?" Phoenix asked suspiciously. "Second Life has gaming guides?"

I shrugged, "I don't know about others', but mine is called Lolidragon."

Opening the PM channel, I briefly told Lolidragon what happened. As usual, she laughed until she almost died before answering me. "Pet marriages are simple, as long as the pets themselves agree. Then, just have the one of the masters express the wish to be wedded and when the other agrees, the ceremony is complete."

"Gui, do you agree for your pet Fire Phoenix to take my Meatbun as its bride?" I asked as soon as Lolidragon finished.

Gui, under the fiery gaze of Fire Phoenix, said without hesitation, "Yes, I agree."

System Notice: Ceremony failed.

Gui and I were both stunned. _Failed?_ I asked Lolidragon again, and I even told Lolidragon verbatim our phrase usage.

"That's strange, there's nothing wrong. Are you sure they want to get married?" Lolidragon asked in confusion.

"Of course; they are the ones who suggested it in the first place."

Lolidragon was silent for a moment. Finally she said hesitantly, "Prince…ask Fire Phoenix and Meatbun about their genders… I just remembered that Phoenixes come in pairs—they can be both male and female. Seeing as Fire Phoenix is a "Fire Phoenix"13, then…"

"Fire Phoenix… are you …female…?" I asked with a blank face.

"I've always been female," Fire Phoenix said angrily.

Black lines dropped from my face. _What the hell is this? It's enough that I met a bunch of_ _gays around, now even pets are doing it? What has this world come to? _With thisrevelation, my head began to ache horribly. "You're female and Meatbun is female, so how can two girls get married?"

13** Fire Phoenix: **Since phoenixes are called "凤凰", they say that "凤" refers to males, "凰" refers tofemales, and the two words together refer to phoenixes in general. Here Fire Phoenix is addressed as "火凰 ".

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"What are you talking about? Meatbun is male," Fire Phoenix retorted in an annoyed tone.

Everyone's widened eyes immediately turned towards Meatbun. _Meatbun…is male?_

_Don't tell me…the reason for the failure before… _I said hesitantly, "Gui, do you agree tolet my pet Meatbun take your pet, Fire Phoenix, as its bride?"

Gui paused, and then answered, "I agree."

System Notice: Ceremony successful. Meatbun is now married to Fire Phoenix.

…What the hell?

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**Chapter 5: The Diary of a Suffering Street Musician **

After the members of Infinite Band put their heads together, they finally came up with a method to gather as big an audience as possible. First, the members would split up into four groups and travel different roads. Wicked, Gui and I would each go alone, while Phoenix and Fairsky would go together, accompanied by two bodyguards – Kenshin and Sunshine. We would start from the Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern gates respectively, following the road to the central square. Then, we would begin our performance.

Looking at the increasing horde of people behind my back, I thought, _This should be_ _about enough… With the horde attracted by the others, the square might end up being packed to the point of bursting! _I walked into the square while thinking, andcoincidentally saw Gui walk into the square from another road at the same time. Gui was definitely a handsome guy whose beauty could compete with mine, and the number of lascivious women following him was also overwhelming.

I waved to Gui and he ran towards me. "So the rest haven't reached here yet?" I asked.

Gui beamed as he said, "I did see Fairsky and Phoenix, and the two of them have attracted quite a number of men."

"Oh?" Using my hand as a support, I jumped onto the fountain in the center of the square and pulled Gui up. The two of us sat in this fashion on the rim of the fountain, allowing the crowd to admire us even as we casually kept a lookout for the others' arrival.

"It's a good thing we brought them along; otherwise we wouldn't have attracted even a single guy." I said half-joking. "After all, we can't let Infinite City become the City of Women."

"With Your Highness here, I'm afraid that it'll really become the City of Women," Gui replied with a smile.

"Whaaaat…Like all of you don't have any responsibility for this," I said sarcastically. "You and Wicked are also extremely handsome guys that people don't see around very often. That reminds me, Kenshin and Sunshine can also be called beautiful men. There's also Nan Gong Zui, who is rather good-looking. Broken Sword's not bad too, although he's already taken. Wah, I didn't realize we had so many handsome guys in Infinite City!"

"In front of you, Prince, nobody can say that they are good-looking," Gui spoke with a slow and infatuated tone. His hand gently brushed away the white hair that had fallen in front of my forehead, and then he… was pushed into the fountain by a jump kick.

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Please don't misunderstand; I'm not the one who kicked Gui. Look! The person who kicked Gui down, Wicked, was hovering near me, looking threatening. He was even glowering down at Gui in the fountain.

"You're here! Wahhhh, Wicked's really popular too." I looked at the sea of faces in the square and nodded my head, satisfied.

"Phoenix and Fairsky are behind us; they should be reaching here soon," Wicked answered as he reluctantly pulled Gui out of the fountain.

"Uh, I already see them." I broke into a cold sweat, watching the two ultra-beauties walk slowly here, the road cleared by the two bodyguards I had sent – Sunshine and Kenshin. And behind them was a crowd as dense as a swarm of ants: a horde of perverts with an excess of male hormones. Looks like Lolidragon's clothing designs worked well. The top was sexy, leopard-printed, and strapless. The bottom was an extra-short, figure-hugging leather skirt, along with a pair of high-heeled boots for footwear. These items were surely the top three godly weapons needed to attract males. On Fairsky and Phoenix, the effects of the clothes were even more devastating –it was enough to make males drool until they died from dehydration.

"Looks like the members of Infinite Band are all here." I smiled lightly, looking at the two unbelievably cool beauties. "Let's start with something exciting. Fairsky, Phoenix, are you ready?"

Fairsky took out her guitar and gently plucked a few notes, gesturing an "Okay" to me while Phoenix set up her drum set with the help of the remaining four men. After she picked up her drumsticks and casually played out a beat, she too nodded at me.

Standing on the fountain and looking at the large audience below, I haughtily said, "Then don't say anything. Let us sing a song first! Let them see the musical prowess of our Infinite Band."

"No problem!" Fairsky and Phoenix said simultaneously. As soon as they spoke, Phoenix vigorously beat out a rhythm, causing the originally noisy crowd to quiet down.

At the same moment, Fairsky violently strummed across the surface of the guitar. I sent a roar to the heavens, and began our concert tour's first song. Following the intense rhythm and the sonorous singing, I danced wildly, as though I was fighting. With heated abandon I flew, I leapt, I poured all of myself into my performance, as though fire was coursing through my veins and setting alight the hearts of all who were present.

At last, I sang the final note. Regaining my senses after the passionate dancing, I stood silently on the spot. Without our performance, the square remained soundless. It was so quiet that I could only hear my own breathing…

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"Ahhhhhhh!" A loud shrill from a female suddenly emerged from the crowd, nearly piercing my eardrums.

With the silence broken, the voices were like the explosion of meteorites hitting the earth, which even led to a chain reaction. "Encore, Encore!", "It's too wonderful, sing another song!", "Ahhhh! So handsome!", "What a hot babe! Damn! I nearly had a nosebleed…"

As I saw the scene start to get rowdy, I cocked an eyebrow. "Now let's calm down the atmosphere. Gui, Wicked, no problem, right?"

"Of course not, Your Highness." Gui took his guqin and sat on the fountain elegantly.

"Let's start." Wicked took out his flute14 and stood unmoving. The tall, proud, and lonely figure was a perfect match for the flute.

Just like that, the sound of the flute started to ring amidst of all the clamor, but for some reason, the noise was unable to block that melancholic sound. The sound of the flute wove through the crowd, through the noise, directly into everyone's ears. Very quickly, there was pin- drop silence in the square, all except that melancholic sound of the flute.

Following it was the faint and touching sound of Gui's guqin, and then I lightly opened my mouth and sang in a voice entirely different from the one before, a voice filled with sorrow.

Another song ended, and there was yet another round of silence. I recalled our main objective – to publicize Infinite City.

"Hello everybody. We are Infinite Band, under the jurisdiction of Infinite City. From today onwards, we will start our concert tour in the Sun, Moon and Star Cities. We will also be holding a string of concerts in Infinite City a month later, so I hope that everyone will be able to attend our huge performance then."

"Now, let us do a self-introduction. I'm the lead singer, the Blood Elf Prince." I revealed a devilish smile.

"Guitarist, Fairsky." Fairsky cutely stuck out her small pink tongue.

"Drummer, Ice Phoenix." Phoenix's lazy smile radiated with charm.

"I am Guiliastes, performing the guqin." Gui smiled without restraint.

"Wicked, my instrument is the flute," Wicked coolly finished with a few brief words.

14** Flute: **It is actually "Xiao", "箫", which is a Chinese vertical end-blown flute. Go here( wiki/Xiao_%28flute%29) for more information.

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Now, looking at the countless number of infatuated eyes below the stage, I had a feeling that this was the calm before the storm. I only could PM everyone, asking, "Ugh, should we make a run for it before they regain their senses?"

"Agreed!" Threatened by the frightening silence, the opinions of the members of Infinite Band were in sync for once.

"AHHHHHHH!" Another piercing shrill rang out…

"Sunshine, take out your flying carpet!" Looking at the crowd that was crazily pushing towards us, all the members of Infinite Band gave out heartrending cries simultaneously, as if by prior agreement.

"Hurry and get on!" After I landed on the carpet with a flying jump, I extended a hand to pull Gui up. Then the tug- of-war between me and the pile of females below clutching Gui's legs began…

"Your Highness! Save meeee!" Gui begged with teary eyes.

_Women! When it comes to snatching handsome guys, their strength is inexhaustible… _I,whose body had been half-dragged off the carpet, struggled desperately against them. "Wicked, Kenshin, hurry up and help me!"

"Uh…" Wicked sounded as though he was willing to help but was unable to do so. I looked at him from the corner of my eye, only to see his face in agony. His upper body was on the flying carpet, but both his hands were grabbing the carpet with a death grip while five pretty girls were hugging the lower half of his body that he couldn't free himself from.

"Go and die, you pervert," Fairsky impatiently cried out. She kicked off the man who was hugging her thigh, but immediately another pervert clung on.

"_Flame arrow_, _Flame arrow_, _Flame_—" Sunshine was also casting _Flame Arrow_ without pause_,_ helping Fairsky to shoot the perverts off the carpet.

"Ugh… How scary!" Phoenix hid behind the only person who could save her, Kenshin. Even though Kenshin's blade was already dyed red, the men still climbed up one by one, paying no thought to their lives.

"Meatbun's super gross _Machine Gun Meat Attack_!" I grabbed Meatbun and aimed under Gui's legs, manically shooting out meat that was still raw and dripping blood. After the beautiful girls underneath were all covered in meat, their feeling of disgust finally overcame their determination for snatching handsome guys. They let go of Gui's leg one after another, and finally I managed to pull him up onto the carpet. After that, I rushed to go help Wicked.

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"_Meat Attaaaack!_" After forcing back another bunch of girls and rescuing Wicked, I turned around in Fairsky and Phoenix's direction.

"_Heaven's Blazing Flame_," Gui commanded his Fire Phoenix to breathe fire at a bunch of perverts, and before long, a pile of charcoal black perverts dropped down in succession from mid-air…

"Sunshine, hurry up and go!" I roared.

"Alright." After Sunshine gave commands to the flying carpet, our party finally managed to escape.

With a pale face, I asked, "Is this going to be the lifestyle we'll be living for the next month?"

"OH GODDDD!" Our party let out an inhuman cry.

It was only from then on that I realized that the path to becoming a singer was such an arduous one…

Concert Tour Day 2

"First group reporting, the main door has already been blocked. I repeat, the main door has already been blocked. Definitely don't go out by the main door. How are the other groups' situations?" I asked, PMing the second and third groups.

Wicked's and Gui's voices were transmitted over. "Second group reporting, the back door has already been occupied by the enemy. I repeat, the back door has already been occupied by the enemy."

"Third group reporting as well. The windows have also been jostled open!" Fairsky wailed pitifully.

"The inn room that we just rented today has been captured by fans again!" I wanted to cry, but no tears flowed out. _If I had known this earlier, I wouldn't have rented it! Why_ _didn't I use the money to eat instead?_

"What should we do?" the others asked me. Furrowing my brows, I replied, "I guess we can only take out sleeping bags to sleep outside the city…"

"Fourth group reporting," Sunshine replied casually. "Outside the city, there are people searching for you guys everywhere."

"Sleep on the flying carpet then, although it's a little crowded," I helplessly replied.

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A group of people on a flying carpet that isn't very big…

"I want to sleep beside Prince." Fairsky pouted as she hugged me tightly, refusing to let go.

And Phoenix had long since been lying in my arms docilely…

"I also want to hug Your Highness!" Gui, who was being stepped under Wicked's foot, could only grab my calf and struggle with all his might.

At last, I lay down, with my left arm being tightly hugged by Fairsky, and the right side of my body being pressed down by Phoenix. The person grabbing my right calf refusing to let go was Gui, and the person seizing Gui's collar, wanting to throw him off the carpet, was Wicked… Sunshine and Kenshin lay near us, beside the pile of human bodies that we formed.

"How cramped!" Kenshin commented coldly.

Concert Tour Day 5

"Everyone, are you wearing your cloaks?" I asked, lowering my voice. The six people behind me all nodded. Looking at the sight, I said with satisfaction, "That's good. Let's go; we still have to teleport to Moon City!"

"Hurry up and go! I already can't stand the feeling of being chased." Fairsky's voice came from under one of the cloaks, obviously wanting no delay in leaving.

"Lower your voice! If we get revealed as the members of Infinite Band, things will become troublesome," Wicked reprimanded.

"Let's go!" I said while I walked towards the teleportation station not too far off.

The further I walked, the more I felt that something was wrong. _Although there isn't_ _usually a lack of customers at the station, it still shouldn't be to the extent of having such a sea of people, right? _Our party walked towards the station with feelings of anxiety.

"Wait a minute. If you want to use the teleportation system, you have to take off your cloak first. It's for security reasons." A large, burly fellow blocked our path.

_Take it off? Will I still be able walk away then? _The thought of the miserable situationthat I might experience if we got discovered as the members of Infinite Band made me unable to restrain myself from replying in a cold tone. "What? Is the teleport station operated by your family? Do we need your consent in order to use it?"

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The man scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. "That's not it," he said. "It's just that someone employed me to stop players here, so I have to make sure that none of the people passing by are the ones I have to block. It would be disastrous if I missed them."

"Block who?" _I think I probably know the answer to that._

The beefy man simpered. "It is the recently very famous Infinite Band!"

_As expected…_I thought helplessly. I conveniently PMed everyone, asking what we shoulddo. However, every single person replied to me with nothing but silence.

"Barge through," was Kenshin's single sentence.

"Okay!" I shouted enthusiastically, since I couldn't think of any other solutions anyway.

With a ram from me, I knocked away the heavily built guy. Taken by surprise, he was butted far away. However, before he was sent flying from the blow, he extended his hand to grab my cloak…

"AHHHHH! It's Prince!" A terrifying shrill rang out.

My forehead perspired furiously. _WE. ARE. DOOMED!_

Concert Tour Day 10

"Ugh, I don't want to eat roasted meat any more. For ten consecutive days, all three meals have been roasted meat! I'll vomit if I have to eat more of it!" wept Phoenix as she took a bite from the roasted meat in her hands, finally passing her limits of endurance.

*BARF*

I stared with cool detachment at Gui who was off to the side, puking so much that it was almost tragic. "We don't have any other choice. I also want to eat other kinds of food, but even Sunshine and Kenshin can't go out to buy food anymore. Whenever people see us or anyone in a disguise, they'll rush up as though they were all crazy."

Sunshine, who had always been smiling elegantly, revealed a rare glum face. With a sorrowful heart, he said, "The last time I went out to buy food for all of you, I nearly didn't manage to come back!"

"Having something at all to eat is already great," said Wicked coldly.

"Most importantly, we're going to be all out of meat buns soon. After that, what is Meatbun going to eat?" I stared, frustrated, at Meatbun who was currently playing the "Fly Fly" game with his wife, Fire Phoenix.

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"Knead the roasted meat into the shape of a ball, and treat it as a skinless meat bun to feed it?" _Who was the one who thought of such a rotten idea…?_

Concert Tour Day 15

"Everyone, hurry and run," Fairsky shouted at the top of her voice while running wildly, escaping from the square where we had just held our concert. Behind her, a long trail of perverts followed.

"Fairsky, come over here," Sunshine shouted to her from his flying carpet. He flew low in her direction and then extended a hand to pull her up.

"Phew! I should have everyone now, right?" Sunshine asked as he wiped away his sweat, relieved.

However, Gui's face was pale with fear as he cried out, "Where's my Highness, Prince?!

Somewhere in the human pile, I yelled miserably, "HELP. ME. AHHHH! Don't pull off my jacket! Give me back my pants! Oh god, I'm only left with this piece of clothing! Please don't take off my underwear!"

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**Chapter 6: Second Life****'****s Spokesperson **

"Xiao Lan, I can overlook the fact you've become a tranny. I can even overlook the fact that you have become so handsome. But after all that, you actually went and became a _singer_…"

Early in the morning, I was roused unceremoniously from my sleep by my mom. I blearily watched my parents as they sprayed out a mouthful of saliva as they ranted on, inwardly thinking it was lucky that I had been awoken by mom, otherwise I don't know if I could have kept my underwear from those fangirls…

Finally, my mother really couldn't stand my dazed, uncomprehending look anymore. Yanking my ear, she bellowed, "Do you know that the entire world is searching for the Blood Elf Prince?!"

"What?" I was instantly shocked out of my stupor. _The entire world?_ "Mom, you mean the entire _Second Life_, right?"

"Not just _Second Life_, but the real world is also looking for you!" Dad said, dropping the bomb on me and clearly relishing in it.

"Why is the real world looking for me?" I asked, perplexed.

Mom massaged her forehead, as if she had a headache. "Don't you realize that your singing is amazing? Many talent agencies, modeling companies and even _Second Life_'s corporation are looking for you to be their spokesperson."

My mouth dropped open. "Second Life's corporation? How could that be? Don't they know that I'm a tranny?"

"How would I know?" Mom retorted crossly. "I only know that they've posted screenshots of you on the home page of _Second Life_'s official site. I've even printed them out."

I snatched the pictures from my Mom's hand. The first picture was a shot of me using my dao to chop down an unknown person, the second was a close- up of my kiss with Phoenix and Fairsky, and the third was the Infinite Band's performance at the plaza. Every picture had a sensational caption, such as 'The crème de la crème of _Second Life_ – the Blood Elf Prince', 'Do you want to be like Prince, constantly surrounded by girls?', 'Have you dreamed of becoming world-famous like Prince?', and 'There's nothing you can't do, only things you never thought of doing. A world that's 99% realistic – _Second_ _Life _awaits you!'

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My hands trembled as I looked through the stack of Prince pictures. _What happened?_ I thought. _How did things turn out like this? Surely you realized that, with these_ _screenshots posted on the home page of the world's most popular online game, Second Life, the exposure is even N times higher than the nude photos of female celebrities!_

I yelled in desperation, "What, what should I do?"

My parents looked at me with solemn faces and said, "First, go and cook breakfast."

"Mom, Dad, that's hardly the point here!" A vein popped on my head. _I can't rely on_ _them after all…_

But under the fierce gaze of my parents and my stupid brother, I was nevertheless forced to make breakfast before I went to university. I chewed on my egg on toast as I rode the bus to school and, to my surprise, I discovered that there was a group of news reporters' vans outside the university. _What exactly is happening?_ I wondered. My mind was full of questions as I entered the grounds and stepped into the classroom.

My brother, Feng Yang Ming, who was walking next to me, gave a small whistle as he saw the crowd of reporters surrounding Professor Min Gui Wen. With a gloating tone, he said, "This time, the professor is in trouble."

"Excuse me, why did you decide to form a band within _Second Life_?" asked a male reporter who was pointing a microphone at Professor Min Gui Wen.

"Sorry, I'm starting my class now, so please leave before I call security," Professor Min Gui Wen responded frankly.

"So handsome…" said a nameless female reporter, with two hearts in her eyes.

The male reporter unrelentingly asked another question, "Do you know the whereabouts of Prince right now?"

"No comment!" Professor Min Gui Wen answered icily, his expression darkening.

"Then…"

At last, the security guard uncle rushed over and chased out the crowd of reporters. I sat dazedly on my seat, watching Professor Min Gui Wen, who was obviously having a headache, while listening to the gossip king Gu Yun Fei giving the class a report on how the whole situation had unfolded.

"Ever since our Infinite City's Infinite Band began their concert tour, they have become extremely popular, and a lot of people followed them from Star City all the way to Moon

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and Sun Cities to watch their performance!" Yun had a very proud expression, and he even turned towards Professor Min Gui Wen and called, "Isn't that right, Professor?"

Professor Min Gui Wen revealed a pained expression. "Yes, we were chased until we almost went crazy."

"I never expected that Prince would really be so handsome," said a female student, firmly holding onto the pile of photos I saw this morning.

"I heard that aē,"lotJingof talentmentionedagnciesworriedare**l**yooking. for Dàg

Yun also scratched the side of hisēr**ea**rlly."Dàgcan hide; even Professor was found the next day, ēbutatallthere. hasn't been any news about Dàg

"What a pity. If Prince appeared, it would definitely cause a sensation," another female student said disappointedly.

_Cause a sensation? If I, the only tranny of _Second Life_'s, were to appear, the sensation caused would probably be as great as the one surrounding _Second Life_'s release onto the market! _I thought helplessly on the side.

"That's for sure; Prince is so handsome, and he sings so well. If he were to become a singer, he would be incredibly popular with the whole world!" said another female student who was so enchanted that she was buried within the pictures.

"That's right; I went on _Second Life_'s official site and downloaded Prince's songs. There's _It's My Life_ and _Dreams Want to Fly_." A person held up the CDs.

_There— there are even songs you can download? _I was going to faint.

"Gui! Come out for a minute." Zhuo-gēge's voice came in from the doorway. I looked up in surprise at his unpleasant expression… and the group of reporters behind him.

"No matter what, I _am_ a professor, you should have some manners," Gui exasperatedly grumbled. He instructed us to self- study for a while, before walking out.

Zhuo-gēge met my gaze for a momen t _*SHIVER*_ and then stood at the classroom entrance and said to the reporters, "The professor and I do not know of Prince's whereabouts, nor of anything related to the issue of _Second Life_'s spokesperson. For all matters, please wait until after things have settled down, then Infinite City will release a statement."

"In regards to Infinite City's concert, it will continue as planned," Gui added.

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The group of reporters continued to ask questions incessantly. After a long while, seeing that Zhuo- gēge and Gui weren't going to say anything else, they all hurried off in swarms saying, "Hurry, go back and write the report, otherwise we won't make the evening papers."

After all the reporters had finally left, Gui concernedly asked Zhuo-gēge, "How is Prince's situation?"

"He hasn't been found out yet," Zhuo-gēge replied without changing expression. "Although, I think he should be careful and make sure that he doesn't tell anybody about his real identity, otherwise things will become problematic."

The last sentence was obviously directed at me.

hg

_ONLINE_

After I finished class as if I was sitting on a needled carpet, I virtually ran home, pulled on the game headset, opened the PM channel, and promptly started wailing out Lolidragon's name. "Lolidragon, what the heck is this _Second Life_'s spokesperson thing all about?!"

Lolidragon's helpless voice came back, "I'm sorry, that was the corporation higher-ups' decision. I couldn't do anything."

"What do you mean 'you couldn't do anything'?" I demanded. "You _know_ I'm a tranny, I simply can't be the _Second Life_ spokesperson!"

"Of course you can, you're just going to be a virtual spokesperson."

"Virtual spokesperson?" _What on earth is that?_ I thought, knitting my eyebrows together.

"The only thing you can't do is appear in real life. Everything else, like photos, advertisements, or even songs, they're not a problem. That's why the higher-ups decided to let you be an online and TV spokesperson," explained Lolidragon. "You have no need to reveal your true identity."

"But, but…" I tried to fight against it.

"This will also create a lot of benefits for Infinite City and Infinite Band," said Lolidragon excitedly. "Even if it's just for the point of building Infinite City's reputation, there are already many benefits. Did you know that even though Infinite City isn't open yet, there are already tons of people waiting outside of the city? Not to mention the

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people who want to join the Infinite City's army! There are so many that we need a strict selection process now."

"But…" I still wanted to protest.

"There's another point as well. The photo album we talked about before had difficulties in implementation, and distributing books and CDs in _Second Life_ used to be an impossible thing. However, because of you, the corporation now has specially developed these new functions. You should know how big of a help this is to Infinite City's economy, right?" Lolidragon's final words were just about to shatter my still-protesting heart.

"I still…"

"There's also spokesperson compensation; just give me your bank details and the money will be transferred to you," Lolidragon added her final attack.

"I am very pleased to be _Second Life_'s spokesperson. Please teach me well, Lolidragon," I said without any hesitation.

"…"

_Money! Wonderful, I can finally solve the difficult situation I'm facing due to my parents' still not earning money. Tonight we'll all eat Snowflake beef__15__ hotpot to celebrate! _Ithought, all smiles. _There's beef to eat. The feeling of being a spokesperson isn't bad at_ _all!_

While I was still rejoicing about having beef hotpot to eat, four shadows suddenly appeared. They were the people who had gone offline at the same time same place as me last night—the members of the Infinite Band. Surrounding me with ill expressions on their faces, they yelled in unison, "Prince! What exactly is going on with this spokesperson thing?"

"Uh…" I could only repeat exactly what Lolidragon had just said to me.

"…In short, I have, without reason, become _Second Life's_ official spokesperson," I sighed. _I really am too ignorant; I didn't know that playing a game could cause_ _problems. See, now _Second Life_ has explained away my ignorance as to the _real_ way to play a 99% realistic fantasy game, _I thought dizzily.

After listening to my explanation, the members of the Infinite Band all looked at me exasperatedly.

15** Snowflake beef: **A type of high grade beef wherein the marbling of intramuscular fat that looks likesnowflakes, hence the name.

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They stayed like that for a while. I, wanting to break the serious silence, had no choice but to put on a happy, smiling expression and say, "We still have to hold a concert in Sun City, is everybody ready?"

"Can we say no?" everybody asked me, pale-faced.

My face also fell. "I also want to say no, but today we have to finish this concert, and then hurry back to Infinite City, because Lolidragon says we have to make a photo album…"

"What? Photo album?" Wicked and Gui's expressions both changed, especially Wicked's, whose expression was freezing.

"Yes, photo album." I helplessly shrugged my shoulders. "Don't think that I'm the only one who has to make it; all of the Infinite Band members have to."

"But Prince, it's only your photos that will go on the official website, so don't! Why do you have to be the official spokesperson? There'll be even more love rivals!" Fairsky shouted willfully.

"Ay…" Phoenix sighed, distressed.

"Don't be the spokesperson, Prince." Fairsky anxiously gripped my arm.

"I can't, I've already told _Second Life_'s corporation that I've agreed…" _More_ _importantly, I've already taken half the money and ate the hotpot; what else can I do?_

"Don't!" Fairsky looked at me with angry eyes.

"I can't, I have to." I couldn't release my arm from Fairsky's grasp, so I could only drag her to the flying carpet with me. "Let's go everyone, and finish up the last concert of this tour."

"I forbid you to be a spokesperson, otherwise I won't perform anymore!" In a moment of desperation, Fairsky actually threatened me.

_This is annoying me to death, _I thought as two veins appeared, crossing my forehead.

_Being chased by countless female wolves, having to be the spokesperson, having to hold concerts, and even having to make a photo album… More importantly, I can't allow anyone to find out my real identity, especially with Jing and Yun continuously interrogating me at school for my current whereabouts in game… The recent events have had me annoyed and vexed and I still have to deal with Fairsky's willfulness. I don't have that much time!_

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"Stop being annoying. I will definitely be the spokesperson, whether or not you want to perform is up to you!" I angrily rebuked her.

"You, you…" Tears welled up in Fairsky's eyes, but she stubbornly didn't allow them to fall.

Looking on, half of my heart softened, instantly regretting yelling at Fairsky for no reason. _Even if I'm in a bad mood, I can't take it all out on Fairsky._ I was just about to open my mouth and apologize when…

Her head hanging, Fairsky's tears finally fell. She wiped them on her sleeve, then turned around and ran off…

"Fairsky!" I gave a start and shouted, but she didn't stop.

"It's way past the scheduled time for the concert," Wicked said, frowning.

"But what about Fairsky?" I anxiously watched as Fairsky turned into some alley.

"I'll go and find her," said Sunshine. "Kenshin and I have been walking around this area a lot lately, and we're familiar with the roads.

I worriedly pondered it for a minute. "Ok, Sunshine, you go find Fairsky. Kenshin, you should stay with us; you still have to watch over Phoenix later."

"Ok," replied both Kenshin and Sunshine.

I looked towards the direction Fairsky had run off one last time, filled with boundless self-reproach, hoping that I hadn't committed an irreversible mistake.

It felt quite strange performing with one person missing. Even though I sang the best I could, I had a perturbed feeling on my mind, hoping that Sunshine would find Fairsky quickly and also that she wasn't truly angry with me.

It was only when we had finished the concert and spotted Fairsky's silhouette on the flying carpet Sunshine had brought to rescue us that I let go of the burden on my heart.

"Fairsky, I'm sorry, it was only because I was in a troubled mood that I yelled at you. Please forgive me!" Hands together, I apologized towards Fairsky.

"Hmph!" Fairsky pouted and turned away.

I helplessly scratched my face. "Later we have to take photos, Fairsky, do you want to take them? Unless… You want to leave the band?"

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Hearing that, Fairsky turned back and shouted, "I'm not leaving! I want to take them."

Seeing Fairsky's pouting face, I couldn't help but chuckle, and then used a coaxing tone and said, "Ok, ok, we'll take them together."

"Your Highness, we have arrived at Infinite City." Gui pointed down excitedly from the flying carpet.

"Wonderful, we've finally arrived home." I happily looked at our home, Infinite City.

_Home really does have a familiar feeling. Look! Lolidragon is over there shouting and waving at us. _I thought, cheerfully and vigorously waving back at Lolidragon.

Lolidragon's broken voice came to us. "Prince, be careful! We're testing a new barrier, don't come close…"

"Eh?" We were still wondering what Lolidragon meant when…

_BANG!_

Lolidragon watched as the people on the flying carpet were each flattened against the barrier, and then slowly slid down the round-shaped shield, as if they were small birds hitting a glass window. She could only mutter to herself, "Too late."

"The Giant Egg Shield, like its name suggests, is shaped like a giant eggshell, and can firmly protect whatever you wish to protect. The area it covers continues to expand as I level, and right now it covers about one fifth of Infinite City. If I don't drink mana potions, I can only hold it for about 10 minutes, but if I have an infinite amount of mana potions to use, then I can hold it for at least two hours. It'll definitely be of a very, very big help in protecting the city."

After saying this, Yun embarrassedly scratched the back of his head. "Except I never thought that its first experimentalē." target would be you guys, Dàg

"Next time, explain what your Egg Shield thingy does _before_ I break my nose, okay?" I replied with an unpleasant expression.

"It's a Giant Egg Shield," Yun corrected.

"Dàgē,I've invented new Illusi onary _Fu_," Jing hurriedly took out a pile of _fu_ to show me, as if she was presenting a precious treasure.

I asked curiously, "Illusionary _Fu_? What do they do?"

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Jing coughed a few times and began to explain, "Illusionary _Fu_ are able to create illusions, as indicated by their name. To use them, firstly, when the exorcist is making the _fu_, they insert various illusions into it. Then, when you use the_ fu_, whichever illusion wasinserted at the time will appear in the area. For example, if I werethinking of a desert at the time, then when I used that _fu_, the image of a desert would appear. Even though the creations are only untouchable illusions, these _fu_ will definitely be a great help in confusing enemies."

"Oh? That seems interesting, let me try." I enthusiastically took one to play with. As I reached out my hand and threw out the _fu_, everybody craned their necks, waiting to see the result.

"Everybody seems so carefree. Don't any of you have things to do?" Yu Lian- dàsăo's voice suddenly came from behind, in that exceptionally gentle tone scared me so much that goose-bumps appeared all over my skin.

"T-there's things to do, I will go and do them right now." I turned around and the first thing that entered my sight could only be Yu Lian-dàsăo's deathly scary shadow smile.

"Then aren't you going to quickly go and do it?" Yu Lian-dàsăospoke again, smiling.

"Y-Yes…" I looked left and right, wishing that there would instantly be a job I could do…

Jing cougē,thatedisagain…". "Er, Dàg

"Don't disturb me; I'm looking for something that I can do." _Oh, over there seems busy, I_ _think I'll just go over there and help to move the timbers. _Seeing Yu Lian-dàsăo's smile, Ipicked up my feet and ran to join the ranks of the timber- movers.

"Dàgē…" Jing looked exasperatedly at me, as I enthusiastically moved the lumber.

"Prince, what are you doing?" Lolidragon, who had just rushed over, looked over with surprise at the timber- shifting me.

I put down the timber with an embarrassed expression. "Er, Yu Lian-dàsăotold me to look for a job to do."

"Yu Lian?" Lolidragon's face was one of complete confusion. "Isn't she in the Finance Department office? Just now when I came out, I saw her still in there."

"How couldărightit thbe? Isn't Dàs —…" I pointed to where Yu Lian-dàsăowas a moment ago, only to find that she was no longer there. I was completely confused. _What_ _on earth happened?_

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Jing smiledē,

helplessly. "Dàg that was the illusion which came out of the Illusionary _Fu_.

Just as I was inserting an illusion into that _fu_, Yu Lian-dàsăowas going around supervising peoples' work, so…"

"So you accidentally inserted that image in, and I coincidentally happened to take it?" The corner of my mouth was twitching. _That's not any ordinary luck._

Jing smiled at me apologetically.

"Forget it, forget it. Really, I almost got scared to death by you two clowns," I said as I patted my chest in relief, still shaken from before.

"Dàgēis so easily scared, I fear that later he really will be scared to death," said Jing, smiling radiantly.

I gulped, thinking, _That sentence seems to hold some sort of hidden message? And it's_ _not a very pleasant hidden message either! _"What do you mean?"

"Military. Parade. Ceremony!" Lolidragon said, voice resonating.

"Huh?" I was still confused about what a Military Parade Ceremony was, even though Lolidragon had already impatiently dragged me away.

After Lolidragon had pulled me into the room, she pulled a set of shining, light-weight silver armor out of her inventory bag, which looked as if it was meant for me.

"Why do I have to go to a military parade?" I asked, terrified, limbs shaking. _Is there_ _some sort of mistake? Me, a girl who doesn't even need to join the army, actually has to go to a military parade?_

"Because everybody wants to see what kind of personality the liege lord has." Lolidragon replied casually as she helped me put on the light-weight, silver armor.

"Isn't it just this personality?" I said, laughing bitterly.

Lolidragon shook her head. "I have to warn you first: if you bring your normal nonsense personality to the military parade, I promise that the military department will be the first to kill you.

"Oh, the Finance Department and the City Planning Department won't let you get away either," she added, distracted. "Now that you've become the spokesperson, your majestic manner has recruited a lot of soldiers for us, so the Military Department is extremely pleased. Moreover, there is a huge crowd of tourists waiting outside the gates and there are so many people waiting in line to buy houses in Infinite City that there are duels for

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them. The Financial and City Planning Departments have been able to heave a huge sigh of relief!"

"Also, you, the spokesperson is very important to _Second Life_, so if you dare ruin your image at the ceremony, then the amount of people trying to kill you would fill the Pacific Ocean."

I made a face and said, "True, and if I were to announce my status as a tranny, then the Atlantic Ocean might as well be filled too."

"Ok, ok, don't be so depressed. It's only putting on the attitude of the Blood Elf, going on stage and saying a few words. After that there's nothing else," Lolidragon said, patting my back after she had finished fastening up my armor.

"But I'll get nervous." Crestfallen, I thought, _Listening to Lolidragon just then, there's_ _bound to be five thousand soldiers. Five thousand! Where on earth did they all come from? I only became spokesperson a few days ago right? Ay, thinking about five thousand pairs, that is, ten thousand eyes looking at me, how can I _not_ be nervous?_

Lolidragon laughed loudly a few times. "Calm down, calm down, you think I still don't understand you? As soon as you get on stage you automatically turn into the fearless Blood Elf."

"Really?" I asked, depressed.

"Really. Now go!" Lolidragon pushed me forcefully.

_It's not necessary to push me that hard. _I grumbled quietly, looking towards the corridorleading to the practice grounds. Usually, you could just casually take a few steps and already be at the end, but today, the corridor seemed like an abnormally difficult, long and dark corridor. And while my footsteps were normally quick and light, now even lifting my feet seemed strenuous.

"Let's go." Lolidragon patted my shoulder.

"Prince, how come you're still here? Everybody's waiting for you." Wolf-dàgēcame over with his familiar ugly smile.

"Prince-gēge, you came back! Doll missed you!" Doll threw herself at me, giving me a big hug.

I returned the hug, smiling. "You aren't afraid that I'll steal your food?"

Doll poked her tongue out cutely.

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"Prince, that armor really suits you!" Gui's eyes were filled with infatuation, and I gave him a whack on the head.

"Hurry and go, Prince." Yu Lian-dàsăowa s still smiling, a smile filled with encouragement.

"Yes, let's go." I gave a relaxed smile, brisk footsteps steadily moving towards the dazzling light at the end of the corridor, with my fellow team members from Odd Squad following behind.

As soon as I walked out of the corridor, the overpowering sunlight was so bright that I could hardly open my eyes. I rested the back of my hand on my forehead to shade my eyes until they got used to the light, before putting my hand back down and looking out amongst the people. Rose and Broken Sword were smiling radiantly at me, Legolas still had a cold demeanor, Li'l Strong was carrying his large battleaxe, and For Healing Only remained, out of all the priests I'd seen, the priest who looked most like a priest.

I walked smilingly past Rose Team, after them were the members of Dark Emperor. Ming Huang's arrogance seemed like he still required more discipline, Feng Wu Qing with his irritatingly fake charming air, and Wicked had his usual icy expression, only his eyes showed his concern and anxiousness.

Nan Gong Zui, along with Ice Phoenix, White Bird, Kong Kong and the rest of the Righteous Blades, looked down proudly at the other soldiers as if they were showing off a treasure. At the same time, they were also nervously watching for any signs of dissatisfaction from me.

At this point, I finally saw the large practice ground clearly, which was currently packed with people, and directly in front of me was a podium. It was very obvious—I had to go on the stage, and then use the manner of the Blood Prince and my status as Infinite City's liege lord to greet everyone.

In an exceptionally calm mood, I slowly stepped up the stairs step by step to the podium. Under everyone's expectant gazes, I stood there with a smile that was calm and steady.

"I am Infinite City's liege lord, also known as the Blood Elf, Prince." Straight to the point, I identified my status.

"It really isn't anything extraordinary; it is just my position in Infinite City. Just like how you are the city's soldiers and protectors, I am the liege lord. To me, whether you are a soldier in the army, or a lord in a castle, we are all a part of Infinite City. In other words, we are all Infinite City, and Infinite City represents us. Together, let us expand Infinite City infinitely, and create an everlasting presence within Second Life," I finished, sonorous and forceful.

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Under the glowing, adoring gazes of those beneath the stage, I majestically left the stage, while the military department took over and began to arrange the soldiers into groups, and explain the military operations and training exercises etc. In short, all this had nothing to do with me, and I couldn't understand military organization anyway. I walked off the podium, saw Lolidragon fiercely waving at me, and I had no choice but to follow her…

"I didn't think that someone like you up on stage, can actually talk like a human," Lolidragon whispered in a low voice in front of me.

"Hey! What kind of attitude is that? I speak like a normal human easily!" I rebutted, rolling my eyes.

"Oh really? 'I'm hungry' also counts as speaking like a human?" Lolidragon asked.

Slightly guilty, I said, "Humans can also get hungry… In any case, where are you taking me?"

"Making. Photo. Album!" Another three sonorous and forceful words.

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**Chapter 7: Portfolio **

"First, let me introduce you to the must-have tools for making a portfolio! Number one is this creature I have here. Small, light and portable, this creature can be used both indoors and outdoors! You can even put it in a parcel, so that it's convenient to carry around." Lolidragon nodded toward the thing floating in midair that seemed to be a giant eyeball with bat wings, no matter how you looked at it.

Seeing that everyone was staring blankly at the eyeball/bat hybrid, Lolidragon coughed twice, to regain our attention. "I gave it a name; it's called a Photocritter. The Photocritter's biggest features are its ability to take photos, its memory capacity of five hundred photos, and its ability to record up to five hours of video. In addition, if you buy extra memory, you gain even more storage capacity. Another point that needs mentioning is this creature's digital clarity, which goes up to ten megapixels. Its uses range from taking photos during vacation for souvenirs, to photographing a murder crime scene for evidence! There's nothing it can't be used for!" Lastly, Lolidragon added, "Right now, the Photocritter is on sale at all major pet shops! But hurry! There are only five thousand critters in the first batch!

"Next, the second tool, which Jing created, was discovered completely by accident. This is an illusion charm with a 100% quality guarantee! It can portray all kind of illusions, from historical backgrounds to ornamental decorations! It's a real help when it comes to making portfolios!" Lolidragon said, spluttering saliva as she ranted on. She was clutching a stack of charms.

"Lolidragon, have you been watching the ETTV shopping channel too much lately?" I asked seriously.

"I wouldn't buy anything from that channel!" she cried, but then blushed and added, "But, as you know, Chanel recently changed seasons, so I went and got a job as ETTV's anchorwoman to earn a little something and go shopping16."

"…" Everyone was speechless for a while.

I suddenly remembered. "After we finish the portfolio, how are we going to distribute it?"

"I'm going to take it to _Second Life_'s official publishing office, and get an estimate on the price. After deciding on the print volume, they will probably send it over in a couple of days." Lolidragon said. "We are planning to sell it in the accessory store."

16 This is actually a Chinese pun, 血拼. It sounds like shopping in English, however here it means to spend a lot of money while shopping. Especially at a _very_ expensive store.

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_What? So now my portfolio is an accessory? What use could it possibly have? Do we distract our enemies with it? _I thought helplessly. Suddenly, an idea flitted through mymind. "What about a book store?"

"Open a book store? Is that a good idea?" Lolidragon said, hesitating.

"That's not a bad idea!" Gui suddenly spoke with excitement. "After publishing books becomes a possibility, there will be lots of players trying to publish their own works, but not many can be like us and put their books on sale in the accessories shop. But, if we open a book shop and allow players to consign their books, the commission we receive would also be a good way to earn money."

"But will there be any potential customers?" Wicked commented cautiously.

"That will depend on how good the books are. We will have to choose carefully the books to be consigned. After a while, I think some good authors will turn up. Good authors means lots of customers. Actually, most people don't have time to read while they are awake, but they can read books using the sleeping headset! That would be useful for a lot of people!" Gui said happily.

"And since that will add another unique asset to Infinite City, there will be more people joining!" Fairsky clutched her fists in excitement.

Lolidragon shrugged. "Then let's do a book store. Since it's part of the construction department's job, I'll leave it to those two leaders to discuss amongst themselves."

Gui nodded, eyes gleaming. He turned to Fairsky, whose eyes were also gleaming, and they started chattering about the bookstore.

"What I meant was, you can talk later, but now, let's start making our portfolio!" Lolidragon said with a smile that made everyone's hair stand on end. But then she said something that made the hair rise even higher. "Okay, then. Take it off."

"Take it off? Take what off?" I asked dumbly.

Lolidragon's eyes drifted from my face to my chest. That look… I couldn't help but grab my collar tightly. Then, her eyes drifted even further down… I grabbed my belt tightly, thinking, _Oh my God, Lolidragon, don't fool around, or else my portfolio might turn into_ _an adult-only sort of thing—_

hg

"Can I rest for a bit now?" I asked, still woozy. I never thought that making a portfolio would be so hard. It was a test of strength, endurance, and the ability to survive intense pain.

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The Test of Strength: I had to pose in various positions of unimaginable difficulty for Lolidragon to take shots of. Sometimes I had to stay in a pose for up to half an hour. I suspected that Lolidragon was sketching my portrait instead of taking a photo.

The Test of Endurance: Under Lolidragon's insistence that I expose the two points, I thought_, Fine,_ and agreed reluctantly. _Oh well, a guy's two points aren't that attractive_ _anyway. _But, under the coercion of Wicked's "Don't you dare or you are d-e- a-d!" lookand Gui's "Your majesty, you can't endure such humiliation" large and teary eyes, my move to take off my clothes froze in mid-motion. Then, I watched on as Lolidragon leading Phoenix and Fairsky going against Wicked and Gui. The two gangs started to argue very loudly about whether I should expose the two points or not, forcing me to be stuck in between taking off and putting on my clothes. _Really, exactly to whom do the two_ _points belong to anyways?_

Finally, I lost my temper. With a dark expression, I roared, "Shut up!"

Five of them turned to glare at me in unison. Together, they said, "You make the decision then!"

With five pairs of eyes staring at me, my anger disappeared completely. I said fearfully, "Then what about…what about going half exposed?"

"Taking off your shirt but not exposing the other point?" Lolidragon muttered, and then said unwillingly, "Fine, that settles it."

"Never! This one here will still see it!" Wicked gestured towards Gui.

"That's my line! Prince's body should never be seen by _you_!" Gui said furiously, gritting his teeth.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, scratching my face. _This won't work and that won't_ _work. Those guys are even more annoying than the girls… _I thought._ Shhiikkkk_…

Suddenly, a weird sound reached my ears. It sounded like…sticky tape? We turned around. There was Phoenix, with two pieces of sticky tape. She was looking at my chest…

Afterwards: If anyone ever says that the pain produced from taking sticky tape off an important spot is on par with that of giving birth, I will totally agree!

I turned my back on the site of that ghastly photo shoot, looking at Lolidragon with teary eyes.

"Can I rest now?" I begged.

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"You can rest…" Lolidragon replied. My eyes lit up. _I can finally tour Infinite City! I_ _can't wait to find out what delicious specialty foods my city has! _I thought, excited.

"…For a brief moment. We are starting rehearsal for the concert tomorrow."

"Rehearsal for the concert?" I repeated stupidly.

"Yep! Yu Lian is supervising because a lot of money had been spent on the concert," Lolidragon whispered quietly into my ear.

_Waaaaaaaa! This is hell! _I thought, close to tears.

hg

"Dàgê, even if we start rehearsing tomorrow and there is no time for you to come out and eat food then, you don't have to eat like that, do you?" Yun asked. He looked helplessly at me. I hadn't even spoken a sentence to them before starting my battle with the food.

Seeing that I gave no reaction at all, Jing also said helplessly, "Dàgê, if you want to eat something during rehearsal, just PM us and we'll send it over."

Hearing that, I finally set down the chicken leg in my hand, took a drink to wash the food down and said with a little embarrassment, "Thanks."

"Slow down. No one's trying to take the food from you." Wicked grumbled, not too happy.

"Your Majesty, would you like another order of french fries?" Gui happily passed me a napkin to wipe my hands, and Phoenix wiped my mouth with a handkerchief, while Jing and Yun looked on enviously.

"Hey, where is Fairsky?" Yun suddenly asked, confused.

"And Sunshine?" Jing added.

"Oh, they went on a stroll." I said, waving the subject aside. _But I wonder why Kenshin_ _didn't go…Don't harbor any suspicions — this guy never leaves my side, it's just that he's too quiet. _(Even this author didn't know how to tell everyone that he actually wasstill there. You can't just always say that he's sitting there icily with a poker face, can you?)

"Wow! That's rare. Fairsky actually bears to leave your side." Jing said, astonished.

"She said that she was going to check out the location of our bookstore." I said vaguely as I couldn't help stuffing myself with the fries Gui had just ordered for me.

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"Book store? What book store?" Yun asked dumbly.

"Infinite Bookstore, the one we're setting up soon; the first book store in Second Life," Gui told them with sparkling eyes. _Geez, no wonder he's a talking about_ _books and he goes crazy, _I thought as I ate the fries.

"So, where are we getting the books we're going to sell?" Jing asked, doubtful.

"First, we will have our Infinite Band portfolio on sale. Plus, I will write a few books to sell. Then, when we become recognized, we'll let others consign their books in our bookshop, or even solicit manuscripts, and we'll help them publish the book. These things aren't really hard for me." Gui's eyes lit up with the intelligence of 200 IQ points.

"Really? So… Um…" Yun mumbled like there was something embarrassing to ask.

I suddenly remembered. _Jing and Yun like to write stories. They often chose me as their_ _first reader for their Saddest-Story-in-the-Universe-and-History-of-Mankind tragedies. Well, truthfully, their stories aren't bad; it's just that the titles are so bad that one can't even comment on them. What kind of titles, you ask? The "Saddest-Story-in-the-Universe-and-History-of-Mankind" that you just read, of course._

"Can we consign our books in your store?" Jing cried, impatient.

"Of course! Since you guys are free these few days, take this chance to write it out. I will check it over, publish it, and we should be able to put it up at the opening ceremony." Gui was happy that there was someone here to help to write some books.

"Yes!" Jing and Yun hugged each other in excitement.

"Right, Jing, Yun, have you bought a house yet?" I suddenly remembered that they were choosing a house last time. _I wonder how it's going?_

"We just bought one. It's a really cute white cottage that even comes with a garden!" Yun said happily.

"Oh, I want to see!" I suddenly stood up. "Waiter, I'm taking away the rest of the food."

"Sorry, I can't stay any longer, Prince." Gui stood as well, sighing deeply. "Yu Lian told me to get back to designing the stage for the concert. There are also the bookshop designs too, and don't forget the books that I need to write."

"Wow, you sure are busy." _I really don't know how much time he spends on our class_ _material. Ten minutes? Maybe even less…_

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"Your Majesty, even though I am not here in person, my heart will always be with you." Gui, with large teary eyes, kept looking back at me, until he was kicked out by a deeply annoyed me.

"Since Gui's not here, I have to go back to the military department. A lot of unfinished work has accumulated." Wicked said.

_So, if Gui's here, you'd rather not care about the military department?!_

"In that case, I better go back to the finance department; Yu Lian is on the verge of exploding from stress…" Phoenix blanched horribly.

"Heh heh, it's ok, you can all go back. Whether something or nothing happens, don't come and find me again." I waved good-bye happily. _It's so rare! There's actually a day_ _when I can get away from those four and just relax. I've got to enjoy the peace._

"Dàgê, don't look so happy. It makes them really sad. They all had ghost fires floating beside them when they left." Yun was barely suppressing his laughter.

I relaxed. "If they hadn't left soon, I'd probably have exploded. Now, let's go and see that house of yours."

On the way to the house, Yun suddenly said, "Dàgê, there's a question we've been wanting to ask you…?" I stared at him. _Yun usually just says whatever he wants. Since_ _when did he start asking for permission?_

"What is it?" I asked.

"Dàgê, do you know Feng Lan?" Jing questioned and my heart skipped a few beats.

I stopped. _Why did she ask me that? Has she found out? No way! Is it that easy to tell?_ I thought. I used the calmest voice I could muster at that moment and said "Feng Lan? I don't know her. Why do you ask?"

"Just as I thought…" Jing mumbled.

I sighed in relief.

"After all, saying that you know yourself sounds pretty weird. Isn't that right, Xiao Lan?" Jing added lightly.

After my pulse stopped for an entire three seconds, then I covered my face, close to tears.

_I knew it, they found out. I'm finished! This is the worst scenario, to have my secret be discovered by Yun, the super broadcasting station! Once the news leaks out, just think_

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_about the fans swarming enough to fill out the Atlantic and Pacific oceans… Waaaaahhh! Where is my future?_

Jing patted me on the shoulder. "It's ok. I understand your problems, Xiao Lan. I've already used karate on Yun and warned him that if he told anyone your secret, my next karate moves will be used on a guy's most vulnerable spot. So he definitely won't leak the news."

_Whew! That was close. But how was I discovered? _"How did you guys find out?" I asked."Don't you always call me Dàgê?"

"It was because you would not tell us your in-game-name; we had to ask your brother and he said that you are a tranny in game," Yun put in.

_BROTHER, YOU IMBECILE! Don't force me to kill you to defend my honor! _I clenchedmy fist and started thinking about whether adding pesticides or rat poison to dinner would be the faster method.

"So we thought, you are a tranny player and you love bishies as much as I do, but you have no interest in a famous hottie like Prince. The only reason we could think of was that you were Prince himself. Also, although your appearance in-game and in real life are extremely different, your basic features are still very similar, so we recognized you immediately." Jing shrugged, unconcerned.

"But you know, you Feng siblings are so oblivious that it could go down in history. To think that your brother Yang Ming never realized that you were Prince, and he even knew that you were a tranny," Yun said with a face full of admiration.

"No one could be as good at guessing as you guys are." I mumbled.

"Well if it weren't for the fact that we can guess well, how else could we know about your real identity? And what's with making us call you the Dàgê here and Dàgê there?!" Jing gave me a knock on my head. _Oww… Why are all the women I know so violent? And_ _they all seemed to like hitting my head._

"I was saying that there was no one that was stupid enough to continue trusting us after so many betrayals from us. So it was you after all, Xiao Lan. No wonder you kept helping us." Yun couldn't help but complain. He and Jing had actually been so touched that they swore to follow Prince forever.

At this, what else can I do except rub the back of my head and laugh stupidly?

"That's not the point; the important point is, in that romantic and thrilling love triangle, who are you going to choose? The professor or the senior?" Jing stared at me.

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"Don't ask the same questions as my mom, Jing. I don't know!" _Romantic and thrilling?!_ _Jing, your descriptions are a bit too exaggerated. _I helplessly sighed.

"What are you worrying about? Just date them both." Yun mumbled.

"Hey! Are you a man? Why are you telling a woman to have two boyfriends?!" Jing pulled and shouted in Yun's ear.

I asked, as if puzzled. "Didn't we already agree that he's not a guy?"

"Xiao Lan!" Jing suddenly grabbed me, "Let's do an experiment."

"Experiment?" I asked stupidly.

"Go on a date with both of them in real life!" Jing's eyes sparkled in an extremely scary way.

"Eh?"

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**Chapter 8: Dating Diary **

"Professor, you really didn't have to go to all this trouble…" In tearless grief, I looked at Professor Min Gui Wen as he sat across from me.

"Don't worry. So long as I can settle my students' problems, a small favor like this isn't any trouble!" Gui's smile spread across his whole face as he took a sip of his beverage.

_Jing! You really will be the death of me. _I never would have thought that in order to getProfessor Min to go on a date with me, Jing would actually weave such an outrageous lie. Even I thought that her story was beyond logic when I heard it. What was even more incredible was that Professor Min actually believed it…

The story goes like this: Yesterday after class Jing pulled me over right in front of Professor Min.

"Professor, there is a very grave and urgent matter that I hope you can help us with." Jing put on an expression of profound grief and distress. At the time, I wasn't very sure what she was grieved and distressed about.

Professor Min, seeing that the matter looked quite serious, comforted Jing with his usual gentle smile. "What's the matter? Say it slowly; don't be nervous."

"Actually, it is Xiao Lan's problem. There's a stalker who's been harassing Xiao Lan. He has been bothering her for over a year, but still he refuses to leave her alone." Jing knitted her eyebrows together, teary-eyed.

"Is this true? Xiao Lan, are you unable to accept that person?" asked Professor Min.

_That person? Who is that person…? _I was thoroughly puzzled and only stared with blankeyes.

Jing suddenly shouted loudly, "Professor, look! Xiao Lan has been scared out of her mind by that guy's frightening harassment."

"Oh?" Professor Min frowned. "No wonder Feng Lan has recently been looking a little absentminded in class and is always running off in a hurry after school."

"…" _I was looking absentminded because I was intimidated by the reporters outside_ _trying to ask you where to find Prince… And if I don't leave in a hurry after school, some reporter with far-too-keen eyes might realize that I look like Prince. Wouldn't I be dead meat if that were to happen?_

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"That's right. Professor, you don't know how scary that guy is. Xiao Lan told him that she'd rather die than love him, but it was no use! Even kicking his ass with my karate didn't work. After that, all that we could do was tell him that Xiao Lan already had a perfect man who was handsome, mature, and reliable. However, he says that he refuses to believe it, unless…" At this point, Jing's face started to show signs of reluctance and embarrassment.

"Unless what?" Professor Min asked, extremely serious.

"… Unless he sees that man with his own eyes!" Jin sighed. "But where could we find someone to help us put on this show?" Jing shook her head in distress.

I suddenly had a look of epiphany_. I finally understand what Jing is trying to do! But, but_ _this lie is too lousy. Anyone with a bit of brain wouldn't fall for it, let alone Professor Min Gui Wen with his IQ of 200!_

"I understand. I will help to put up this show!" Professor Min let out a smile.

_It can't be! Professor Min, where did your IQ of 200 go? _I was incredulous as I looked atProfessor Min's earnest face.

"That's wonderful, Professor! Then tomorrow after school, you can take Xiao Lan out for coffee or go shopping or something. I'll be responsible for bringing that guy over, so that he'll finally believe Xiao Lan's words!" Jing happily exclaimed.

"Okay." Professor Min's face still held the same gentle smile.

Thus explains how Professor Min and I happened to be sitting in this open-air café drinking coffee for no apparent reason. I continued to have doubts as to how Professor Min could have fallen for Jing's story.

"Student Feng Lan, why hasn't that person come yet?" Professor Min wore a smile on his face.

"I, I don't know either…" _That person had better exist!_ I cursed Jing, whose current whereabouts were unknown, behind her back.

Professor Min's face suddenly became serious and he sighed. "Student Feng Lan, I don't think that person is coming, is he? Or rather, that person doesn't even exist."

"You knew?" I said in surprise. _Since he knew the truth, why would he still go out with_ _me?_

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Professor Min put on a forced smile. "Ever since I started teaching, I have heard all sorts of reasons for asking me out. However, the reason that you two came up with was the most exaggerated."

Hearing this, I could only smile foolishly. _That makes more sense!_

"Student Feng Lan, I want to tell you that I already have someone in my heart, so…" Professor Min abruptly showed an awkward expression. "So I'm afraid I can't accept your feelings."

I sat there stunned for some time before I realized that he thought the reason I invited him out was to confess my feelings for him.

"Student Feng Lan, don't be too upset. I truly have someone in my heart. It's not that you're not good enough…" Professor Min probably saw my dumbfounded look and started panicking as he tried to explain with everything he had.

"_Pfft_!" I couldn't help but laugh. _It's not my fault. When Professor Min is flustered, he_ _suddenly has Gui's foolish look. Seeing Professor's refined and serious appearance, wearing glasses and a white dress shirt, but revealing a look of foolishness is just too funny._

"Why are you laughing now? Women nowadays are so hard to understand," Gui muttered to himself.

"Is Professor's crush Prince?" I suddenly wanted to hear Professor Min say it out loud in real life, as himself.

"Yes, it's Prince." Although he wanted to feign calmness, Gui's face still reddened slightly and he looked embarrassed.

After a round of silence, I suddenly blurted out, "Won't you regret it? Prince is a man."

When he heard my question, Gui's expression suddenly changed into one of profundity. "Regret…? Prince is like a rose with thorns. If at first I had known about its thorns, then perhaps I would not have picked it up. However, I have already picked the rose up, smelled its fragrance and seen its beauty. If I put it down now, the suffering borne by my heart would be more painful than the pain of my bleeding hand, torn open by the thorns. Therefore, I cannot put it down."

After a good while, Gui's intense gaze faded away and he looked at me with a red face. "Sorry, that must have sounded strange," he said.

Smiling, I shook my head and then said solemnly, "Professor, promise me one thing, then we can end it here today."

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"What is it?" Gui was noticeably trembling in fear.

With gleaming eyes, I pointed at the menu and said, "Would you please treat me to spaghetti with clams in white wine sauce17 and borscht18?"

"Huh?"

Thus, after eating spaghetti with clams in white wine sauce and borscht to my heart's content, Professor Min bewilderedly paid the bill, and my date with Professor Min came to a satisfactory conclusion.

hg

That night, Jing and Yun excitedly dragged me out.

"Where are we going?" I asked uncertainly.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? It's to meet your next date, of course," Jing barked crossly.

"Oh…"

"Over there!" Jing hid behind a lamp-post, her finger pointing at Zhuo-gege, who was standing some distance away. "Xiao Lan, I told Zhuo Ling Bin that you really wanted to visit the night market19, but I didn't have time to accompany you so I asked him to go with you in my place. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Then hurry up and go! Remember to compare the two prospects." Yun suddenly pushed me out from behind the lamp-post. I had no choice but to walk towards Zhuo-gege.

"You're here, Xiao Lan." Zhuo-gege smiled at me.

"Yeah." I nodded my head.

17**Spaghetti with clams in white wine sauce: **This is what it looks like: 2008-10-09/1031423_ . And here the recipe for anyone who is interested (and can cook): . .

18**Borscht: **A soup of Ukrainian origin that is popular in many Eastern and Central European countries. Itis usually made with beetroot and/or tomatoes, which give it a reddish-purple color. For more information, see wiki/Borscht.

19**Night Market: **Also known as night bazaars, these are street markets which operate at night and aregenerally dedicated to more leisurely strolling, shopping, and eating than more businesslike day markets.

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"Where do you want to shop first? Or do you want to eat something first?" Zhuo-gege asked very considerately.

"Eat." _I never had any intention to shop around, so I can only say eat. It's really not_ _because I'm a glutton!_

By the end of our stroll, I was holding fried chicken in my left hand, red tea in my right hand, and I was still chewing the french fries that I had just stuffed into my mouth… Zhuo-gege was even helping me hold the chicken kebabs and liquor escargots.

"Do you want anything else to eat, Xiao Lan?" Zhuo-gege asked attentively.

I shook my head, pointing to a park bench not far away. "Let's just go sit down there and take our time eating."

"Okay."

While I worked on the food, I thought of my mother's words. _She said Zhuo-gege likes_ _me? Hmmm… I have to ask him. _Thinking of this, I absent-mindedly opened my mouth toask, "Zhuo-gege, do you like me?"

Zhuo-gege's body froze rather noticeably. He slowly turned his head to face me, his eyes filled with the uncertainty of whether to feel happy or helpless. He was silent for a long time. Finally he only said, "Yeah, I have liked you for eight years."

_Eight years? _My heart skipped a beat._ Has he really liked me for such a long time?_

"Liked me for eight years? Am I worth it?"

"Of course," Zhuo-gege replied without hesitation.

"But, I don't know whether I like you or not… I can't decide." Seeing that Zhuo-gege's mood was clearly a little downcast, I felt a bit at a loss of what to do. _Isn't this extremely_ _unfair for Zhuo-gege? Eight years… That's such a heavy burden that just hearing about it makes me gasp for breath._

"Never mind, I will wait for you." Zhuo-gege replied in another simple sentence.

I hesitated a little. "You…don't regret it? Maybe, maybe I…"

Zhuo-gege stood up with his back facing me, using a dreamy tone that I had never heard him using before. "The sunflower always faces the sun without regret or complaint. In the face of wind or rain, it always awaits the sun's warm smile. Although the time spent waiting for the sun is always so painful, the sunflower has never regretted and will never regret it."

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Seeing Zhuo-gege's broad and lonely figure, I abruptly realized that his ears were as red as a thoroughly ripe tomato.

"Sunflower, huh?" I quietly chewed on my food, not even noticing the taste inside my mouth.

hg

"What do you think of yesterday's dates?" asked Jing and Yun the next day, their eyes opened wide in excitement.

"Quite good." I scratched my cheek.

"So how are the prospects on both sides?" Yun was itching to know.

"Hmm… On one party's side, although he only paid once, the price for that one time was quite significant, and it left me with an endless aftertaste. On the other party's side, he paid continuously. Although the price he paid each time was small, and even though the taste was inferior to the former, the combined total was still remarkable," I said in accordance with the facts.

"What does that mean?" Yun asked in puzzlement.

Smacking Yun on the head, Jing said, "Dummy, can't you even understand a metaphor? The meaning is this: although Professor Min loved her for a shorter time, he still fell in love with her even though he thought that Xiao Lan was a guy. This sacrifice is of course very impressive. In addition, Professor's love is as passionate as fire. Thus, it definitely leaves a lingering aftertaste. On the contrary, Zhuo Ling Bin's love is as gentle as water. However, it's also like a slow and steady stream. His continuous sacrifices aren't as impressive as the sacrifice made by the Professor, but when we take into account the total time that he had loved Xiao Lan, the sacrifice he made isn't any less significant than Professor's. Do you understand?"

"I get it now," Yun realized with sudden comprehension.

"Yes. Isn't that right, Xiao Lan?" Jing asked proudly, showing off.

"No… I was referring to the food." I scratched my head.

"Food?" Jing and Yun stared at me with eyes wide open.

I nodded my head as if that were the most natural explanation. "Yeah, although Gui only treated me to spaghetti with clams in white wine sauce and borsht, the price of the meal

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was over eight hundred dollars20. It was really expensive, and the spaghetti was so delicious that I keep remembering its aftertaste. As for the night market snacks that Zhuo-gege treated me to, although they weren't as delicious as the spaghetti, there was a great variety. I really ate to my heart's content, so the total cost might not be less than that of Gui's treat."

"…" For reasons unbeknownst to me, the two of them began foaming at the mouth. Then, they glared at me with wide, white eyes.

Finally, Jing concluded, "Whoever falls in love with you will be cursed for eight generations."

_Achoo! _Min Gui Wen and Zhuo Lin Bin simultaneously sneezed in two differentlocations.

_Is someone cursing me? _The two thought at the same time.

20** Eight hundred dollars: **This is in New Taiwan Dollars, not US dollars. 800 TWD is equal toapproximately 26 USD (as of December 2010).

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**Chapter 9: The Concert **

_Online_

"Prince, hurry up and get over here! The concert hall has finished being constructed." I heard Yu Lian-dàsao's excited and slightly distressed voice just as I came online.

"Really? I'll come take a look." _I wonder what the hall looks like. It ought to be pretty_ _luxurious; after all, we did spend a fortune on it. _I thought to myself as I picked up mypace and dashed to the site. I was following Yu Lian-dàsao's directions, which led me just to the left of the castle.

Everyone was waiting for me when I arrived. Barely containing my excitement, I walked closer, wishing to examine carefully the concert hall where I would be performing.

"I-Impossible…" I stammered with my jaw dropped. _Heavens! This looks like something_ _that came straight out of our textbooks… An ancient Roman coliseum?!_

"Hehe, welcome to Infinite City's— No, it should be Second Life's, first concert hall: Infinite Rhapsody!" Yu Lian greeted with a laugh.

"This is awesome!" I said. With excitement spreading across my face, I let my eyes frantically take in the grandeur of the architecture. It was circular in shape and stood around twenty stories high. The primitive engravings on the ash-colored walls gave a rather ancient look. I walked closer to get a better view and saw that the engravings consisted of simple strokes depicting the various races holding different kinds of instruments. I ran my fingers across the engravings, unable to keep my hands off them.

"The theme of the engravings here is music," Yu Lian-dàsao explained, "The other sides show combat, nature, and all kinds of handicrafts."

"Prince! Don't just stand at the doorway, getting dazzled by only the exterior. Come and take a look inside!" Wolf-dàgê said as he walked out from the door. He hurriedly dragged me through the massive double-arched passage, which was large enough for several dozen people to walk through at once.

Stepping through the door, I stared in excitement at the incredibly magnificent scene before me. As I stood in the center of the arena, looking up and around at the rows upon rows of seats that seemed to stretch into the clouds, I impulsively blurted out, "Is this really where I will be performing?"

"That's right," Lolidragon replied as she walked towards me, smiling sweetly. "How is it? Is the place good enough for Your Highness to perform in?"

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"It's more than enough!" I answered, blushing. "It's _ridiculously_ spacious! It'd be an accomplishment if the audience could even fill up one tenth of the space here."

"Prince-gege is mistaken. This place is going to be packed to capacity," Doll refuted as she skipped over. "Doll has sore hands from selling too many concert tickets this past week."

"That's right!" Yu Lian-dàsao said, nodding. "If it weren't for the earnings from selling those tickets, we wouldn't have had enough funds to build this hall."

"I told you guys that Prince would draw out a large crowd," laughed Wolf-dàgê as he slapped me on the back energetically. "Though I will admit that I didn't predict that you'd become Second Life's spokesperson, Prince."

"I didn't think that would happen either…" I shrugged helplessly.

"In any case, Prince, just settle down and become one of the highlights of Infinite City," Yu Lian laughed heartily. An uneasy feeling formed in the bottom of my heart. _Don't tell_ _me there's something else they're going to make me do?_

As I was still thinking this, Yu Lian continued. "I heard the Construction Department is planning on building two bookstores. Prince, after the concert is over and the bookstores are built, you can conveniently hold an autograph session as well."

"Oh, sure." I sighed in relief upon hearing that it was just about an autograph session.

I turned towards the audience seating again and muttered with excitement, plus a hint of nervousness, "So this place is going to be jam-packed with people, eh…"

hg

"Prince! Prince!" Listening to the deafening roar of the crowd coming from outside, I felt tremendously nervous. I frantically did some breathing exercises. _Breathe in, breathe out._ _Breathe in, breathe out…_

"Ugh, still feeling pretty nervous." I looked helplessly at my fellow band members.

Gui was chattering like a parakeet, trying to calm me down. "Don't be nervous, Your Highness. Just pretend that the students—er, no, the fans—are rocks, and you'll be fine. Just perform like you normally do and it'll be okay." Gui looked at my pale face worriedly. I rolled my eyes in response. _Don't pretend that I didn't hear that bit about_ _students. So we're nothing but rocks to you eh, Professor?!_

"Just ignore them." Wicked frowned slightly and patted me on the back in an attempt to calm my erratic breathing.

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"What are you afraid of? It's just a bunch of people, that's all." Fairsky threw a haughty glance towards the crowd that consisted of as many people as there were grains of sand on a beach.

"I'm a little nervous too." Phoenix's face was just as pale as mine. _Finally, someone who_ _is normal like me, _I thought with satisfaction.

"Let's get this show on the road! Everyone still remembers the way we make our entrance as rehearsed?" Lolidragon poked out her head suddenly, smiling a Mona Lisa-like smile at my pale complexion.

I closed my eyes once more and breathed in deeply. When my eyes snapped open, only tranquility was left on my face. "Let's do this."

hg

_Passerby A's Concert Experience_

He was one of Second Life's professional players, but he had never thought that it would actually be possible to hold a concert in an online game. So, when he heard that Infinite City was planning to hold a concert, starring none other than the recently popular Infinite Band, he decided to set out for Infinite City to broaden his horizons.

"Damn, I had to wait five whole hours in queue before I could buy the ticket! Is this band really all that great?" he muttered to himself. He was feeling peeved by the long wait, yet he was also glad that he decided to come and witness such an epic event. How else could he have fulfilled his curiosity if he were to miss it?

_There sure are a lot of attractions worth visiting in Infinite City. Seeing the crescent shaped fountain in the Central Plaza alone makes up for the price of the ticket. Moreover, the actual city itself is so opulent and majestic! I wonder how much it took to finance its construction. _He admired the streets that were even wider and neater thanthose of the pre-programmed Sun, Star and Moon cities. The shops and markets beside the streets were all beautiful and unique in their own special way. He wondered how much it would cost to rent a shop and began calculating in his head.

But nothing could compare to the shock that the residential area gave him_. Is… is this still_ _part of a game? _He gaped, wide eyed and dumbstruck, at street after street of lovelygardened mansions, all so beautiful that it was hard to even take your eyes off them. He scanned each one greedily. After browsing and coveting the last of the mansions, he heaved a long sigh and said, "I should get one of these and sell off the house I have in Moon City. Once everyone discovers how lovely these houses are, the real estate demand in the pre-programmed cities will most likely slump."

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The next day, he hurried to the concert venue at the crack of dawn, hoping to get a good seat, but he miscalculated. There was already a huge line of people in front of him.

"How long have you been waiting here?!" he asked the ones in front of him in shock.

"We came here after dinner yesterday." The people near the end of the line said.

"We pitched our tents here right after we bought the tickets two days ago," a group of girls in the middle replied.

"Ha! That's nothing! I'm telling you, I watched as they built Infinite Rhapsody, brick by brick!" The man who was first in the line proudly boasted.

He was left completely speechless. With enough curiosity to kill a cat, he wondered impatiently exactly how strong the allure of Infinite Band was and what Prince, Second Life's rumored spokesperson, was using to draw out all these fans.

"Prince! Prince!" The girls next to him were cheering so loudly that he felt like his eardrums were on the verge of rupturing. He couldn't help but let out a sigh, wondering why he had allowed himself to be drawn into such pandemonium. _It really is way too_ _crowded, noisy, and tiresome_, he thought while massaging his exhausted body. All hecould do now was hope that this Infinite Band was talented enough to not make him leave disappointed.

All of a sudden, snow began falling from the sky. Startled, he examined the snowflakes as they drifted down toward him. Even the girls who had been screaming next to him just a moment before fell silent, bedazzled by the beautiful falling snow_. This is probably the_ _work of a mage, _he thought to himself.

Five pillars of ice suddenly solidified, starting from the sky to the ground. As everyone was still looking up in surprise, five blurry individuals came sliding down, one from the top of each pillar. Just as they were all about to reach the ground, the ice pillars suddenly shattered into countless tiny crystals, sprinkling themselves throughout the entire coliseum. The place was completely covered in a dazzling radiance, proclaiming the arrival of these five exceptional people.

"So this is Infinite Band?" He could clearly see the five people now, and indeed each of them had their own type of charisma. There was the proud and aloof flutist, the handsome and bewitching guqin player, the sexy and sassy female guitarist, the mature yet charming female drummer, and lastly the one wearing a blood tiara, the indescribably gorgeous lead singer wearing a faint and coy smile on his face. Is that…Prince?

Prince gave a small bewitching smile, lightly raised a finger to his lips and made a small shhh-ing sound, and spoke in a laid back yet mesmerizing voice. "No need to say anything more, so let's just start with a song."

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_This life, this love, this moment squandered away_

_As I exhaust my color onto your skies_

_Your desires, your words, your every demand_

_Actually brings me happiness all because you are_

_My source of joy, my source of pain_

_Adapted from: Swallowtail Butterfly_

_Lyrics and song by: Ah Xin, MayDay_

How should he describe his emotions upon hearing the sound of Prince singing? The voice was resounding and emotionally stirring, and yet it had a hint of trembling, like a butterfly humming without regret as it flutters into a fire. Moreover, the intense beat of the drums and the hearty vibrations of the guitar made his heart pound along wildly to the rhythm of the music, almost to the point of bursting apart.

After that intense experience, the first song was finally over and everyone, including him, was left completely speechless. But the craze was still shining through their eyes and drops of sweat fell as they gazed up towards the Infinite Band members onstage.

"Did you guys enjoy it?" Prince suddenly laughed without restraint, a laugh infectious enough to liberate the tense feelings in the hearts of everyone in the crowd.

"Yes! You were awesome!" someone shouted before anyone else could react, leading the entire stadium to then be filled with cheers and roars. He let his own voice join in the rumbles of the masses too.

"In that case…" Prince closed his eyes, as if pondering something. The fans in the audience, afraid to disturb his train of thought, quieted down one by one…

Prince slowly opened his eyes again, eyes that were filled with sentiment as he spoke in a gentle voice, as if whispering sweet nothings across a bed. "Love is always such a dilemma. Should you choose the one who loves you, or the one whom you love?"

The sound of the flute, hopelessly sorrowful, yet with an inkling of sweetness, suddenly reverberated throughout Infinite Rhapsody. The guqin then joined in, with an airy and flowing melody that accentuated the flute's lonely tune. Finally, Prince's voice emerged, low and warm, like the murmurs of a lover, completely different from the intense and resounding sound from the previous song…

In this manner, he was continually entranced by Prince's voice, from the first, second…fifth…to the tenth song, but he still couldn't get enough, and craved more.

"The next song will be the last one for today and is my favorite one of all: 'It's My Life'. Could everyone repeat with me loudly, 'It's My Life'?" Prince's words brought along regret and happiness at the same time.

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"…It's my life!" As Prince sang out the final stanza, the entire crowd fell into an unprecedented and complete silence, where only the sound of heartbeats could be heard throughout the arena.

"Die, Prince!" a cold voice rang out without warning, and only a flash of silver could be seen as everyone looked up. On the stage, Prince quickly staggered back.

"You're hurt, Prince!" From the stands, he could see the guqin player fearfully trying to step forward to take a closer look at Prince's left arm, which was drenched in blood. A female swordmaster was glaring angrily at Prince from the opposite side.

Prince gave a wave with his hand, paying no attention to his injured left arm. He calmly said, "If I recall correctly, I don't actually know you, so why do you want to assassinate me and ruin my concert?" As he listened from offstage, he began to tremble unconsciously. Though Prince's tone was indifferent, an unquestionable thought was formed in his heart—Prince is angry.

"Your lover took away my beloved from me, so I am here to kill you and make that bastard feel the pain of losing a loved one." The female swordmaster's eyes burned like a raging inferno.

Prince blinked conspicuously, and then asked in total confusion, "My lover? Are you referring to a guy or a girl?"

The female swordmaster's rage was enough to burn through the nine layers of heaven. "Of course he's a guy!"

Watching from the crowd, he didn't feel that the answer was obvious at all. He analyzed the situation, puzzled. _How strange. How could it be a guy? A guy stole away your lover?_ _What gender is your lover, then? _Prince, however, did not seem to be the least bitsurprised. He just scratched his head, gestured towards the guqin player and the flutist, asking, "Which one is it?"

"Guileastes, do you still remember me, sonny21?" bellowed the female swordmaster.

Gui, the guqin player who was being called out, shook his head, clueless. "Who are you?"

The female swordmaster grinded her teeth and roared again, "How dare you freaking forget about me?! Bastard, did you forget about Lovely Consort as well?!"

21** Sonny: **In Chinese, it's actually the fencer referring to himself as "老子", lit. "old man/father", so he'ssaying he is a generation higher, and thus deserving of respect. Basically an insult. Kind of like how white people called black men "boy" during the Jim Crow days. This insult is generally used by men only. There is a woman alternative "老娘", lit "old lady/mother".

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The color of the guqin player's face suddenly changed. He then asked with quite a bit of hesitation, "Who are you to her?"

"Sonny, you bastard! I'm Lovely Consort's husband. You have some nerve, forgetting about me." The female swordmaster looked angry enough to erupt anytime.

"Lovely Consort's husband? You are XiMen Feng22?" the guqin player asked incredulously.

"That's right, sonny." The female (?)23 swordmaster replied with a fiendish visage, a difficult feat, considering her elegant and exquisite face.

"How… how did you become like this?" the guqin player asked, his face pale with horror.

"It was all your fault to begin with! And what's with all this damn chit-chat? It's time for me to slaughter your lover, this Prince fellow," XiMen Feng shouted. Then, he suddenly drew forth a sword to attack Prince.

The following scene would be etched into his memory forever as he watched from the sidelines. That swordmaster called XiMen Feng was indeed strong – probably around level seventy according to his own estimates. Yet, she couldn't do anything against the completely unarmed Prince. Prince effortlessly dodged XiMen Feng's greatsword, and even analyzed her up and down with great interest.

Prince finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked, "You keep calling out 'sonny' like you're some old man, and you say that you're Lovely Consort's husband, but you clearly look like a girl. So really, are you a guy or a girl?"

The female swordmaster didn't reply, but vigorously continued to direct attacks towards Prince until her cheeks were flushed red with rage. She yelled loudly, "Bastard, are you even a man? All you do is dodge."

"Don't tell me you're expecting me to stand still obediently for you to hack at," Prince responded with a chuckle, amused.

"Exactly!" XiMen Feng bellowed with sword raised in preparation for another attack on Prince. This time, Prince actually did stand still, not budging from his original spot. Seeing Prince about to get his blood splattered all over the stage, everyone cried out in alarm… However, Prince suddenly gave a swift kick, sending the swordmaster's blade high into the air. Next, he saw Prince actually using a roundhouse kick to send XiMen Feng out of the arena and then casually catching the sword as it fell from the sky.

22**XiMen Feng: **The manhua calls him Western Wind, but we're going with XiMen Feng since Xi Mendoesn't actually mean western; it's just a surname.

23**(?): **Yes, this was in the original and is therefore being left as is.

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Prince paid no heed to the female swordmaster who was coughing up blood furiously on the ground, her face full of hatred. He leisurely turned to face the audience and apologized with a faint smile. "I'm sorry for this interruption to the concert. I hope nobody minds. In any case, this marks the close to today's concert. I hope everyone will continue to support Infinite Band by buying a copy of our upcoming portfolio at Infinite City's bookstore, which should be opening very soon."

The concert drew to a close, but he was still thinking about all that had happened as he walked through the wide streets of Infinite City. He reminisced about Infinite Band's extraordinary performance and the even more astonishing battle skills displayed by Prince. He always thought Prince became a spokesperson only through the virtue of his face. Who knew that his display of strength could be so exciting to watch? He couldn't help but mutter, "It really wouldn't be a bad idea at all to become a citizen of Infinite City."

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**Chapter 10: XiMen Feng, Someone in the Same Situation as Me? **

With his face pulled down into a troubled frown, Gui spoke in a deeply apologetic tone, "I'm truly sorry, everyone. My personal affairs have caused the concert to be interrupted."

"It doesn't matter; it wasn't that big of a deal anyway. But what is the truth about the situation between you and XiMen Feng?" I replied as Wolf-dàgēhealed the woun d on my arm.

"He robbed me of my lover, don't you FREAKIN' understand?!" XiMen Feng, who was tied up tightly off to the side, roared suddenly.

"Besides my Prince, you've stolen someone else's man as well?" Fairsky looked at Gui in disbelief.

Gui's face flushed bright red, and he roared back with clenched fists, "I did not, and Prince is not yours either!"

Wicked coldly asked, "Then why would this girl make such an accusation?"

Hearing Wicked's words, Gui deflated like a punctured balloon. He replied, as if tormented by a splitting migraine, "I don't understand either, but since she said that she's XiMen Feng, and even mentioned Lovely Consort… So I guess it must be related to that incident. Before joining Odd Squad, I had teamed up with a couple, namely XiMen Feng and Lovely Consort. However, Lovely Consort later confessed that she had fallen in love with me. In order to avoid Lovely Consort's constant badgering and XiMen Feng's onslaught, I had no choice but to flee."

"Bastard, it's all because of you that Lovely Consort had a change of heart," XiMen Feng was so angry that the veins on her head were bulging out, a sight unbefitting of her elegant face.

"Uh… sorry, I have a question." Looking at XiMen Feng's noticeably busty chest, I hesitantly spoke up. "You… are a girl, right? And Lovely Consort, it sounds like she's a girl too, right? Don't get me wrong… I have nothing against homosexuals."

"You're the damn homo! I'm a guy, sonny!" XiMen Feng glared at me fiercely.

_A guy? Could this XiMen Feng be like Ming Huang, a male who looks like a female? _Iwas a bit suspicious. _But that can't be; Ming Huang's chest is as flat as an iron board_ _and XiMen Feng's chest… Hmph, it's two sizes larger than mine as a girl. How could this be a guy?_

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I tilted my head, doubtfully studying XiMen Feng's pair of meat jugs. _Don't tell me these_ _are fake? _I absent-mindedly placed my palms on the two blobs of flesh._ Mmm, they're soft. _I squeezed them twice._ They're quite bouncy too. Strange, they have to be real!_

"P-Prince, Your Highness…!" Gui's eyes bulged out, fixated on me…well, on my hands.

Phoenix and Fairsky were also staring at my hands with flushed faces. I wasn't sure whether or not I was seeing things, but it seemed like both of them were swallowing their saliva and looking at my hands with expressions of desire.

"Get your filthy hands off me, sonny!" XiMen Feng, who had froze up in shock, finally snapped. XiMen Feng's eyes were staring at my hands so hard that they looked ready to jump out of their sockets. Flustered, I withdrew my hand to avoid the possibility of her putting her neck on the line to bite off my hand.

"You're obviously a girl," I pointed out the truth without any reservations.

Everyone nodded. I had already so brazenly grabbed her for confirmation, so could there still be any room for error?

"If it weren't for that bastard Guileastes, I wouldn't have fallen to this state!" XiMen Feng bellowed angrily.

"What do you mean?" I scratched my head, still unable to make heads or tails of the situation24. _Don't tell me Gui can even perform a sex-change operation?_

Acting like he owned the place, Boss25 XiMen Feng sat down without any courtesy. With his legs crossed, he snorted a little, and began telling his tale.

24** Unable to make heads or tails of the situation**: Here, Yu Wo uses "丈八摸不着头脑", (zhàngāōm bbu zháoǎo)whichtóunis the shortened/slang version of a Chinese idiom, '丈二金刚，摸不着头脑' (zhàngīāōbumèrǎo)zháoj. tóu n

In some Chinese idioms, the first phrase is a description for a riddle, while the following phrase offers the explanation. In this case, the first phrase 丈二金刚 (zhàngīāng) èrmeansj 'Twelve foot tall Monk (Also

known as Vajrapani)', the following phrase 摸不着头脑 (mōbu ǎo)zháo tóu n means 'can't touch his head'. Literally, it means the monk is so tall that you can't touch his head. The whole idiom basically means something that is so surprising or bizarre that one wouldn't know what to do immediately. It best describes the confusion/questions one usually has in the middle of a thought process (i.e. Imagine you're in the middle of solving a murder case, 'how could the murder occur when the room is locked from the inside?' is such confusion).

Yu Wo, however, exaggerates the idiom by saying that the monk (problem) is eighteen feet tall, and thus Prince could not reach its head (understand) . [Credit to Erihppas]

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"Damn it, after I found out Lovely Consort had a change of heart, I vowed to PK26 that punk Guileastes until he returned to level one. Who would have guessed that the punk would preemptively escape, forcing me to hunt him down for many miles."

At that, Gui smiled helplessly.

"Luckily, that punk Guileastes was so conspicuous that you could find his whereabouts just by asking around casually. I pursued him all the way to a cliff and I found a piece of that bastard's clothing by the edge. Surely, that bastard must have hid under the cliff to hide from me! Hmph, you think I'd just give up like that, sonny? I lowered a rope on the spot and continued the chase." XiMen Feng seemed particularly proud of his own perseverance.

My gaze shifted to Gui. _He doesn't seemed like one that would climb down a cliff just to_ _avoid someone; a bard's stamina isn't that great, and he could very well lose his grip halfway and fall to his death._

Presently, Gui had assumed a resigned expression and he wordlessly mouthed the words: diversion tactic.

_That explains it. _I scratched my head._ Looks like Gui also realized that XiMen Feng is not one to look before he leaps._

"Who would have thought that instead of finding that punk, I'd encounter some sort of hidden quest instead?" XiMen Feng made a strange face. "That damn mythical beast even went as far as to say that I would receive a random divine punishment if I couldn't defeat it. There was no way in hell that I could defeat that freak of a monster whose hide was as thick as a steel wall, so I had to receive its divine punishment. Who would have imagined that the random divine punishment would turn me into a girl!" XiMen Feng complained loudly.

At that, Lolidragon's, Wicked's and my own expression changed slightly. _Never would_ _we have thought that I wasn't the only tranny in Second Life! To think that I have a comrade here! The only difference is that I'm a woman who became a man, and he's a man who became a woman. I wonder who is more unfortunate?_

After a while, as both of us were in the same boat, I half-heartedly opened my mouth to comfort XiMen Feng. "Err, at least you still look quite pretty."

"Bullshit, it's darn troublesome!" XiMen Feng roared loudly.

25**Boss**:老大usually means boss. Prince was just jokingly calling XiMen Feng that because he acts like hecan just do whatever he wants, as if he owned the place. [Credit to Erihppas]

26**PK: **Gamer term for Player Kill in this case, though PK can also refer to general player vs player combat.

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_Troublesome? I thought it's alright. At least the game doesn't simulate women's monthly 'problem'… _I thought.

"Are you looking down on women?" Lolidragon snorted coldly.

"Women mean nothing." XiMen Feng slowly stood up, and walked towards the window as his legs were untied, allowing the final rays of the sunset bathe his body. "The trouble I mentioned ain't gotta do with women, but…"

As the sun set, night suddenly descended outside, and XiMen Feng's body also began to change: her body slowly grew taller and brawnier, her long hairstyle became a buzz cut, the curves of her chest slowly flattened down, until finally, she became a he.

We gaped in surprise at the inconceivable transformation, unable to snap out of it for quite a while, until at last, I let out a breath and said, "That sure is faster than a sex change operation."

"XiMen Feng, what exactly is going on here?" Gui asked in bewilderment.

"It's all that mythical beast's fault." XiMen Feng spoke in a rough, manly voice that suited his crude language. He impatiently creased his brow. "I didn't want to become a woman, so the result of our negotiation was that I'd become a woman in the morning, and transform back into a man when night falls."

"That sure is troublesome," I said, resisting with difficulty the urge to smile.

"No shit! Oi, untie me quickly. The rope is freakin' tight," XiMen Feng had an expression of discomfort.

Gui looked at me with a bit of hesitation. After I shrugged, indicating that it didn't matter, Gui turned to face XiMen Feng again. "Before I untie you, you must first promise that you will never harm Prince."

XiMen Feng scoffed. "No can do. Even if I don't fight him for the sake of revenge, I'd still like to challenge him, sonny. This pretty boy got some skills."

I burst into loud laughter. "Why don't you just join Infinite City? Then you'd be able to challenge me whenever you want."

"Prince, that's not a good idea. What if he hurts you?" Gui had concern written all over his face.

I replied without any fear, "It'll be fine. I haven't fought any monsters for some time now and I'm feeling rusty. At least now I'll have someone to spar with. If I get injured, I'll just have to find Wolf -dàgē for healing and if I die, it would just mean that I have to

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practice harder. But," I confidently challenged XiMen Feng, "I have no intention of losing."

XiMen Feng's eyes lit up. "Ha! Looks like pretty boy got some guts!"

"Stop calling me pretty boy, or I'll start calling you hot babe," I said to XiMen Feng in a semi-threatening manner.

"You wouldn't dare!" XiMen Feng roared furiously.

"Of course I dare to, XiMen you hot babe with C-sized cups," I unsheathed Black Dao and cut open the rope that bound XiMen Feng with one slash.

XiMen Feng's eyes shone with excitement as he brandished his sword, gazing at me like a greedy tiger. I could see that he was also a lover of combat.

"Don't disappoint me, XiMen Feng." I held up Black Dao, eyes sparkling with the excitement of returning to battle.

XiMen Feng immediately charged forward without thinking. I shook my head. _XiMen_ _Feng may like fighting, but he doesn't like to use his brain to fight. _I shifted aside mybody slightly, dodging XiMen Feng's incoming thrust while simultaneously giving him a push, forcing him to almost fall flat on his back.

"Damnit!" XiMen Feng growled loudly. Dissatisfied by his loss, he charged towards me again.

Seeing that he still hadn't understood the point, I raised my eyebrows slightly. _It seems I_ _will have to let his body remember the lesson instead. _I found an opening, grabbed a holdof XiMen Feng's wrist that was holding his sword, and fiercely landed a kick to his stomach with my right foot. He painfully gritted his teeth while I snatched away his sword, smiling faintly. _Let the massacre begin!_

I used all four limbs, plus both sword and sheathe as lethal weapons… Head butt combo! Cross cutter! I even kicked my boots off toward him as I shouted repeatedly, "Lets see if you dare to interrupt my concert ever again!"

"Whew! That fight felt so liberating," I said as I happily put my Black Dao away, cracked my neck and did some stretches. _Alright! Time to eat._ Before I left, I didn't forget to turn around, gesture at the lump of bloody flesh on the ground, and give instructions to Wicked, who was in charge of the military department. "Remember to recruit XiMen Feng into the army. His level and martial arts skill aren't bad at all, and he can even freely use sex appeal as a tactic. It would be difficult to recruit even a single person with this kind of talent in ten years."

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"Yes," Wicked said as he gazed at XiMen Feng with furrowed brows, probably plotting to find the most screwed up, overworked unit for him to join.

"Alright, let us all head to the Infinite Restaurant to eat!" I led the group joyfully, preparing to go to my most beloved Infinite Restaurant for a free meal… _Hehehe, not_ _having to pay for meals at the Infinite Restaurant has proven to be the biggest perk since I became the liege lord._

"I've already made plans with Sunshine to try the foods from street vendors, so I won't be coming along," Fairsky said with a bit of hesitation.

"Oh," I replied while biting my thumb. _Fairsky and Sunshine seemed to be getting closer_ _these days. Have they become good friends? That's not a bad thing… At least it keeps Fairsky happy._

"Alright, let's go eat!" Just as I was about to raise my legs and walk in front, two hands suddenly rested on my shoulder.

"Prince, the bookshop is almost ready and the autograph session for the portfolio is next week. Please remember to practice making your signature look neater." I turned around to see Yu Lian-dàsăosmiling at me. She then turned towards Gui and asked, "How are

the books coming along?"

Gui nodded and answered, "I have two books that are ready to be published, plus the one that Jing and Yun gave me. So there are a total of three books that can be displayed on the day of the grand opening."

"Prince, the construction of Infinite Rhapsody has caused Infinite City's budget to be in the red again," Yu Lian-dàsăo's smile was bright beyond comparison. "We'll have to organize more concerts and sell more portfolios in order to earn some cash, so please work hard on singing and selling your portfolios, do you understand?"

"Understood…" I swallowed stiffly, and my head felt numb from thinking about what I had to do.

The days that followed were a living nightmare. Within two weeks, Infinite Band had performed five concerts. Moreover, in order to attract audiences, every concert featured new stunts, such as jumping through hoops of fire to appear on stage and descending onto the stage dressed up as angels.

_(That was when I finally realized why angels in paintings are always depicted standing up, straight as an arrow with only their arms stretching out slightly… It's obvious! If you're carrying a pair of wings weighing over thirty kilograms on your back, what can you do besides stand up straight?!)_

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What was even stranger was the fans seemed to really like the minor interruption that XiMen Feng stirred up during the first concert. Thus, in every subsequent concert, XiMen Feng, under the smiling supervision of Yu Lian-dàsăo, was forced to challenge me in

front of the audience. Then I'd have to start kicking his ass. The harder he got his ass kicked, the happier the fans would be.

_Sigh, it must have been hard on you, hot babe XiMen Feng._

(XiMen Feng furiously roars: I'm a guy, damn it!)

Next, the bookstores were finally done being constructed thanks to all the hard work from Gui, Fairsky, and the others. They built two bookstores. One was in the middle of downtown and the other was combined with a café, built on the lakeside with a nice atmosphere and great lighting, specifically designed to be a couples-trap. Therefore, my signature, which I had spent many days practicing, would finally be put to good use.

On the day of the autograph session, there was a surging sea of people… Wait, what? That phrase is too ordinary—it's not my style? Alright then, that horrendous autograph session was swamped with so many people that it seemed as if Jolin Tsai27, Jay Chou28, Andy Lau29 plus Stephanie30 all appeared together in Ximending31. In short, people of all ages and genders huddled together in one massive crowd. There were men, women, and lechers, with ages ranging from five to fifty.

"Thank goodness we have the flying carpet! I don't think we could enter the bookstore otherwise." I released a sigh, looking down at the horrifyingly jam- packed crowd.

27**Jolin Tsai (**蔡依林**, _Cài_****_ī_****_línY_**** ): **A Golden Melody award–winning Taiwanese Mandopop singer. She isextremely popular in not only Taiwan and China, but has also seen great success in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, as well as having a strong fanbase in the United States. (For more information, please refer to wiki/Jolin_Tsai)

28**Jay Chou (**周杰倫**, _Zh_****_ō_****_u Jiélún_**** ): **A Taiwanese musician, singer, music and film producer, actor, anddirector. He is known for composing all his own songs and songs for other singers. His music has gained recognition throughout Asia and his career now extends into directing, acting, and running his own record company, JVR Music. (For more information, please refer to wiki/Jay_Chou)

29**Andy Lau (**劉德華**, Liú Déhuá): **A Hong Kong Cantopop singer, film actor, and producer. He has beenone of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time. In the 1990s he was branded by the media as one of the Four

Heavenly Kings of Cantopop (四大天王) with Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, and Leon Lai. (For more information, please refer to wiki/Andy_Lau)

30**Stephanie (**萧蔷**, ****ā****oXiQiáng): **Famous in Taiwan as a model and actress. She was extremely popular inthe late 1990s and early 2000s and was branded by the media as Taiwan's Number One Most Beautiful Woman. (For more information, please refer to wiki. /Xiao_Qiang)

31**Ximending (**西门町**, ****ī****X mén ding, also known as HsiMenDing): **A well-known neighborhood andshopping district in Taipei that is largest pedestrian zone in Taiwan. It is located in the northeastern part of Wanhua District and is also the most important consumer district in the west side of Taipei. It is the source of Taiwan's fashion, subculture, and Japanese culture.

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"Sunshine, land on that makeshift stage," Gui said as he gestured at a very small stage, complete with tables and chairs, surrounded by soldiers led by Nan Gong Zui for security purposes, to prevent the fans from running onto the stage.

"Sure." Sunshine obediently directed his flying carpet to land slowly on the stage.

I jumped off the flying carpet first, smiling slightly at the screaming female fans below the stage. Then I walked to a pre-arranged table and sat in the chair.

"The autograph session shall now begin," I said as I exhaled deeply, picking up the pen prepared by the workers as I readied myself for the possibility that I might have to sign until my arm fell off.

"Thank you for your support.", "Handshakes are fine.", "Uh, kisses are not acceptable!", and "Zui! Hurry and drag this fan off the stage!" were my various comments as I signed.

I gave out autographs while answering each and every fan's questions with a gentle smile. From time to time, there would be fans who wanted to kiss me, and some of them were so unwilling to be rejected that they would just forcefully throw themselves at me. Only after Nan Gong Zui dragged them away could I continue signing autographs. This cycle continued to be play out: sign, answer, be offered a kiss, be forced a kiss, and watch them get taken away…

Out of the corner of my eyes, I would occasionally sneak a peek toward the other members of Infinite Band. Gui's situation was no different than mine, except that as a bard with not much strength, he had already been kissed forcibly on his cheeks by "wolves" several times… Gui was currently holding back tears of grief as he continued signing and was even using XiMen Feng, who was previously enjoying a break, as his shield. The jealous fangirls had already used their wolf claws to scratch several bloody crosses on poor XiMen Feng the hot babe, and he wasn't even allowed to retaliate.

(_As Yu Lian-dàsăowould say, the paying customer is king, so no matter what the fans do,_ _they are always right._)

In contrast, Wicked was in a much better situation. Being a warrior and with his aloof face, hardly any fangirls dared to approach him wantonly with their mouths. Instead, they gazed at him in a tender, yearning manner, as though ready to swallow him up if the opportunity came.

Since Phoenix and Fairsky were both girls, allowing the male fans to do as they pleased with them was obviously out of the question. The duo was surrounded by so many Infinite City warriors that I could barely even see their silhouettes_… What kind of attitude_ _is this? Why is Zui the only warrior protecting me? A bunch of lechers who'd forget about their liege lord at the sight of women…_

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The autograph session went on like this until even XiMen Feng the hot babe had became XiMen Feng with the buzz cut. We continued signing autographs, except now it wasn't just Gui, but everyone in the group who were holding back tears as they signed. If there weren't any fans looking at me, there was a very good chance that I would have cried out loud. I glanced at my right hand mournfully, which was shaking uncontrollably as though as I had a stroke, while keeping count in my mind how many people were still lined up.

"The last one…" I finished giving out my final signature, feeling deeply moved. Luckily, it was a dude and it was quite obvious from the way he kept looking back towards Fairsky and Phoenix that he wasn't the slightest bit interested in me. _What a perfect_ _ending_. I felt touched beyond words.

Sure enough, just as I finished signing, he immediately ran towards the duo, and ended up sliding into a half-kneeling position on the floor. A colossal bouquet of red roses appeared out of nowhere in his left hand and an enormous ring with a diamond the size of a baseball appeared unexpectedly in his right hand.

"O dearest Lady Fairsky, my love for you flows ceaselessly like the Yellow River, stretches on infinitely like the white clouds above, and crashes wave after wave like the ocean tide…" Such nauseating drivel gushed forth endlessly from this animal's mouth, and the sounds of people puking all around flowed ceaselessly like the Yellow River as well.

"…So, beloved Lady Fairsky, please marry me!"

"Sorry, I have to tell everyone, there's already someone that I'm in love with," Fairsky announced straightly, not even sparing a glance at the mongrel onstage, and then bowed towards her fans below the stage to express her apologies.

"Who is it? Who is the one that dares to steal away my woman without regard for his own life?" Below the stage, Fairsky's fans began to riot. I sighed helplessly. _I probably_ _have the most enemies in the world._

Then, Fairsky inhaled deeply and raised her head to gaze at the sky towards Sunshine, who was sitting on the flying carpet. "He is the one that I like."

"Ehh?" Including mine and Sunshine's, there were five "ehh" sounds.

Fairsky gazed at the astonished Sunshine with her cheeks flushed red. After a long while, she turned and bowed to me. "Sorry Prince, but I realized that I have fallen in love with Sunshine, so I can't have feelings for you anymore."

"T-this…" I stuttered awkwardly for quite a while, but couldn't seem to squeeze out even half a sentence.

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_Oh, why does my head hurt more now compared to the time Fairsky tried to force me to marry her? Fairsky, if you had a change of heart and fell in love with someone else I would be 120% supportive, but couldn't you pick a more normal partner? First you fall for a tranny like me, and now you pick him? You might as well continue loving me because that would be just homosexual, but you're now in love with an NPC! What would that be called?_

_Even bestiality is better than falling in love with a NPC. At least a beast has a physical body, but NPCs… Don't tell me you would insist and say, "That's right; I'm in love with several lines of computer code."?_

"Sunshine, don't you like me?" Fairsky asked in a calm tone as she gazed at Sunshine earnestly, sounding fully confident.32

"I… I…" Sunshine knitted his eyebrows tightly; he was clearly at a loss.

"You really like Fairsky as well?" I paled in shock_. Sunshine is an NPC. Even though he_ _has gained self-awareness, he is still different from an ordinary human being. For example, he does not know how to tell a lie, so he cannot comfort people with white lies. If he didn't have feelings for Fairsky, he would have said so directly, and yet he could not seem to speak? Does that mean…?_

Sunshine turned towards me, confusion written in his eyes.

"Prince, this is not a good place for an interrogation!" Gui pulled me away, gesturing at the audience below the stage.

"You're right." I could only forcibly suppress my anxiety, reassuming the appearance of the Blood Elf Prince.

I put on a polite smile and said with a charming tone, "The autograph session shall end here for today. Infinite Band shall work harder in the future, and we hope that you would continue to support us. Thank you."

The seconds I waited as the crowd dispersed felt like years. Then, I immediately dragged Fairsky and Sunshine away with me. _Where to go?_ I hesitated for a moment_. Right, to_ _Jing and Yun's house. _After making up my mind, I swiftly PMed Jing and Yun, tellingthem to wait for me at their home.

32** Sounding fully confident: **Here Yu Wo uses the idiom "胸有成竹"ōng(xiǒuychéng zhú), literally

"having had the images of the bamboo ready in one's bosom". It is later used to refer to making extensive preparation before doing something, and having full confidence in the final success. It also indicates that someone can remain composed no matter what happens. Refer to this website for the story the idiom originated from: Chinese/Idiom_ ?id=51.

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Just as I started walking, I suddenly stopped and turned to face the other Infinite Band members that were following close behind. I said in a highly threatening tone, "No one is allowed to come along, you hear?"

The trio behind me froze conspicuously. Seeing my stern expression, they all nodded in unison.

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**Chapter 11: The Great Patch **

After I had dragged Fairsky, Sunshine, Jing, and Yun into the room urgently, I rested my hands on Fairsky's shoulders and said very solemnly, "Fairsky, you cannot love Sunshine." I ignored Jing and Yun for the time being as they stood on the sidelines. Upon hearing my words, they were so surprised that their eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their heads.

Fairsky opened her mouth and then closed it again, before finally managing to spit out a single word: "Why?"

I knitted my eyebrows tightly, looking at Sunshine and wondering whether or not to reveal the fact that he was an NPC. In response Sunshine knitted his eyebrows in the same way.

"Allow me to explain, Prince," Sunshine said in a pained voice.

"Then tell me, why can't I love you?" Fairsky asked with a trembling voice. "I refuse to believe…I _definitely_ refuse to believe that you don't have any feelings for me. After all, we've gotten along so well these past few days, haven't we?"

_Gotten along really well? When did this happen? _I thought, frowning.

"No wonder theēhavechancbe**e**ns oflowerusser**e** around Dàg

was actually off falling in love with someone else," Yun muttered to himself before the "two" females, Jing and I, quickly covered his mouth.

"But I have no way to love you. I can't possibly love you, I…" Sunshine hadn't even finished his sentence when he was suddenly forcefully kissed by Fairsky. He was so shocked that his arms waved frantically, trying with all his might to push Fairsky away. But the game's cruelty was in play here – a mage's strength cannot compare to a thief's.

Meanwhile we, the three outsiders, stared open-mouthed at Sunshine as he was forcefully kissed without any guilt in our consciences. Then the scene which often appears in romance novels simply unfolded before our eyes: The person being forcefully kissed (usually the female lead, but in our situation it happened to be the opposite) begins by struggling for a while, but when they can't pull away, they helplessly allow themselves to be kissed, until finally they even begin to tightly embrace the person who is forcefully kissing them… Now Jing, Yun, and I stared dazedly at Sunshine and Fairsky hugging and French kissing each other, the two looking deeply intoxicated.

"Such deep feelings, how moving!" Jing took out a handkerchief and began wiping questionably genuine tears away from the corners of her eyes.

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Yun patted ēmy,it'**s**houlder,notasif winkedyouneedandFairsky,said,"Dàgsowhy don't you just give her to Sunshine?"

"Don't need, my foot. That's not the point; the point is that Sunshine isn't even human!" I yelled loudly. These two best friends of mine hadn't even grasped the circumstances!

As I finished yelling, I noticed that Jing and Yun were staring directly behind me while wearing exceedingly awkward expressions. I turned around and saw that Fairsky had finally broken off that long make out session while I was speaking and was now standing behind me, visibly fuming.

_*SLAP* _I was hit across the face with a force so great that I nearly sprained my neck.

"I misjudged you, Prince. Even if I don't like you any more, you shouldn't insult Sunshine and say that he isn't human33." Fairsky held back tears, her disappointed gaze fixed upon me.

_This is a huge misunderstanding. I wasn't insulting him, I was only pointing out the truth_,I thought, rubbing the painful area of my cheek.

"Fairsky, Prince is telling the truth, I really am not human," Sunshine said with great difficulty.

"Sunshine, why are you insulting yourself as well?!" Fairsky's expression changed to extreme disapproval as she shouted at Sunshine.

Sunshine held Fairsky's shoulders tightly and, with a level of agitation I had never seen before, said, "I'm not insulting myself, Fairsky. I am not of the human race: I am only a self-aware NPC."

Fairsky froze for a long time. Then, with a tone of tremendous disbelief, she faintly said, "What did you say?"

"I am an NPC," Sunshine repeated, sounding pained.

"That's impossible. That's utterly impossible. How can you be an NPC? You're lying to me!" Fairsky yelled. "Even if you don't like me, you don't have to lie to me like this!"

"Fairsky, this is the truth. Sunshine and Kenshin are both my humanoid pets. The difference between them and regular NPCs is that they've achieved self-awareness." I sternly shattered Fairsky's last shred of hope. _Short term suffering…is better than long-term suffering, right?_

33** "…say that he isn't human": **不是人(bú shì rén), literally "Not human". This is a common insult inChinese that means the person doesn't have any human conscience anymore, or that the person is an animal.

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"How can this be…?" Fairsky kneeled weakly on the ground, her tears falling like a broken string of pearls and her choking sobs heartbreaking to hear.

Aside from allowing Fairsky to cry to her heart's content, there was nothing else we could do, so we stood dumbly off to the side.

"Fairsky…" Sunshine knelt down next to her with a dismayed expression and Fairsky buried herself in his chest, crying her heart out.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intentionally hide it from you." Sunshine embraced Fairsky dearly, his eyes filled with infinite regret.

"It's your fault! It's all your fault for deceiving me!" Fairsky began to violently and uncontrollably pound her fists against Sunshine's chest, howling in sorrow. "How can this be?! I even thought that I had finally found my true love! You big liar, why were you being so nice to me? So nice to the point that I couldn't help but fall in love with you, and only then do you tell me that you're an NPC! How do you expect me to accept all this?!"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tricked you." Sunshine could only apologize profusely, his haggard expression a startling sight to behold.

Seeing this pair, one crying like a waterfall and the other continuously blaming himself, I felt pity towards them, and couldn't help but open my mouth to comfort Fairsky. "Fairsky, it's not like Sunshine was doing it on purpose. Even though he's an NPC, I'm sure his feelings for you are real and that he really wasn't deliberately trying to hide it from you. So there's no need to blame him anymore."

Beyond all expectations, Sunshine unyieldingly replied, "No, this is precisely my fault. No matter what, I shouldn't have allowed Fairsky to get her feelings hurt."

As Sunshine finished speaking, the sound of Fairsky's sobs suddenly faded. She lifted her head with a captivated expression and the look in her eyes…was one that made my hair stand on end, as it had the sort of determination shown when putting one's life on the line.

"Sunshine, when all is said and done, do you love me or not?"

Sunshine gave a beautiful, mournful smile. (_The description is strange, but believe me,_ _there are no words more suitable._)34"Is it possible for me to love somebody? Fairsky, Iam only a sequence of numbers, a computer program. I don't understand love, nor do I know whether or not I can love someone."

34** "The description is strange, but believe me, there are no words more suitable.": **This is a realsentence from Yu Wo. The description is strange in Chinese because it is usually used to describe a _female_ smile.

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Fairsky looked directly at Sunshine. "Do you like being together with me?"

Sunshine stiffened slightly, and then nodded his head.

"Aside from me, is there anyone else whom you have the same feelings for?"

Sunshine firmly shook his head.

"Then, ignoring everything else, would you be willing to stay with me forever?" Fairsky's expression was one of extreme yearning.

Sunshine considered this very seriously, and as I said before, he cannot tell lies, so he earnestly replied, "I am willing. In fact, it's one of my greatest desires to be able to spend an eternity with you, Fairsky."

_This is bad! _My internal alarm began ringing incessantly.

"Then I am willing as well," Fairsky said with a resolute expression. "I don't care if you're a human or not. To me, you have more emotions than a human. I don't care whether or not you understand love. If you don't, then I will help you to understand it."

"But Fairsky, I don't have forever, and there is no way for me to stay with you forever." Sunshine had a happy but worried expression. After all, he was living a life that wasn't really a life, merely bound to a game system.

"People say it's ok that we don't have forever, it's more than enough that we have this time together. Regardless of what the future might be like, right now I just want to be with you! Do you understand?" Fairsky asked.

"I understand." Sunshine's smile was as radiant as his namesake.

"Uwaah, what a speech! Just live in the present. It's so moving!" Jing held a handkerchief and was desperately blowing her nose.

"Ay, thisē,soisdon'just fr**a**te,in onDàgtheir parade any longer!" Yun patted my shoulder once again.

Hearing those two spouting nonsense, Sunshine and Fairsky spun around, looking at me with frightened yet longing expressions. It was the type of expression made by a daughter who is scared that her evil stepmother won't let her marry the person she loves… _Hey,_ _don't get me wrong, do you really think I'm that cruel?_

I was also moved and so after robbing Jing's handkerchief and blowing my nose with it, I said in a sobbing voice, "Since neither of you have any objections, do as you please."

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"That's wonderful, Sunshine!" Fairsky grabbed Sunshine, and then hugged and spun him around in circles, before once again forcefully kissing him.

_Fairsky, show some reservation… If not, at least consider the fact that there are three singles watching right over here. This kind of lovey-dovey display will only make us die of envy._

"Prince, what on earth happened?" Lolidragon's voice suddenly came up on the PM channel, giving me a huge fright. "I just heard a very strange rumor."

"You're talking about Fairsky being in love with Sunshine, right?" I replied helplessly, watching the happily spinning and kissing couple.

"So it's true?" Lolidragon sounded dumbfounded, as though she had just heard that her Chanel brand products were fake. "Have you told her that Sunshine is an NPC?"

"I told her, but after she finished crying, she said she didn't care and the two of them are currently reveling in the celebration of their love."

"Celebration, my foot!" Lolidragon abruptly bellowed, almost deafening me. "This situation is very serious! Think about it; even if _Second Life_ could exist forever, the news that Sunshine is self-aware can get out at any time. If Sunshine then gets erased, what would Fairsky do?"

"But those two said they don't care about what happens in the future and just want to live in the present…" I frowned, thinking, _Even if they did say that, if Sunshine were to_ _disappear then Fairsky would definitely be very heartbroken, wouldn't she?_

"And also, no matter how self-aware Sunshine may be, he is still only a sequence of numbers. Perhaps he simply cannot understand the meaning of love." Lolidragon's tone grew progressively worse.

I considered this calmly. "I think he understands."

"How would you know—?"

I interrupted Lolidragon and said with conviction, "Fairsky is very sincere about this, and I think that if Sunshine doesn't understand what love is, there's no way that he could have made Fairsky fall in love with him this seriously. There's nothing we can do about it."

Lolidragon was silent for a while, before slowly saying, "No matter what, this situation is bound to end up in tragedy, Prince."

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"Maybe a miracle will happen." I gave a speculative look at the couple drunk with happiness, although even I was not putting much faith in the chances of such a miracle happening.

"Okay then, we'll leave Fairsky's situation alone for now. After all, we don't have any other ideas." _It seems as if Lolidragon has more she wants to say?_

Lolidragon took a deep breath before continuing. "Prince, I have something important to tell you: _Second Life_ is going to have a great patch."

"A…great…patch?" I repeated as I froze. _A patch? I haven't even played through the_ _game thoroughly and it's already going to have an update patch?_

"Yeah, and the biggest change is that the three pre-programmed cities, Sun, Star, and Moon, are going to be opened for player invasion," Lolidragon said excitedly, "Right now everyone is discussing which city they'll invade first, and they all agreed that they will wait for the liege lord's decision. Prince, can we capture Star City? I love the European feel of Star City!"

"We're going to invade cities?" My expression changed slightly. _Infinite City has only_ _just finished construction and we already have to invade more cities? Seems like I really have a life of hard work; I can't even rest for half a moment._

"Yes, 'Infinite City's Liege Lord', and this time you better not sneakily disappear again," Lolidragon replied mockingly.

I shrugged. "As long as Nan Gong Zui doesn't ask me to go drinking again, I think I can obediently stay in Infinite City this time."

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**Extra Chapter: The Sun should Shine in the Fair Sky **

"Stop being annoying. I will definitely be the spokesperson, but whether or not you want to perform is up to you!" Prince angrily rebuked.

Even after she had run away, she could still vividly see Prince's impatient face as he scolded her.

"Prince really stepped over the line this time. I like him so much, but how can he be such a playboy? And he even accepts both males and females!" Fairsky cursed as she cried. The strong words that Prince had used had really hurt her.

"I ran away so long ago… Why hasn't anyone chased after me yet?" Fairsky wondered, looking over her shoulder as she ran. _Don't tell me that they really don't want me_ _anymore? That's bad! _Fairsky started to run back anxiously.

_Pow! _She crashed into someone else as she ran around a corner.

"Hey! Don't you know that you should open your eyes and look around when you are walking?" Fairsky scolded angrily as she massaged her red and painfully swollen forehead.

"Fairsky, it's me, Sunshine," the man she'd crashed into said. As a physically weak mage, Sunshine had sustained far greater damage than Fairsky, and was in a state of dizziness. If it weren't for Fairsky's familiar loud voice, he wouldn't have even realized it was her who he had crashed into.

Fairsky finally saw that the dying person lying on the ground was one of her own teammates.

"Sunshine? Why are you here?" Fairsky asked.

"I came to find you." Sunshine replied as he slowly got back to his feet.

"So only you came to get me… I don't want to go back," Fairsky said while childishly refusing to get up from the ground. When she thought about how everyone didn't care about her, her heart filled with resentment and her eyes started to moisten.

"We were really overdue for the start of our concert, so everyone had to go perform first," Sunshine explained gently.

"I don't care. I won't go back. No one likes me anyway." As Fairsky spoke, tears started to fall from her eyes. _That's right; Prince has always disliked me for being unreasonable,_ _while Phoenix, Wicked, and Gui are my love rivals._

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"There are people who like you. Like me; I like you very much," Sunshine said, smiling. He had always thought that this girl who liked to shout and voice her opinions loudly was interesting. _She always speaks her mind and expresses her feelings honestly, not like_ _others who think one thing and say another. Those people really give me a headache._

Hearing such a straightforward answer from Sunshine, even an outspoken girl like Fairsky couldn't help but blush and say, "You are lying! I'm so unladylike! I don't know where to draw the line when I speak, I'm not as pretty as Lolidragon or Phoenix, and I'm always being unreasonable…!" As she listed out her shortcomings, Fairsky realized that she really did have many faults and began to sob. _No wonder no one likes me. But if they_ _want me to be gentle like Phoenix, or charming and beautiful like Lolidragon, I can't do that either. Is it my fate to never have a place in Prince's heart?_

Sunshine couldn't help but laugh as he watched Fairsky ignoring him and sinking into depression by herself. _She's really a cute girl,_ he thought.

"But you are honest, not like others who always hide their real feelings," he said.

"Really…?" Fairsky asked doubtfully in a quiet voice. "But everyone else said I was being unreasonable like this."

"You _are_ unreasonable. If you weren't unreasonable, you wouldn't be you," Sunshine replied with a smile.

"What? I am not unreasonable!" Fairsky's temper flared up again.

"Well it's true. If Wicked wasn't always serious, he wouldn't be Wicked. If Gui stopped being weird, he wouldn't be Gui either. Furthermore, there is Kenshin." Sunshine laughed aloud. "If one day Kenshin suddenly became a chatterbox, I probably would think he had gone crazy." Sunshine continued gently, "This is why your honesty is the most appealing part about you, Fairsky. Don't force yourself to become gentle, because you would lose your shine if you did that."

"Really?" Being spoken of by Sunshine like that, Fairsky blushed uncharacteristically.

"Yes!" Sunshine nodded with conviction.

Fairsky stood up with a pouting mouth and said reluctantly, "Ok then, let's go back."

"Ok." Sunshine smiled again while taking out his flying carpet, preparing for the "rescue operation" that the band would need. If they were late, those four people might even have all their clothes torn off, like last time, when Prince nearly suffered such a fate…

"You are such a weird person, always smiling. What's so funny?" Fairsky continued to nag even as she got on the flying carpet.

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Sunshine answered her with a laugh, "Since there is nothing to be sad about, of course I will smile."

"What a weird person," Fairsky mumbled, and yet she liked Sunshine's warm smile a lot.

hg

Fairsky was prepared to take a walk in the city in order to find a suitable site for building the bookshop. But Prince, being a glutton, was never going to abandon his food in favor of accompanying her for a walk in the city. Fairsky complained quietly to herself, _I_ _wonder why Prince loves to eat so much…_

"Gui asked me to go look by myself. Hmph, as if no one knows he just wanted to stay by Prince's side a moment more." Fairsky pouted, reluctantly preparing to find a site alone.

Hearing Fairsky's sulking mumble, Sunshine laughed and said, "Why don't I go with you?"

At Sunshine's words, Fairsky's plaintive eyes immediately became pleading. "Are you really willing to go with me?" she asked.

"Of course I am. Kenshin, do you want to go as well?" After Sunshine answered Fairsky, he turned to look at Kenshin, who was being cold and quiet as usual.

Kenshin shook his head. "No."

"Is that so? Then let's go, Fairsky." Sunshine looked at Fairsky with a smile, while the latter's heart suddenly began to beat faster for no apparent reason.

"Sunshine, where do you think the best place to build the bookstore would be?" Fairsky asked while hugging Sunshine's arm happily. "Should we build the bookstore in somewhere remote for the quiet, tranquil atmosphere, or in the downtown area where there is a lot of traffic?"

"Can't we build at both sites?" Sunshine asked, puzzled.

"Build at both sites?" Fairsky repeated while her innate business mind started to race. _He_ _has a point. Both bookstores target different people. We can build a normal bookshop in the downtown area first, and then when the first bookshop becomes popular, we can build another bookshop and café combination at somewhere quiet._

"Sunshine, you are too clever." After deciding on the sites, Fairsky was so happy that she forgot herself and she hugged and kissed Sunshine.

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"Is that so?" Sunshine was totally mystified, but he still touched the cheek that had been kissed while smiling foolishly.

"Honestly, Infinite City is getting busier with each passing moment. It will definitely be a successful city," Fairsky commented as she cheerfully watched the people around her walking on the streets that she had designed together with Gui, praising the beauty of Infinite City. She felt touched that this peaceful time had arrived after all the hardships she had gone through.

"Let's go and take a walk in the city square!" Fairsky suggested. _The fountain in the city_ _square is very beautiful. When I saw the design drawn by Gui, I swore to myself I would definitely go and take a look at it once it was built. Although Gui is a weird guy, a gay, and shamelessly tries to fight over Prince with me…his talent is the real thing._

"Sure, I want to take a look too," Sunshine answered.

"Wow! There are so many people here!" Fairsky gasped in surprise at the sea of people.

"Of course. This is one of the most famous tourist attractions of Infinite City after all— the Wishing Fountain of Love," Passerby A suddenly said from beside them.

"The Wishing Fountain of Love?" Both Fairsky and Sunshine were stunned. Since when did it have a name like that?

"Yes. Rumor has it that if a couple throws coins into the fountain and the fountain sprays water, they will be granted eternal love. That's why everyone is queuing up to throw coins," Passerby A explained.

"Is there such a thing?" Fairsky asked in puzzlement.

"This rumor was spread by Yu Lian," Sunshine remembered. He whispered gently in Fairsky's ear, "She said that this is a good way to earn money as people in love always have a lower IQ."

"Oh, I see. But now we can't see what the fountain looks like," Fairsky said while eagerly trying to catch a glimpse of the fountain from afar. "Since we don't have other important things to do, why don't we queue up to see the fountain too?" Fairsky suggested.

"Sure," Sunshine gladly agreed. He always liked to stay in places where people gathered, to observe them.

After waiting for an extremely long time—until the sky had grown dark and the light of the stars shone upon the ground—Fairsky and Sunshine finally saw the fountain. Despite

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the late hour, the two were actually lucky because the fountain's entire beauty could only be revealed at night.

"So beautiful!" Fairsky couldn't help but exclaim as she finally fulfilled her wish to stand beside the fountain. The fountain itself was shaped like a crescent moon and was made of a fully transparent material that had a silvery, sparkling powder encased in it. The silvery sparkling powder looked like stars hiding inside the fountain, winking at people who passed by. Over the top of the central water column was a gentle yellow sun, which bathed the city square in its soft, gentle light, giving the whole city square a romantic atmosphere. It was no wonder that couples in love would have lower IQs here.

"Let's throw coins too." Seeing other couples doing so, Sunshine couldn't help but want to dig out some coins as well.

"Alright. The money is going back to Infinite City anyway," Fairsky said as she failed to suppress her laughter. _Even if we don't throw the coins, they will eventually get robbed by_ _Yu Lian anyway._

"We should throw one together. Everyone else is doing it like this," Sunshine noted while taking Fairsky's hands and placing a coin in the middle of their cupped palms. He didn't notice Fairsky's blushing red face as they did this. On the other hand, even if he did notice Fairsky's red face, he probably wouldn't understand what was happening anyway.

"Throw!" both of them shouted together.

As the coin touched the surface of the water, a water column unexpectedly started to spray, and the lovely water dance was activated. While the graceful streams of water danced in the fountain, surrounding people gave them looks of blessing or envy. Fairsky and Sunshine both looked helplessly at each other with red faces and embarrassed expressions.

All of it was a coincidence! Wasn't it?

"Sunshine, what would you do if you loved a person very much, but that person didn't love you?" Fairsky asked while licking the Tanghulu35 she had just bought. Sunshine was happily eating ice cream at her side.

After some thought, Sunshine answered, "I have never loved a person before, so I don't know what I'd do."

"You've never been in love before?" Fairsky asked, astonished. _Impossible! Sunshine,_ _who looks like he's twenty-years-old or older, has never loved anyone before?_

35** Tanghulu: **A traditional winter snack. Please refer to wiki/Tanghulu for moreinformation.

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"I don't think so. What kind of feeling is love?" Sunshine asked in bewilderment. He couldn't help it. After all, it had been only half a year since he had gained self- awareness. Furthermore, he had never been outside of Demon Cave until two months ago. He couldn't have understood what love is in such a short time.

However, Fairsky was startled too. _What is love?_ She answered with slight hesitation, "If you love someone very much, you think of that person all the time, you want to stay by that person's side, and when you are at that person's side, you're very happy…"

"I see. So Fairsky must like staying with Prince a lot? When you're together with Prince, you're very happy?" Sunshine asked Fairsky in response.

Fairsky was totally stunned. _Am I really happy?_ When she thought back, it seemed like she was always angry over Prince's attitude toward her, and she had to be the love rival of Phoenix, whom she actually got along with. It seemed that…she wasn't happy at all?

"Fairsky?" Sunshine asked, looking at her uncertainly after not hearing an answer for a long time. Unexpectedly, he found that there were tears flowing down Fairsky's cheeks. He couldn't refrain from reaching out and wiping the tears off her face with his hand, asking, "What is the matter? Why are you crying?"

"I…I suddenly realized that when I'm with Prince, I'm not happy at all," Fairsky replied in a choked voice.

"Isn't everything fine then if you don't stay with Prince?" Sunshine asked her, slightly puzzled as to why she continued to do something that didn't make her happy.

"But…but…" Fairsky was reluctant. _I have chased after Prince for so long. If I give up_ _now, it would be such a pity._

"Moreover, Fairsky, you never laugh when you are at Prince's side! I think you are more beautiful when you are laughing!" Sunshine said with a brilliant smile. "Just like this."

"Really? I'm prettier like this?" Fairsky asked while she unconsciously started to smile too.

"Yes," Sunshine said with conviction.

Fairsky continued to smile and said, somewhat touched, "Sunshine, I'm always very happy being with you! Are you happy too when you go out together with me?"

"I'm very happy," Sunshine answered without even faltering, and then he seemed to abruptly realize something. "Oh! I like to stay with Fairsky a lot, and I can't wait for every date with Fairsky. Am I in love with Fairsky then?"

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"What nonsense are you saying?!" Fairsky exclaimed with a completely red face.

_Sunshine always says whatever he wants without some consideration beforehand! He's even gutsier than me!_

"It isn't love?" Sunshine asked, slightly disappointed, as he had thought he had finally understood what love is.

Both of them walked in silence for some time, until Fairsky couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Do you really, really like being with me?"

"I like it very much," Sunshine said, nodding firmly.

When she saw that Sunshine answered her question without even a slight wavering, Fairsky blushed so deeply that even her ears turned red. She asked in a stuttering voice, "T-then do you have any other person whom you like more than me?"

Sunshine thought hard and answered, "I like Prince very much too, as he is also easy to get along with…"

_He likes Prince? Is he a gay too? _Fairsky heart started to sink…

"But, I like being with Fairsky more, because it's easier to guess what you are thinking about than Prince, since you express everything on your face," Sunshine explained with a smile. _Hahaha, Fairsky's ever-changing expression always makes me feel like laughing._

"I do not!" Fairsky denied loudly. _I totally don't express all my emotion on my face._

"Don't you?" Sunshine couldn't help but laugh out loud. _Then who is this person who's_ _pouting right now?_

"Stupid, of course I don't," Fairsky answered. She was so embarrassed that she became angry and slapped Sunshine's back forcefully.

"Ouch, that's painful! Don't hit me; I'm only saying the truth," Sunshine said, laughing loudly as he dodged Fairsky's deadly slaps.

As she watched Sunshine protect his back with both of his hands while retreating backwards and watching her cautiously, Fairsky couldn't help but chase him while yelling, "Don't run, let me hit you!"

"I've caught you!" Fairsky ruthlessly pounced on Sunshine as though as she was a hungry tiger pouncing onto a lamb, knocking Sunshine on to the ground.

Looking at Sunshine's brilliant smile, Fairsky couldn't refrain from smiling too. She buried her face into Sunshine's chest and repeated firmly, "I've caught you."

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"I've caught you too," Sunshine said, as he hugged Fairsky back and ruffled her hair happily.

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	4. Chapter 4

½Prince Volume 5 : A Prince No More

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½Prince Volume 5 : A Prince No More

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**S****YNOPSIS****:**

"You are no longer a carefree Prince, but a responsibility-laden sovereign!"

Facing the companions who now knelt before me, the earth-shaking roar of "Your Lordship!", and everyone's expectations, I felt so weighed down that I could hardly breathe. _I am only a little girl. All I want to do is have fun with my friends in this_ _game…Can't I do that?_

In a fit of anger, I left Infinite City by myself, but Doll caught up with me. She attempted to persuade me, but I thought angrily, _How can the carefree Doll possibly understand my_ _feelings? _To my surprise, Doll told me that… She was a princess!

Doll followed me as I went everywhere to train, and with my usual crappy luck, I met a BOSS and Doll was kidnapped by the BOSS… _Oh god, what should I do?_

As assassins came again and again to kill me, our strongest suspicions fell on the rulers of the other four continents. _Who exactly is the one behind it all? And just what is his_ _motive?_

_Wu Qing has fallen in love for Lolidragon? Hehe, how can that be? Is today April's Fool? To actually crack this kind of joke… WHAT! It's for real? How. Can. This. Be!_

**A****BOUT THE**** A****UTHOR**:

Yu Wo:

Who am I? Sometimes I am like a warrior, wielding a sword on the battlefield with limitless passion and energy. At other times, I resemble a mage, with a mind devoted to research, completely absorbed in the things I like. Or I might be like a thief, leading a free and easy life, letting fate lead me to distant and unfamiliar lands. Occasionally, however I am similar to a priest, with a gentle heart, filled with compassion towards the living things of this world. Ultimately, I am a kindly Fantastical world

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A Prince No More

**H****ALF**** P****RINCE**** V****OL****. 5**

**Original novel in Chinese by: **御我**(Yu Wo)**

**Table of Contents **

**Disclaimer ...**

**4**

**Chapter 1: The Title of the Undefeatable King ...**

**6**

**Chapter 2: Conflict ...**

**26**

**Chapter 3: Neurotic and DanDan ...**

**37**

**Chapter 4: The Terrifying Side of a Self aware NPC ...**

**49**

**Chapter 5: A Man's Daily Trifles ...**

**61**

**Chapter 6: The Bloody Overlord ...**

**75**

**Chapter 7: A Cougar's Unimaginable Love ...**

**92**

**Extra Chapter: The Classified Files of the Five Continents' Overlords ...**

**99**

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**Disclaimer **

Please take note of the following:

The following translation½Princeof is by Prince Revolution! and is a "by fans, for fans" translation.

This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this, you have been ripped off!

Prince Revolution! does NOT ask for donations, payment, or anything else of the sort. We do not benefit monetarily from our translations AT ALL.

We only ask that you do NOT steal credit or attempt to profit monetarily from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across any individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translation.

Copyrights½Princetonovthels are held by Yu Wo, the author of the novels.

Copyrights½Princetonovthel artworks are held by Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu,

the cover artists for the first and second editions of the novels respectively.

Copyrights½Princetomanhuathe artwork are held by Cai Hong Zhong, the artist½Princeforthemanhua.

Prince Revolution! has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novels into English. However, this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

As such, please cease distribution of this PDF once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

**Links**

Prince Revolution!

Yuʼs WoBlg

.cc/blog/kim1984429

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**C****REDITS**

**Translators:**

Akakuroi (chapter 6)

Amgine (chapters 3 and 7)

Erihppas (chapter 2)

Evangeline (chapter 1)

Raylight (chapters 4-5)

Starie (extra chapter)

**Proofreaders:**

Bridget (chapters 1 and 5)

BurntSugarCookie (chapter 3)

CJFrost (chapters 1-4, 6-7)

EvlNabiki (chapters 2, 4, 6 and extra)

Formedt (extra chapter)

Mustsleep (chapter 1)

Shadow Rebirth (chapters 2-7 and extra)

**C/E Editors:**

Amgine (chapter 1) Anglestagium (chapters 2 and 5-7)

Eilinel (chapters 1-3, 6-7 and extra) zoNa (chapters 1-2 and 4)

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**Chapter 1: The Title of the Undefeatable King **

"Fairsky, have your feelings really changed?"

"Gee, I never realized that Sunshine was such a charmer. He had Fairsky in his grasp before we even noticed."

As soon as we returned to Infinite City, everyone gathered around us and bombarded Fairsky and Sunshine with questions. The embarrassed and cornered couple had no choice but to answer the rush of interrogations. Everyone's faces were grinning with their blessings for Sunshine and Fairsky. Only Lolidragon, who knew the whole story, wasn't grinning. I spied her sighing from the corner of my eye.

"In any case, we wish the two of you all the best!" Everyone laughed joyously.

"Th-thanks everyone," Fairsky stammered.

"Okay, that's enough. Stop embarrassing Fairsky and Sunshine, everyone. Now come and listen to Lolidragon's explanation of the latest patch for Second Life." Wolf -dàgē grinned and beckoned to us.

Everyone quieted down and looked at Lolidragon, and so she started to explain the details of the patch. "The main focus of this new patch is making Second Life more realistic. Some common aspects of everyday life that weren't necessary before are now required. For example, previously in the game, you didn't have to shower or bathe because your body would never get dirty, but after the patch is installed, if you didn't shower after a day of fighting, the stench would become unbearable."

_Take a bath? _I suddenly remembered,_ Even though I am a guy, I have never seen my "manhood" before. If we have to start taking baths, wouldn't I have to look at it? Ahem… I never thought that the first time I would see one of those things (not including the incident where I collected the dragon ones for gold), would be on myself. Whoa, I can't even begin to explain my emotions…_

"Prince, if you are afraid to wash that part of your body, I can help you! Just relax and spread your legs…" Lolidragon's sarcastic remarks drifted over the PM channel.

"Hey!" _Spread my legs?!_ I thought, _Are you delivering a baby?_ I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes at Lolidragon.

"But you still have to go to the toilet by yourself," Lolidragon muttered to no one in particular.

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_What? I need to go to the toilet too? _My mind went blank for a moment._ So I would have to experience using my XXX when I go to the toilet as well?_

"Second, except for the ones involved in training, the NPC population is going to be decreased. For instance, the NPC shopkeepers in the Sun, Moon and Star cities will disappear eventually and be replaced by real players." When she saw that I was still mulling over the previous topic, Lolidragon giggled to herself and then continued her explanation. After she had finished her sentence, Yu Lian-dàsăofrowned.

"Although it wouldn't cost any more money to hire players over NPCs, they will be harder to manage." Yu Lian-dàsăomuttered, wondering to herself whether the patch was good or bad news.

Finally, Lolidragon uttered the most important part of the explanation. "I think the most important change in the patch is that Sun, Moon and Star City will be open for conquering by players."

"So, the rumors are true." Wolf-dàgēgrinned. "Wh at does everyone have in mind?"

"That's obvious! Of course we should go and conquer them!" A spark danced in White Bird's eyes, as if she had been waiting for this moment all her life.

"Conquer the three cities; unite the Central Continent!" Nan Gong Zui tossed down the eight words strongly. The determination and passion which shone clearly in his eyes had infected the others as well, causing everyone's heartbeats to speed up with joy and excitement.

_Ugh! Another war? Looks like my dream of getting some rest isn't possible anymore…Sob! Why am I so unlucky?! I had just completed my work and then another pile of tasks appeared. I'm going to die from overwork!_

I listened morosely to everyone else discussing how to take down the cities. _Thankfully_ _everyone knows that I am a military idiot, so it makes no difference whether or not I listen to the discussion… But, as the Liege Lord, I can't just go and take a nap, right? Though I really do want to…._

"The first thing we should do is to decide on a plan of attack. With the three cities open for conquering, there are probably a lot of other players who are planning to take them down too, but we have a very significant advantage over them – Infinite City's military is making very quick progress these days. This is all thanks to the Infinite Band, and especially to our lord." White Bird bowed to me graciously, which shocked me enough to make me sit upright and nod my head slightly in return. _This is weird; it gives me the_ _creeps every time I see White Bird's respectful attitude towards me…._

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White Bird continued, "I think that if we take down one of the cities first, it will only be a matter of time before we conquer the other two cities as well."

"Hmm, if we are attacking just one city, which one would be the best choice?" Broken Sword thought out loud.

"How about Moon City?" Nan Gong Zui suggested. "Moon City used to be the Righteous Blades' base, so it's familiar territory to us, which would be a great help in battle."

"Yeah! Let take down Moon City!" Everyone roared excitedly.

"Moon City, is it?" I stood up, looking in the direction of Moon City. _So that venerable_ _city with the ancient Chinese themed atmosphere is also going to be baptized with the fires of war? How sad…._

Lolidragon's insensitive voice echoed out, "If you are trying to look in the direction of Moon City, then I am sorry to inform you that you are looking in the exact opposite direction."

"…So, what should I do?" Automatically ignoring Lolidragon, I turned to ask Nan Gong Zui.

"Prince, what's your current level?" Zui suddenly asked me.

"Let me see." _Gee, it's been so long since I checked my own level I almost forgot that_ _such a thing exists. _I called up the system menu and read out truthfully, "Level 76!"

"Level 76? That ranks around the hundredth place in the player rankings." Nan Gong Zui thought out loud, and then he turned to me, "I don't think your level is high enough."

"Of the five liege lords who won and gained their own land in each of the East, West, South, North and Central Continents, your level seems to be the lowest," White Bird said carefully with a frown, as if she were worried that her words would anger me.

"Is that so?" I laughed foolishly. _It's not my fault!_ After the tournament, I went to East Continent and during the time I spent there, I was either helping Jing and Yun level up or I was running around the continent trying to solve hidden quests. I barely gained any levels during that time. What's even worse was, during the month of the busking tour, I didn't even manage to train half a level's worth…. Actually, finding out that I had only dropped down to the hundredth place in the list, I should be chuckling secretly.

"Hence, my lord, please raise your level. We will arrange for some people to dedicate themselves to helping you train," White Bird requested very politely.

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"Arrange for some people? Can't I just go train with Odd Squad?" All in all, I was more familiar with the members of Odd Squad and having our natural coordination would be best.

White Bird looked troubled. "The members of Odd Squad have important roles in the military and administrative departments, so they may not have the time to train with you."

"Is that so?" I felt a little down. _I wonder how long it has been since I last trained with_ _everyone in Odd Squad?_

"Prince, don't be disappointed. We will come and find you once we have some free time." Wolf-dàgēlaughed and slapped me heartily on the back.

"Well, at least Gui, Wicked, and Phoenix will go with me, right?" I asked, turning toward those three.

"I want to go with His Highness–" Gui didn't even finish his sentence before Fairsky and Sunshine gagged him and dragged him away.

"You've got to be kidding! The amount of work piling up in the Construction Department is enough to bury me, and yet you want to sneak out? Sunshine, make sure you grab Gui firmly; if he dares to move so much as a finger, bombard him with magic until he cannot move again!" Fairsky ordered Sunshine with self-righteous indignation, and Sunshine followed her orders obediently like a whipped husband. _This harmonious couple shares_ _such deep bonds…_

"I…" Wicked had barely spoken a word when suddenly Nan Gong Zui and Broken Sword both rested their hands on his shoulder and smiled warmly. Is it just me, or are their eyes saying 'Don't even dream about it; you will never step out of this castle! Surrender to your fate!'

Phoenix didn't even dare utter a single word. Though in all fairness, even I wouldn't dare go against Yu Lian-dàsăo's feminine prowess!

"So, I will be training alone?" I looked at the trio, the disappointment obvious in my eyes.

"Liege Lord, we will arrange for some other players to go with you," White Bird said once again, looking slightly troubled. "But I hope that my lord can exude an aura of royalty in front of those people so as to avoid disappointing our subordinates."

I showed a troubled expression as well and asked in confusion, "How do I exude an aura of royalty?"

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"Basically, just put on your blood elf façade, and you'll be fine," Lolidragon explained.

"Maintaining that tiresome pose for the entire time?" I sighed. _The blood elf isn't even the_ _real me! Why does everyone like the fake me?_

"It's an honor to train with you, Liege Lord!" Looking at the five pairs of eyes sparkling with adoration and reverence, I wondered how many times I had sighed in my mind. Luckily, XiMen Feng, who was standing to the side, wasn't also sending looks of adoration at me. Unfortunately, his/her hateful expression wasn't exactly soothing, either.

"By Commander White Bird's orders, we have to give all we have in order to help our lord level up, so our first and primary focus is the Liege Lord. Does everyone understand?" the leading warrior called out to the rest.

"Of course! Our lord is the most important person, so in times of danger, I will heal the lord first. Don't blame me if the rest of you die in the process." The one speaking this time was, of course, a priest. The excessive reverence in his eyes made me feel that I was in the shrine of the Goddess of the Sea1.

"Don't worry my lord, we will protect you carefully and will prevent any monster from even touching you!" The archer vowed to me with unflinching determination.

_Hey! You'll prevent any monster from touching me? How the heck am I going to level up then? _I felt absolutely exasperated in my heart.

"Hmph! The Liege Lord doesn't need protection from the likes of you; the best you could possibly do is not to be a burden to our lord." The mage glanced past the others with a frosty glare, and then turned to fix a fiery, fervent look upon me. "After all, our lord is the strongest and undefeatable king. He has never lost before."

"You're right. My lord, please excuse our indiscretion." Unexpectedly, the others weren't angered at all. They just continued to fix their adoring gazes on me.

_Undefeatable King? Are those people lying through their teeth? I couldn't even count the number of times I had died. Plus, I even died twice in front of the audience during the tournament. Is this what you call undefeatable? Not to mention the strongest! I can't even guarantee that I can win when fighting against Wicked or Nan Gong Zui, and don't forget about Kenshin who could dissect me like a living specimen with a casual wave of_

1** Goddess of the Sea: **Theāzǔ( M ) is the Goddess of Sea who watches over the seafarers andfishermen. As Taiwan is an island country, the ancestors of the Taiwanese will have to rely on the sea for their food and income, hence why is especially venerated there. Please refer to wiki/Mazu_%28goddess%29 for more information.

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_his hand. Moreover, didn't White Bird say that currently out of the five liege lords, my level is the lowest?_

_Sob! The more I think about it, the more I feel my own weakness. I better go level up!_

Ignoring the five adoring gazes coming from their hosts, I said blandly, "Let's go."

"Pretty boy, I for one, would never concede that you are undefeatable." XiMen Feng whispered disdainfully, "One day, I will beat you, but before then, you better not lose to anyone else."

"Yeah, yeah," I waved my hand, irritated.

XiMen Feng snorted and then fell silent.

The serpent king, the so-called king of all snakes, is not quite a boss-level monster. However, deep in the snake abyss, there are many of these physically imposing, surprisingly strong, lightning-fast and venomous-fanged serpent kings. I decided to take on this kind of annoying monster because it would be a challenge to defeat and since I had been out of practice for so long.

After all, in a game like Second Life, it's not all about leveling up. The most important thing is making the best use of one's own abilities.

"This kind of monster is strong and hardly gives any experience points… Ya sure this is what you wanna take on, kid?" XiMen Feng looked at the serpent king doubtfully.

"Yep, I want to practice. The serpent king is not easy to kill and doesn't give much experience points, so there aren't many players here. When there isn't anyone around to steal your prey, isn't it the best time to cut loose and enjoy yourself?" I raised my eyebrows at XiMen Feng. In the meantime, I had already targeted an isolated serpent king.

"No wonder he's the lord! He even thinks differently from normal people." I don't know who said that, but all five people nodded their heads and then five pairs of admiring gazes turned on me again.

Overcome by a splitting headache, I was almost at my limit. All I could do was pretend that the gazes of admiration were invisible and wave to XiMen Feng, who was the only one not staring at me with glittering eyes. "Hey hot babe XiMen Feng, time to train."

"Damn! Does the pretty boy here not understand human speech? I'm a guy, you brat! How many times do I need to tell you?" XiMen Feng roared unhappily as usual while raising his sword to advance upon the serpent king with me.

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"May I ask, my lord, how might we assist you?" The warrior of the group asked me, surprised and confused.

"You guys can go off to practice too. If I need healing, I will come and find you," I replied apathetically.

"Wouldn't it better if I just follow you, my lord?" The priest added quickly.

"No need," I said dismissively with a wave of my hand. _Are you kidding? Being followed_ _by that pair of admiring eyes, I will feel uneasy from head to toe, so don't even mention doing any more training under that gaze._

"If the lord says so, then very well." The five showed very disappointed expressions and then walked away very slowly while glancing back at me with "grieving" expressions. If a stranger walked by at that moment, they probably would have guessed that I had just rejected five lovers.

Finally, when the five-man team was out of sight, I heaved a sigh of relief, messaged my frozen facial muscles, and then changed back to my normal, lax expression.

XiMen Feng looked at me and shook his head with exasperation, "Gee, I really want to show this expression to those five idiots. If they see this, I refuse to believe that they would continue to admire you and say, 'my lord this' and 'my lord that.'"

"Sure, go call them over." I yawned lazily and added, "That is, if you're not afraid of White Bird giving you the axe."

"Sonny, I ain't afraid of that female bird," XiMen Feng snorted.

I raised my eyebrows. "White Bird and Yu Lian-dàsăoare very close!"

As I thought, as soon as Yu Lian-dàsăo's name was mentioned, even XiMen Feng

stopped arguing back and began to sulk quietly; he didn't even dare to utter "sonny" one last time.

Now that we're on this topic, I have to go off on a bit of a tangent. Why is XiMen Feng so afraid of Yu Lian-dàsăo?

Think back to when XiMen Feng joined Infinite City. His first job was given to him by Yu Lian-dàsăo. Remember what I mentioned before? I don't know why, but the fans absolutely loved the little unexpected fight scene during the first concert, so XiMen Feng was ordered to go on stage and challenge me at every subsequent concert.

I remembered that when XiMen Feng first received Yu Lian-dàsăo's order, he said, "Not a chance, sonny!"

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Yu Lian-dàsăosmiled that faint, menacing smile of hers… As I stood off to the side, it made me think that XiMen Feng had just met his end. Yu Lian-dàsăosaid, "Hmm? I thought that you came to Infinite City to challenge Prince? That's why I arranged this job for you – I had thought that you would be delighted to accept! Or… perhaps you have been beaten into submission by our undefeatable Prince already, and are afraid to challenge him ever again?"

Hearing that, XiMen Feng exploded in a fit of anger, "That's blasphemy! The word fear is not even in my vocabulary, sonny!"

Thus, XiMen Feng became the concert's biggest clown. He got pummeled by me into a pulp every time, and there were even people in the audience who yelled, "Harder!" and "Not enough blood!", etc., forcing me to use more and more force on him every time.

The second incident that made XiMen Feng realize that the deadly Yu Lian-dàsăowas

not someone who could be trifled with occurred when the book shop had finished being constructed. Yu Lian-dàsăothought that there weren't enough books in the shop. Since Fairsky and Phoenix are girls, they couldn't expose too much for the sake of attracting more male readers. So, someone who looked pretty good as a babe in the daytime was roped into making a swimsuit edition photo album.

And that's not all. Yu Lian-dàsăothought tha t since there were no muscle men in the Infinite Band, we wouldn't be able to attract any readers who love muscle men. So, she roped in someone who looks muscular at night to snap a second photo album. _It's_ _actually kind of disgusting, seeing all those bouncing chest muscles. I really don't know why anyone would like that type of body… _Ahem, I didn't peek on purpose! I really,really didn't!

Thinking of those incidents, I turned around and looked at hot babe XiMen Feng, barely suppressing my laughter.

"Pretty boy! What the hell are you laughing about?" XiMen Feng looked suspiciously at my weird expression.

I quickly straightened up my face. "N-nothing at all, let's continue training!"

Finishing my sentence, I ignored XiMen Feng's confused expression and headed off to attack another serpent king. I felt much better. _Oh well, at least my situation is still a bit_ _better than hot babe XiMen Feng's._

Walking up behind the serpent, I felt the excitement build up as I watched its towering stature. I caressed Black Dao gently, "My friend, it's being a long time since you've tasted fresh blood. Sorry for putting you through that, so now, enjoy the feast!"

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With a "swish" I unsheathed Black Dao, and then suddenly thought up a mischievous idea. With one foot, I casually stepped on the serpent king's tail, making it stick its long tongue quite far out as it winced from the pain. It turned around with its mouth wide open. When it saw me, it narrowed its slit-like eyes a little and then lunged towards me, intent on biting off my head.

I laughed coldly, and effortlessly escaped the blow by dodging to the left. Afterwards, I caught a glimpse of its tail sweeping towards me with full force. With a pivot of the toes, I leapt over the tail, and fiercely stabbed Black Dao towards the serpent's head. Before I could cut its head open, the serpent king turned and lunged towards me again. In one motion, I lowered my head to dodge while simultaneously using Black Dao to cleave the serpent king in two equal halves from the throat down.

Finally, I turned back and also cut off the head, closing my eyes and letting the warm blood spray on my face. I opened my eyes, wiped off the blood from my face, and sighed.

_At long last, I get to fight to my heart's content again._

"Damn! Are you retarded, kid? Why would you make yourself dripping with blood all over?" XiMen Feng stared in astonishment at the blood covering my entire face and body.

I wagged a finger and asked him impishly, "Do you recall what my nickname is?"

"Blood Elf…" XiMen Feng replied automatically, and then scratched his head. "Oh, so that's why you are called the blood elf. So, the pretty boy has this kind of perverted hobby."

"Who's perverted? This is called blood lust, and it's cool, got it?" I replied, puckering my mouth.

XiMen Feng gave me a universal hand signal – a fist with only the middle finger sticking up. "Cool? If anyone calls that cool, I will cut off my own head to make soup for you, damn it."

"Ultra-cool…." the words echoed out from behind me.

I turned around to see that the five-man team was back. The female players' eyes kept popping out as hearts, and the guys stood with clutched fists and eyes full of admiration and excitement. All that was left for them to do was to kneel down and yell, "All hail the king!"

I sighed in my heart. _It looks like I won't be able to train freely today_. As I thought, I couldn't help but talk down to XiMen Feng, saying, "Hey, go make that soup!"

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"Liege Lord, how goes the training?" Just as we arrived at the foot of Infinite City, we saw Lolidragon and Kong Kong busy with their planting…of traps, that is. Lolidragon was so worn out that she only gave me a supercilious look as a greeting. Despite being quite weary himself, Kong Kong still waved and asked after me cheerfully.

"Not bad," I replied stuffily and walked past, followed by the five-man team of admirers and XiMen Feng, who was still considering whether he should keep his promise of lopping his head off to make soup for me.

Kong Kong looked at the five people, and yelled, "It's not every day that you get a chance to go train with our Liege Lord – did you guys make yourselves useful? And did any of you learn anything after seeing our lord in battle?"

"Of course! We examined very carefully the Liege Lord's every move!" The warrior replied quickly.

"The lord is so powerful! He really deserves the title of undefeatable king!" the female mage's fiery passionate eyes never strayed from me.

"The undefeatable king? What a fitting name!" Kong Kong's eyes sparkled, as if that phrase were used to describe himself. He gloated with pleasure, "I don't mean to brag about our lord, but the day the Blood Elf falls is the day that gold rains down from the sky."

The five people nodded their heads in earnest as soon as the words left his mouth.

Lolidragon's voice drifted over the PM channel, "Undefeatable king? If Kong Kong's words were true, I would probably would have gotten my skull cracked open from all that gold a long time ago, and Yu Lian- dàsăowouldn't have any more financial problems."

"Hey, at least we never really suffered an actual defeat. Don't we always win in the end?"

Lolidragon smirked coldly, and asked nonchalantly, "Anyway, what's wrong? I noticed that you looked a little pale when you came back. Were those five players too weak? Were they being a burden? Should I tell White Bird to pick a different group for you?"

Distressed, I replied with a sigh, "It has nothing to do with their strength. It's just that they admire me way too much, and it makes me feel uneasy all over."

"Hah, White Bird picked them to help you train precisely because she saw that they all admire you deeply and weren't all that weak. Has that decision backfired?" Lolidragon asked, holding back a laugh.

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"Oh please. Do you realize they were just one step shy of buying me some incense and fruit to worship at my altar?" I groused. _Who would want to be given offerings as if they_ _were the Jade Emperor?__2_

"I can see what you mean." Lolidragon and I listened to the five of them having a heated discussion with Kong Kong about my 'miracles', wondering whether they were actually talking about me or about the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the end, Lolidragon said, "Well, if you don't like this team, you should take it up with White Bird."

"Yeah," I said as I listened to the group beside me saying how during one particular instance, I had parted the Red Sea3. I thought to myself, _I have to get White Bird to_ _change this team for me._

"Liege Lord!" White Bird dashed over the moment I arrived at the castle. She didn't wait for a reply and instead hastily but respectfully continued on, "Liege Lord, there are two adventurers' teams that wish to join us. Please go meet the team leaders!"

"Oh, okay," I said with a hint of disappointment. I was originally planning on taking a break at the Infinite Restaurant.

"Liege Lord, please go find Phoenix and get your new cape first." White Bird bowed and rushed off to who knows where.

I didn't know what my dream cape will be like, but I suppressed my excitement and rushed off to find Phoenix.

"Phoenix!" I charged into the office, yelling her name.

Phoenix, who had been working hard with her head buried in the accounting record, turned and looked up at me with surprise. Then, she asked exuberantly, "Does Prince need anything from me?"

With sparkling eyes, I asked in suspense, "The cape! Where is my cape?"

**Jade Emperor: **In Taoist folk culture, the Jade Emperor is one of the most important and supreme gods,ruling over Heaven and all the realms of existence below, including Man and Hell. See wiki/Jade_Emperor for more information.

**Parted the Red Sea: **This is a biblical reference. Moses had parted the Red Sea as he led the Israelites outof slavery in Egypt. It's not clear whether this is supposed to be entirely separate from the earlier reference to Jesus Christ (who performed many miracles, but did not part the Red Sea) or is a misconception of Christian traditions by Yu Wo.

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When Phoenix heard what I wanted, she let out a disappointed, "Oh," and took out a big parcel from her antique bag and gave it to me. Even though Phoenix's expression seemed a bit off, I wasn't too bothered. I snatched the parcel and started to rip it apart.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed in surprise. _This cape is nothing like the superhero cape I had in_ _mind. Instead, this thick, velvety red cape lined with white fur is exactly like- like the kind that a king would wear to his coronation, the ones that trail a few meters behind the person!_

"I chose the fabric!" Phoenix announced happily.

"Oh… But, isn't this overdoing it?" I finally said only after taking a very deep breath.

"Don't you like it though?" Phoenix asked.

"It's not bad," I answered with a shrug.

"Is that so?" Suddenly Phoenix's spirit seemed to sink a whole new level, and she became dead silent.

At that moment, Yu Lian-dàsăocame in and asked me with a smile, "How is it?"

"It's…" I hesitated, "Isn't it kind of over the top?"

"It will bring out your aura of royalty!" Yu Lian-dàsăofinished and then added with a hint of exasperation, "It was made to suit White Bird's tastes. I would have preferred to just use a simpler fabric, you know, to save money."

"But it's fine like this. After all, you will be meeting plenty more people in the future and there will be a whole mess of ceremonies and such, so it would be good to have a cape that looks more dignified," Yu Lian-dàsăosaid thoughtfully.

_Ceremonies? _When I was just about to ask, White Bird charged up to us with a panickedlook. Without a word, she helped me put on the cape and then praised me respectfully, "The cape suits you, Liege Lord. Please go meet the two adventurer team leaders in the main hall now."

"Oh." I replied absent-mindedly to White Bird while carefully inspecting every detail of the cape that I was now wearing.

White Bird panicked even more, "Liege Lord, please hurry. They have been waiting for a long time."

"Alright, then let's go." I shrugged and walked towards the main hall with White Bird following closely behind.

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"Please don't forget about your demeanor, Liege Lord." White Bird looked at my lazy expression with worry.

"Yeah, I know." I stretched lazily, closed my eyes and breathed deeply. When I opened my eyes again, I had a shadow of a smile on my face, but my eyes had an intimidating stare capable of freezing three feet of air: my famous blood elf look.

When I walked into the hall, I saw a band of roughly ten or so people drinking tea. I scanned the crowd with a calm smile and sat down on my throne.

Everyone's eyes were on me as I sipped with composure from the cup of tea White Bird presented to me. Then I looked at everyone and started my official welcome speech. "I am the Infinite City's Liege Lord, Prince. On behalf of Infinite City, I welcome you all—

"

I didn't even finish when someone interrupted, "Wait!"

This was the first time someone had ever dared to interrupt me in my many welcome speeches. I looked up with curiosity at the one who had interrupted me. He was a calm looking fellow. In his eyes I could definitely see that he did not believe in my strength.

"Yes?" I asked with that half smile of mine. _Maybe this time the welcoming meeting_ _won't be as boring as the ones before._

The calm fellow bowed with his hands, and started speaking with a very imposing manner, "I've heard rumors that Prince, the lord of Infinite City, with whom I have the good fortune of meeting today, is a legendary man whose strength is unrivaled, with innumerable capable subordinates. From this meeting today, it is clear from your imposing demeanor that you are no ordinary person. But that alone is not enough proof for me and my brothers to join Infinite City. We want to witness for ourselves the proof of your strength."

I couldn't help roll my eyes conspicuously at him. _Hey man, is there really a need for you_ _to spout all that bombastic drivel? Do you think that this is some kind of ancient Chinese martial arts novel? Or is it just that you're stuck in the wrong book? Are you a lost sheep from one of Jin Yong's novels?__4__ I had thought that White Bird was the only one who speaks like this. But having met this fellow today, I realized that White Bird's manner of speech is nothing compared to his._

"Liege Lord, answer him!" White Bird's panicking voice drifted over the PM channel.

4** Jin Yong: **As mentioned in one of the previous chapters, Jin Yong is a famous modern Chinese_wuxia_novelist. The character "Lolidragon" was originally a character in his novel The Return of the Condor Heroes. See wiki/Jin_Yong for more information.

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I smiled and gave a straightforward reply to the Jin Yong fellow, "What do you propose? Say it directly, no need to beat about the bush."

"Good. As expected, the lord of Infinite City is direct and to the point." The Jin Yong fellow gave me a thumbs up and a look of respect.

He gestured towards a man clad in all black, and then said with a face full of pride, "This is our team's best fighter, Cold Fox."

I looked at Cold Fox. Hearing that name alone, one could infer that he would be an icy guy, and I was not disappointed. He had jet black hair, black eyes, black clothes – basically black all over. He even wore a face that said 'Annoy me, and I'll kill you; don't annoy me, and I'll still want to kill you.' No wonder he's called Cold Fox. If my eyes were described as being able to freeze three feet of air, his would definitely freeze eight feet, and he was staring at me with all eight feet's worth.

"If the Liege Lord or any of his subordinates can defeat Cold Fox, then we will all stay in Infinite City and pledge loyalty to you forever." Though even as he was saying this, the Jin Yong fellow had a look that clearly showed his confidence of Cold Fox never losing.

Feeling the brunt of Cold Fox's icy cold stare, I suddenly had the urge to give him a sound beating, so I stood up eagerly to take on this challenge.

"Don't challenge him!" At this moment, Nan Gong Zui's voice drifted over the PM channel. I looked up to see that Zui had just walked in, and I gave him a confused look. He continued over the PM, "Cold Fox, Second Life's third strongest player, is at least level 92. He uses one of the three legendary weapons, Bloodlust. I'm afraid you might not be his match, Prince."

Hearing that, I laughed heartily… and promptly sat down. Damn! Where did Kenshin wander off to?

_Zui was putting it mildly when he said that I might not be his match. I am definitely not his match! I still have at least that much self-awareness. Even though we are not sure of his actual level, a difference of sixteen levels is just too much. Plus, going against Cold Fox's legendary weapon and with his stance that could only belong to a battle maniac, is there any way that I could win? Well, not unless Cold Fox had a sudden attack of stomach flu… but we don't get sick in the game, so I better stop hoping for miracle like that to happen._

"Since you have selected your strongest player, I suppose I will select mine as well!" I said to the Jin Yong fellow with a forced look of indifference. I said this knowing that I had already told Kenshin to come, and that he was in the castle and was probably already on his way.

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A quick explanation: pets cannot send PMs, and only the pet owner can chat with the pet over long distances. I had already told everyone in Infinite City that Sunshine and Kenshin are my personal guards and that they will never listen to or obey anyone else. Thus, nobody had any suspicions about this so far. Even if people did try to send PMs to Kenshin, they would probably just think that he didn't want to answer.

"Strongest player? I thought that the Liege Lord was Infinite City's strongest player," the Jin Yong fellow asked in confusion.

I smiled again, "You are praising me too much. There is always a higher mountain. Besides, I've been buried in work and unfortunately have been negligent on my training. Why would the strongest player be me?"

The Jin Yong fellow didn't seem to mind much, probably because he was completely confident in the third-ranked Cold Fox. He just said, "In that case, may the strongest player of Infinite City please step forth!"

I caught sight of that brilliant head of red hair from the corners of my eyes and said with relief, "Kenshin, you will be the one dueling Cold Fox."

Everyone turned their eyes towards the door, looking at Kenshin doubtfully. Kenshin never says anything unnecessary, so he just gripped his sword with his left hand and walked towards Cold Fox. Cold Fox seemed to sense that Kenshin was going to be a strong opponent and his eyes shone with excitement.

This is…the battle of the cold-blooded! I sighed, why are all strong players cold-blooded? Could it be that training too much makes your blood start turning into ice?

I leisurely awaited for the start of this once-in-a-century battle. Why was I so relaxed? Well, I had 200% confidence in Kenshin. There's no need to even mention that he is the prize of a hidden quest. Just consider the fact that he is the boss of the Demon Cave. It's no simple quest for someone to defeat a boss alone. Have you ever heard of anyone succeeding?

Also, Cold Fox is only level 92… well, the level 76 me is in no position to say "only" level 92. But still, against the level 100 Kenshin, level 92 is on the weak side. Also, Kenshin's skills are beyond those of a regular level 100 player anyway. I doubt that even a level 120 player would be able to beat him alone, and the highest level on the rankings right now is only 95. So, if Kenshin were a player, then he would be Second Life's strongest player.

So, what do I have to worry about? If it weren't for my image as a lord, I would be having popcorn and a soda right now.

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Down below, everyone had already formed a clearing in the middle for the two of them to fight. Neither of them had said a single word since the start, but I could clearly see Cold Fox's cold expression starting to waver. Just as I thought that Cold Fox should be ready to make his move, he did.

Cold Fox darted quickly towards Kenshin with a speed that would leave me trailing in the dust. In a heartbeat, Cold Fox was right in front of Kenshin and Bloodlust was being thrust forward. Kenshin barely moved. He just flicked half of his blade out of its sheath and blocked the attack. Cold Fox's reflexes were incredibly fast, so when the two blades touched his leg also went to sweep towards Kenshin's lower body. However, Kenshin was no easy target. He sidled a bit, and Cold Fox's leg collided with Kenshin's knee… In a battle of shin versus knee, I think everyone knows the result! Even if you don't, I wouldn't recommend for you to try it for yourself. I won't take responsibility for the results.

Seeing Cold Fox's icy face had actually twitched a little, I could tell that it must have hurt tremendously! Ignoring the pain, Cold Fox quickly brandished his sword for another attack. However, Kenshin already had his blade out, and I could only hear the constant clanging of metal and see flashes of silver between the two.

"Howling Wolf!" Cold Fox cut many crescent-shaped slashes right at Kenshin. He then followed closely behind the slashes, going for Kenshin in person. There was no way to avoid this attack, and I stood up from my throne in surprise. I really wanted to dive over there to save Kenshin.

_Kenshin is a pet, and pets can be resurrected, but if Kenshin died and got resurrected, would he still maintain his self-awareness? Even Lolidragon wasn't quite sure about this. I don't want to take any chances and risk Kenshin losing his self-awareness._

"Void Piercer!" Kenshin said coldly. Before I could even see what was happening, he was already standing behind Cold Fox and his Howling Wolf slashes. After freezing for a second, Cold Fox unwillingly collapsed to the ground, staining the spotless floor with a large pool of blood. However, he didn't turn into a column of white light and fly off. Looks like Kenshin had been careful not to kill him.

Everyone, including myself, froze on the spot, not sure of what had happened. How exactly did Kenshin manage to avoid Howling Wolf? And since when did Cold Fox suffer such heavy wounds? That was amazing…. I had a whole lot of questions, but I wasn't stupid enough to inquire Kenshin about his secret attack in front of all these people. Why would I let anyone else know about my own pet's secret abilities and let them figure out its weakness?!

I sat down slowly and calmly said, "The battle is over, you guys may go and help Cold Fox heal."

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That calm fellow's expression changed drastically and he shrieked at Cold Fox with loud insults. "Bastard! You said that you wouldn't lose to anyone except for the top- ranked Undying Man! Now that you've lost to some unknown little brat, what use do I have for you?!"

The calm fellow cast away his calm façade and with a violent expression, drew out his sword to attack Cold Fox, who was lying defenselessly on the ground. I was so shocked that I couldn't utter a single word in time, just watching helplessly as Cold Fox was about to get slaughtered right in front of my eyes.

"Soaring Dragon!" A life flashed away with a soft murmur from Kenshin. The calm fellow didn't even get a chance to utter a single wail before he turned into a pillar of white light in the sky.

I was somewhat shocked. This was the first time that Kenshin had interceded on his own without my orders.

"Dàgē!"The calm fellow's teammates gasped and then looked fiercely at Kenshin. After Kenshin surveyed them back, they backed away fearfully and looked away.

One of them turned around and started shrieking at me, "Lord of Infinite City! What's the meaning of this? Our two teams came all this way to join Infinite City, and yet you've killedē!" our Dàg

I sneered coldly, "If you had really intended to join Infinite City, then you wouldn't have found the third-ranked player, Cold Fox, to challenge me. It's clear that you just want to stir up trouble!"

After I said that, the people in front of me all turned pale, but they held their ground, "We never did! We just wanted to see if Infinite City is worthy for us to join."

"That doesn't even make half a bit of sense. Get out of my sight. I will let today's incident slide, but if you ever come here again looking for trouble, Infinite City will show no mercy towards any of you." I replied coldly and waved to White Bird impatiently. "White Bird! Show our guests out!"

"Yes, my lord." After responding to me respectfully, she turned on the band of people with a fierce look, "How dare you come to Infinite City to play your dirty tricks. Guards!"

"Here!" A bunch of guys wearing identical armors suddenly swarmed in from the side and responded in unison.

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I almost spat out my tea. _Since when did we have things like guards? Even I, the Liege_ _Lord, didn't know about it. I will tell them to yell "Wei Wu~"__5__ a bit later._

"The Liege Lord has ordered that these people be escorted out!" White Bird yelled, staring coldly at the unwelcome guests.

"Yes!" the guards shouted again in unison, and started to carry out the order, shooing the guests out of the main hall with waves of their daos. The so-called guests realized that the situation was looking grim for them, and so they hurriedly backed out of the hall, but not before giving me evil looks before they left.

"I am very sorry, Liege Lord," White Bird suddenly turned around, and apologized with a face full of remorse. "I should have investigated first if they had really wanted to join Infinite City or if they were just looking for trouble. I apologize for making the Liege Lord deal with this himself."

"It's no big deal," I answered White Bird, unconcerned. My eyes were on the scene below. Kenshin and Cold Fox were staring at each other coldly. Any onlookers would probably think that they wanted to kill each other. But from my experience with Kenshin's facial expressions, the conversation actually went something like this:

"Okay?" Kenshin's first stare.

"Okay." Cold Fox's answering look.

"Help?" Kenshin's second look with eyebrows slightly raised.

"No." Cold Fox lowered his eyes and started to drink a red potion.

Cold Fox slowly stood up. Even though the red potion couldn't heal his wound completely, it should be enough for him to be able to move around again. He glanced at me, and then at Kenshin. That look was probably asking, "Can I leave?"

Kenshin looked up at me, asking for my orders. I creased my eyebrows in disapproval, and Kenshin frowned lightly. He looked back at Cold Fox before answering "no" with his eyes.

Cold Fox did not seem surprised. He looked straight at me with a look that said, "Kill or torture, do whatever you wish." That look fired up my temper, so I spoke in an unfriendly tone, "You sauntered in here looking for trouble, so tell me, what should I do with you?"

5** Wei Wu: **The phrase威武(wēi wǔ) literally means "formidable / military prestige". It originated from asaying from Chinese philosopher Mencius, "Military prestige cannot be swayed" ( ) and has been adopted as a standard opening call in Chinese courts of law.

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"Up to you." Cold Fox's indifferent tone made it sound like we were discussing someone else's fate.

Looking at that apathetic expression, I thought, _He probably wouldn't even blink if I give_ _him a lashing or even kill him. So what's the point of punishing him? I would rather go beat up Gui. At least he would howl out for me to hear._

"Oh well, forget it, since you were dumped here by the leader of your team," I said lazily.

Cold Fox smirked, "I'm not a part of any team."

Hearing that, my curiosity was piqued, "Then why did you come today?"

"To challenge the strongest!" Cold Fox's eyes sparkled with the light of a warmonger.

_Hmm? Interesting. _I suddenly came up with a plan to make Cold Fox stay. Why should Iallow him to stay? Well, if there were another strong player that I could send out to battle, then I wouldn't need to rely so much on Kenshin alone.

"Join Infinite City!" I skipped the formalities and got to the main point.

"No!" Cold Fox also gave a clear-cut response.

I faintly revealed a sly smile. "Join me. After you join, I promise that you can challenge Kenshin whenever you want."

Hearing that, Cold Fox's eyes wavered. _Though the look that Kenshin is giving me right_ _now is a bit too harsh._

I put my trump card into play. "Or are you afraid to challenge Kenshin again? Well, I can understand. Kenshin is so strong that he doesn't even seem human. It's no surprise that you are afraid."

"Nonsense!" Cold Fox narrowed his eyes dangerously.

I laughed impishly. This ruse never fails, no matter whether it's Yu Lian-dàsăousing it against XiMen Feng or myself to lure in Cold Fox.

Cold Fox's expression suddenly turned ugly, "I do not follow orders."

"Then you can take the same role as Kenshin and be my personal guard. You won't have to listen to anyone else except me. And, except for calling you out to challenge strong opponents, I basically won't give you any orders," I smiled softly.

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"Um…" Cold Fox hesitated, but when he turned and looked at Kenshin, the look he wore was as if he had seen his beloved. He examined Kenshin from head to toe, and then again from toe to head. After that, his expression of agreement seemed to overpower the one of disagreement.

I didn't feel like waiting for an answer, so I continued, "Okay, that settles it. When I have no orders for you, you can follow Kenshin around, or he can follow you. You both can go anywhere, but just don't leave the Central Continent."

Before leaving the hall, I couldn't help but steal a glance at Kenshin. That look…I was 100% sure that it meant he wanted to send me to the Demon Cave as a ghost!

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**Chapter 2: Conflict **

"It seems that there are plenty of people in the Central Continent who refuse to recognize Prince as a superior." Nan Gong Zui frowned thoughtfully after listening to White Bird's description of that day's events.

"I think that this is due to several factors: First, Prince's level isn't high enough; second, during the final battle of the Adventurer's Tournament, Prince did not survive; and third, being a spokesperson not only garnered the admiration of many, but also the jealousy of many others," Wicked explained in detail.

Nan Gong Zui's frown deepened. He looked at me worriedly, "Prince, the only thing you can do right now is train hard and raise your level."

I shrugged. "That isn't a problem. Compared to administrative work and military stuff, I'd rather train."

"What's even more important than leveling is building up your reputation!" White Bird declared decisively.

"Reputation?" Everyone was staring at White Bird, and apart from me, everyone appeared to agree with her. _Really? Was I really not being respected enough?_

"Wait a minute—how can I be lacking in reputation? Haven't I always used the Blood Elf image in public?" I quickly argued. _What kind of joke is this? I don't want to be more_ _esteemed! I would not be able to stand it if everyone worshipped me the way the five man band did._

White Bird looked at me with uncertainty and then hesitatingly explained, "My lord, your lack of reputation may be due to your appearance."

"Appearance?" I was startled for the moment. _What could be wrong with my_ _appearance? Am I too handsome to be respected?_

Yu Lian-dàsăo interjected suddenly, "You mean that Prince looks too young?"

White Bird hesitantly nodded her head. "If I may boldly ask, my lord, how old are you this year?"

At White's Bird question, everyone shifted their gazes towards me, as though as they were measuring me up. Feeling uncomfortable under their scrutiny, I quickly answered, "I'm twenty."

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"Twenty? That's older than I thought, but it's still very young. Among the four other lords, it is said that the youngest is twenty-four. Not to mention that, my lord, you look like you are only seventeen or eighteen." White Bird sighed with a disheartened expression.

Gui did not seem to agree. "His appearance is fine. More importantly, Prince rarely involves himself in the city's day-to-day affairs. A lot of people have seen the other department leaders in the flesh, but they have only seen Prince as a photo on Second Life's official website."

I could not help but roll my eyes at Gui's words. "It's not my fault. Everyone pushed me into doing the concert tour before, and now I have to train hard. Where would I get the time to involve myself in the city's day-to-day affairs?"

Everyone sighed at my words, and each of their faces held an expression of helplessness.

"This cannot go on. Our lord's reputation must be established," White Bird said, unusually determined. "And I will definitely think of something!"

For some unknown reason, I suddenly shuddered.

When I saw everyone kneeling before me, including the members of Odd Squad, Dark Emperor, Rose Team and others, I was totally at a loss on what to do. It didn't make any difference that White Bird had already informed me of this event, this so called Oath of Allegiance ceremony.

As a preparation for the upcoming update, as well as the invasion of Sun City, Moon City, and Star City, it had been decided that we would hold a ceremony for everyone to swear fealty to me, as the Lord of Infinite City. Firstly, the ceremony would announce to the general public Infinite City's intention to conquer the official cities, and secondly, it would establish that reputation thing that I never really understood.

"I, Ugly Wolf, swear to serve the Lord of Infinite City, Prince, with undivided loyalty." Wolf-dàgēwas looking at me with a solemn expression. Of course, he was also kneeling, and yet when I heard his declaration, I felt a bit…unhappy? _Why must Wolf-dàgēkneel_ _before me?_

"I, Yu Lian…"

"I, Guiliastes…"

"Doll…"

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"Lolidragon…"

"Wicked…"

"Nan Gong Zui…"

"Rose…"

One by one, my close friends swore fealty to me. _Shouldn't I be feeling happy? Why does_ _my heart only feel as empty, as though I have just lost something important?_

After everyone finished swearing fealty, I followed with the words that White Bird had told me. Replying in a solemn tone that I had never used before, I said, "I, Lord of Infinite City, Prince, accept your oaths. From now on, all of you are my loyal subordinates. I swear to lead you all to fame and glory throughout Second Life."

Everyone exclaimed in unison, "All hail Infinite City!"

"All hail…Infinite City," I repeated, with a mild sense of emptiness, both in my words and in my heart.

After the ceremony, everyone's expressions were of happiness and pre-battle excitement. I had a forced smile on my face, but the bottom of my heart felt a bit heavy.

"My lord, how goes your training today?" Wolf-dàgēpatted my back with a smile.

I smiled dryly when I heard his words. "Wolf-dàgē,why are you calling me 'my lord' as well?"

Wolf-dàgēscratched his head, shrugged and explained, "It's because White Bird has ordered us to address you as such from now on in order to build your reputation as the Lord of Infinite City. That was the point of today's Oath of Allegiance ceremony too."

"I'm not used to this," I said dejectedly. "Why does even Odd Squad have to kneel before me? I'd rather you guys bully me like before instead of kneeling before me."

"Prince…" Wolf-dàgēcalled out hesitantly.

"It's 'my lord'!" Lolidragon reminded Wolf-dàgēas she ruthlessly whacked me on the head. "Wolf-gē, don't forget White Bird's order."

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She then turned and shot me a fierce glare. "Don't think that I wanted to kneel before you. If it weren't necessary to establish your reputation, I wouldn't have kneeled before a brat like you."

"Lolidragon! Don't speak to our lord like that," White Bird lightly reproached her, obviously dissatisfied with Lolidragon's tone.

"Why must I establish my reputation?" I could not help but be angered as the suppressed resentment from these few days flared out all of a sudden. "Wouldn't it be better if we were all friends? Why worship me as if I'm some kind of god?"

"My lord," Wolf-dàgēand Lolidragon were looking at me with a shocked expression, as if they were startled by my sudden burst of anger. The noisy laughter from the crowd

around us had quieted down as well and the people slowly started looking in our direction one after another.

"My lord…," White Bird panicked, sweeping her eyes at the crowd who turned their attentive gazes towards us while frowning at me.

After seeing the members of Odd Squad together, Rose Team, Wicked and everyone's expressions filled with concern. Seeing their expressions along with Nan Gong Zui's and White Bird's frowns, my heart suddenly felt like a deflated balloon, as though as all energy had been taken away from me. I tiredly waved my hand, "Sorry, I'm just too tired. I'll go get some rest."

I turned and left, without looking at anyone's expressions anymore. I reached the main hall before realizing suddenly that I didn't know where to go. _Yun Fei and Jing—I'll go_ _look for them then, they would definitely understand my feelings._

I walked towards Lü Jing and Yun's cottage in low spirits and kicked the door open with force. As expected, Yun Fei's screaming followed.

"Prince, I have told you ten thousand times before, doors can be broken! And you're paying for it if it breaks!" My mood suddenly brightened at the way Yun Fei spoke to me. He was the same as before, and he didn't call me 'my lord'.

"Is the Oath of Allegiance ceremony over?" Mom's voice suddenly trailed into my ear.

"Dad, mom, you're all here." I turned, surprised. Not only were Jing and Yun there, but both of my parents were in the room as well.

"Of course, everyone was going to kneel down and swear fealty to you, but you can't expect your parents to kneel before you too, can you?" Jing asked helplessly.

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"Speaking of that ceremony, I'm starting to feel mad. Why must everyone kneel and pledge their loyalty!?" I could not suppress my feelings any longer and started shouting, wanting to vent out all my frustration. "They are my friends, why must they call me 'my lord', and why must they honor me!?"

Everyone was shocked by my outburst. It was only after a moment of silence that Jing spoke. "But it's necessary."

"Rubbish, we didn't do that before, and we were okay, weren't we?" I quickly argued.

_There was no need for me to establish any reputation._

"Xiao Lan, it _is_ necessary." Dad looked at me with a serious expression. "Infinite City is growing stronger, and more and more people are joining Infinite City. What they need is a king they can follow, not a friend."

_King… Why do I keep hearing this word? Why am I always being crowned with such a heavy word?_

"Xiao Lan, you've already embarked on this path, and unless you want to abandon everything, you can only continue to walk onward," Mom said to me in all earnestness.

"I… I'm willing to walk onwards. I just don't like how my friends have transformed into subordinates. Is even this too much to ask for?" I could not help but choke out.

"Xiao Lan!" Yun grabbed hold of my shoulders. "What the heck are you doing? You're not acting like yourself. You're supposed to be someone who boldly moves forward and doesn't withdraw regardless of the difficulties! You're the heart of this group; tears and confusion aren't things you should be expressing."

"But I do shed tears! I do get confused!" I closed my eyes and cried, "I'm not god, I'm not that great!"

"Xiao Lan…" Everyone stood up in surprise, all wanting to come over to comfort me.

I desperately freed myself from Yun's grip, wiped my tears away, and walked out of the house without looking back.

The four shouted in surprise, "Xiao Lan, wait up!"

I did not even turn my head as I shouted back, "Don't follow me, I don't want to listen to anything now!"

Using the fastest speed that I could muster, I fled like a wind away from the place I originally thought I could find some comfort. I hadn't anticipate that even Jing and Yun, as well as my mom and dad, would be unable to understand my feelings. _Who else would_

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_be able to understand? _I smiled humorlessly, looked up, and realized that I was standingin front of Infinite Restaurant.

Naturally, I stepped into the restaurant. Just as I decided to find a corner for a silent drink, I saw Kenshin and Cold Fox sitting by the balcony, quietly drinking with some side dishes on the table. I arrogantly strode forward, sat down, and immediately grabbed Cold Fox's flagon, downing it in one gulp.

Cold Fox watched silently as I snatched over the flagon. After I downed it all at once, he mildly said, "That's a vodka and whiskey cocktail."

As Kenshin raised his eyes to meet Cold Fox's, the latter then added, "Very strong. A normal human being would be drunk after a few cups."

Kenshin and Cold Fox stared at me together. As I met their stares, I started to get mad again. "What are you looking at!? Don't you know I'm the Lord of Infinite City? Start ordering more wine for me."

Kenshin withdrew his gaze and calmly said a single sentence: "He's drunk."

"Mm." Cold Fox also responded calmly.

_Godamnit, they're not ordering wine for me! _I couldn't suppress my rage and slammedmy fist on the table. "Waiter, bring more wine and all the side dishes you have to this table immediately!"

"Have you decided to throw your life away? To waste money like that, you'd better be careful of Yu Lian- dàsăo's wrath," Lolidragon's lithe voice came from behind.

I did not turn my head, nor did I wish to reply.

Lolidragon released a sigh and sat on the seat beside me, "What's wrong? Why are you so angry? It's only an Oath of Allegiance ceremony; you don't have to take it to heart."

I was so furious that I loudly retorted, "What do you mean by only an Oath of Allegiance ceremony? All of you are my friends; you weren't supposed to kneel before me in the first place!"

"It's true that we're your friends, but we're also your subordinates. What's wrong with subordinates kneeling before you to pledge their loyalty?" Lolidragon gazed at me with furrowed brows.

"What do you mean subordinates… All of you are my friends! _Friends_!" After roaring until my voice was hoarse, I grabbed the wine flagon the waiter had just delivered and drank madly, as if only this action could wash away the unhappiness in my heart.

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I seemed to have frightened her, as Lolidragon was speechless for a while. She wordlessly watched as I madly gulped down the wine.

Finally, she spoke in an earnest, solemn manner. "Prince, you're no longer a carefree prince, but a king who shoulders heavy responsibilities."

I stopped my drinking. _Why do these words feel so heavy? King? Me?_ I said in all bitterness, "Lolidragon, I don't like the current situation, I don't like how everyone's treating me, and those, those lordly titles."

Lolidragon slowly stood up, took a deep breath and said, "Prince, you wanted to create a legend. Are you relishing the moments of happiness of the legend, but refusing to shoulder the responsibilities and pain?"

I was rendered speechless, and I could only watch as Lolidragon left the restaurant without looking back. I lowered my head and looked at the flagon blankly. The bottom of my heart felt so twisted up that even I did not know what I felt at the moment.

"Prince… Are you okay?" a female voice asked from behind me. My heart tightened, _Did_ _Lolidragon come back?_

Before my eyes Phoenix's worried expression appeared. My once hopeful feelings died within me, and my heart became even emptier. I waved an impatient hand at Phoenix and adopted an extremely harsh tone. "Stop bothering me!"

After that, I turned my head and continued drinking and eating…but then I noticed Kenshin and Cold Fox staring over my shoulder, frowning. I quickly turned my head to have a look. Phoenix was silently shedding tears.

I was stunned, totally at a loss on how to react. But Phoenix was already speaking, and despite the two streams of tears trailing down her face, her tone was abnormally calm. "Prince, you have never actually cared for me, have you?"

"I…" _What could I say? If Phoenix had not loved me, perhaps we could have been good_ _friends, but since she just had to fall in love with me, she was destined to get hurt… Was it the right choice to have let her fall in love with me in the beginning? _I suddenlyrealized in horror that I had never given any thought to the aftermath.

I found myself unable say anything and Phoenix did not seem to be expecting an answer. She closed her eyes, still silently crying, and turned and began walking away. "My passionate feelings of love burn like the flames of the phoenix, and yet the ones I meet always smother me with the chill of an iceberg!"

"Phoenix…" I could only numbly watch Phoenix's extremely sorrowful retreating figure. Even after I could no longer see her, I still could not turn my gaze away.

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"Prince…" Two voices called out to me at the same time, and at the door appeared the two silhouettes I knew best—Wicked and Gui.

Both of them came up to me at the same time, and I looked at them in a daze.

"Prince, you don't have to bear those responsibilities. If you think it hurts, then don't do it," Wicked stroked my head comfortingly.

"Can I really?" I smiled wistfully. _To leave just like that? To lose all my friends? To_ _abandon the promise of creating a legend with everyone from Odd Squad?_

"Xiao— …Prince." Wicked sighed softly and said nothing after.

"Your Highness, if you want to shed tears, then please do so on Gui's shoulders!" Gui compassionately pulled me into an embrace. I was startled for the moment, but then I raised my head and looked at him. He was taking advantage of me6 as usual, but suddenly, I felt as if I understood something.

"Are you doing it on purpose?" I asked him.

"What?" Gui's expression changed for a split second, and quickly returned to his normal, overly dramatic expression. "Oh, I just can't control myself when I'm around you, Your Highness!" Gui said.

"You are always taking advantage of me—are you purposefully creating a reason for me to hit you?" I stared Gui in the eye, not allowing him to act dumb. "You are allowing me to hit you, so that I can vent my frustrations, right?" I cried out hoarsely, "Why do you need to sacrifice yourself like that? Why do you endure such pain and even humiliation?"

I grabbed hold of his collar and glared at him, not giving him an opportunity to escape. "To go to that far of an extent for me, is it really worth it? You don't even know my real name!"

Gui's expression suddenly became gentle. He lightly caressed my cheeks, and his eyes bore such pain and happiness that I felt confused after looking at them. "If my tears can be used to exchange for your smile, then it's more than worthwhile."

6** Taking advantage of me**: In Chinese this phrase was this phrase was吃豆腐(chīdòu fǔ), lit. "eat tofu".This phrase is said to come from this: In olden times, Tofu shops are usually opened by married couples. The husband would make the tofu at night and the wife would sell them during the day. As they frequently eat tofu, their skins are naturally soft and smooth. This attracts lots of customers (mainly males, considering that the wife is doing business during the day), and the males would use the term 'eat tofu' as an euphemism for going to the tofu shop and flirting with the Tofu Shop wife. Hence, jealous wives usually reprimand their husbands with "Did you eat tofu today again?" Now, it's used to describe perverted males or, well, males who want to take advantage of females.

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Suddenly, Gui was fiercely dragged backwards onto the ground. Although Wicked was trying desperately to glare at Gui, he could not conceal the hurt in his eyes and expression. Gui fearlessly returned Wicked's gaze, his eyes conveying a regretless determination.

"Why do I keep hurting people?" I mumbled. My eyes were as empty as a black hole. "Will there be people who get hurt no matter what I do?"

"Prince?" Wicked and Gui gazed at me in shock. Their eyes were heavy with concern.

In a daze, I stood up and walked towards the door. Gui and Wicked followed behind, and I suddenly stopped, turned, and spoke to them, "Don't follow me, I want some time alone to think. Please don't follow me."

Gui and Wicked both stopped, and even though they were both so different, their eyes revealed the same worry and compassion towards me at the exact same time.

_Those two who love me so deeply, which one should I hurt? Which one could I heartlessly hurt? Zhuo-gēgē, who waited for me for eight years? Or Gui, who sacrificed even his dignity for me? The answer was difficult, so difficult!_

Stepping out of the restaurant and walking on the streets of my own city, I was suddenly reminded of a conversation I had with my brother in the online game _The World_ that we used to play.

"Aiyo, why do others have money, land and fame but we don't have any no matter how hard we train?" After grinding an endless amount of incoming monsters, I could not help but complain.

Shielding me from the front, my bratty little brother rolled his eyes. "You call that training hard? You don't know just how much effort people might have to put in before they manage to pull it off!"

"Are you sure? They might have just bought all of it with money," I answered in disdain.

"Right, stop envying others already. Owning a city is not necessarily a good thing. Why don't you think of the responsibilities they have to shoulder?" Wu Qing actually replied in a happy-go-lucky way.

"What responsibilities? You mean the responsibility of lying down and collecting rent?" I could not help but retort.

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Wu Qing looked as though he was teaching a hopeless child. "Sis, you just don't understand. My friend has a city. Every day, he worries about losing the city, about loss and debts, about tension among his companions, and about the people who don't accept him and want to usurp his throne. Also, once you own a castle, you must have a second, and a third… Finally, you won't be happy until you dominate the whole game, and that is a very heavy responsibility."

I replied thoughtlessly. "I don't want a second castle, I just want one. Why is it a must to dominate the whole game?"

As he was almost sliced apart by the monsters, Wu Qing dared not continue the debate. He only mumbled one last thing in return—words that I did not to take to heart at that time but which were now clear as day to me. "There are some situations that leave you with no choice. Only the people who have not walked the same path can speak so lightly."

"Indeed only the people who have not walked the same path can speak so lightly!" I closed my eyes, allowing the tears to trickle from the corner of my eyes.

"Prince-gēgē…" Doll's hesitant voice reached my ears.

Not wanting to let the young Doll see me like this, I did not turn to face her. "I'm alright. I just want to be alone for a moment. You don't have to worry about me, Doll."

"Prince-gēgē, can Doll take a walk with you?"

"I want to be alone for the moment…" I relentlessly rejected.

Instead, Doll stepped forward and grasped my hand, and using a quiet tone which I had never thought would come from her, she said, "Don't dwell on it alone, you will only be going on a wild goose chase. At least let me accompany you. I think I can understand your pain: the pain of a ruler."

I first stared, followed with an unbelieving, bitter smile. "How could you understand?"

"How could a real life princess not understand?" Hearing that remark, I turned to Doll in shock, and was met with her regal expression, which exuded elegance. She smiled lightly as she said, "Let me take a walk with you now, you will feel better about being a ruler."

_I will feel better about being a ruler? A princess is telling me that I will feel better about having the identity of a king? _Before today, I would definitely have said that this wouldnever happen, but now… I could only smile bitterly. "There's no way I could feel better as a ruler; I have… entered a quagmire. I cannot advance, nor can I turn back!"

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"That's because you're focusing only on the pain of advancing or the pain of withdrawing, and forgetting the joy that can be had in both choices," Doll replied. She spoke in a resolute manner, and yet her words felt vague to me. "Nevertheless, let's just take a walk. There will always be a way, as long as you don't stay in a corner and simply brood over things." Doll strongly pushed me from the back, and in the blink of an eye, we had reached the city gates.

"Where are we going?" I asked in astonishment.

"The sky is endless, the world is vast; we can go anywhere we want!"

_Meanwhile, in Infinite Restaurant…_

Cold Fox asked coolly, "What happened?"

"Something that does not concern us." Kenshin drank his tea with indifference. Human emotions were far too complex; it was not something he would understand.

"It's not entirely unrelated to us," Cold Fox sighed.

"Even though he is our Liege Lord, we have no need to care for his private matters," Kenshin ruthlessly replied.

"No, it does concern us." Cold Fox frowned as he looked at the table full of food and wine. "We have to pay for his bill."

"…"

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**Chapter 3: Neurotic and DanDan **

"I want to go somewhere secluded to train. Is that okay with you, Doll?"

I had thought about this for a while. How should I explain it? I didn't want to wear a mask, but I didn't want to get caught up in trouble either.

"Doll is okay with whatever you decide," Doll replied, laughing. Her previous dignified air of a princess had disappeared off to who-knows-where. I rubbed my chin, replied with a vague sound of "mm", and walked along quietly. Doll scrutinized my aloof reaction but she didn't say anything and just followed behind me. Thus, the two of us pressed onward with our journey with barely any words exchanged. I intended to reach the Valley of Wandering Nymphs as soon as possible and vent out my frustration through battle.

It was not until we reached the valley that Doll finally spoke up, gasping in surprise, "It's so pretty here! What is this place?" The scenery was indeed stunning. I gazed off into the endless field of flowers. Some were sparkling and immaculate like snow, while others were pink enough to instill feelings of adoration. Still others were a soft and mysterious shade of violet. Amongst the flowers stood several cherry blossom trees in full bloom. Their petals fluttered about the entire valley, intensifying the portrayal of a utopian beauty.

I answered Doll's question softly, "The Valley of Wandering Nymphs."

"What a befitting7 name… Wait a second, the Valley of Wandering Nymphs?" Doll's original infatuated expression suddenly changed, and she turned her head to look at me in fright, "Prince-gēge isn't pl anning to train inside the Den of Wandering Nymphs, is he?"

I nodded. Doll looked like she wanted to say something but stopped herself, and eventually continued following after me silently. Of course, I knew why Doll was apprehensive. The nymphs in this valley were all rare beauties beyond compare. When the game was newly released, perverts kept swarming here to gawk at them. Yet, all those perverts, whether they had come alone, in pairs, or in teams, would never make it out alive… Although the perverts wanted to ogle continuously at beautiful girls, they couldn't just throw away their lives, and so they all gradually stopped coming to the Den of Wandering Nymphs.

Moreover, the number of regular players training here had been dwindling as well for two reasons. First, all males were invariably affected by the nymphs' physical appearances and would hold back their attacks or would even start daydreaming with saliva dripping from their mouths. How could one continue fighting under these conditions? Second,

7 It would be befitting for nymphs, being such beautiful creatures, to live in an enchanting place such as the one described.

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nymphs were not your run-of-the-mill monsters. Nymphs fall into three subcategories: the level 60 ones, who wore red robes, the level 70 ones, who wore blue robes, and the level 80 ones, who wore purple robes. There were also rumors of a boss called Celestial8, though nobody had seen it to this day, and only one or two pictures of purple-robed nymphs could be found on the Internet, and their beauty could rival that of Lolidragon's, so they weren't really a good target for males to train on. As such, the Valley of Wandering Nymphs barely showed any signs of human passing…

"Don't worry. I only plan on attacking up to the blue robed nymphs. Even though they are always in groups of two or three, I should be able to manage with your skeleton summons." I couldn't help but console Doll a bit. Doll nodded, following me into the Den of Wandering Nymphs.

As expected, the red-robed nymphs were elegant and refined beauties. It's no wonder men couldn't attack them – who would be willing to fight against girls as beautiful as these?

In one clean strike, I attacked one of the nymphs. Seeing the nymph's shocked expression, I chuckled coldly. I am not one of those gentlemen who believe in chivalry towards women, after all. By now, the two other nymphs nearby had begun to close in, making me a bit clumsy while parrying their attacks. But Doll immediately summoned eight Fire-armored Skeletons, changing the situation from three versus one to nine versus three. With utmost ease, I sent the three lovely nymphs to nirvana and continued further into the cave, preparing to find blue-robed nymphs and have a great time beating them up!

Doll and I continued fighting in this manner through the entire way. Apart from battling, we only stopped to eat our rations when we got hungry and to use this opportunity for some rest. Eventually, we had logged on and off so many times that we lost count, and yet, during this entire time, the two of us had barely spoken half a sentence.

While back in the real world, I saw Professor Min Gui Wen and Zhuo-gē ge on campus, and both looked like they had a lot on their minds_. Is it from worrying about me?_ I suddenly thought, _Should I at least PM the people back at Infinite City? Isn't it too_ _irresponsible of me to take Doll along and just vanish without a trace?_

The next time I went online, I discussed the issue with Doll. While chewing on her rations, Doll said to me, "Doll has already explained it to Wolf-gē ge."

"Oh, so you told him that you came with me to train?" _In that case, it should be fine,_ _since my original task was to concentrate on leveling up anyway._

8** Celestial**:天仙. This can literally be taken to mean "Immortal of the Sky", but can also be construed tomean a "Heavenly Beauty".

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"No. Doll said, 'Doll and Prince-gē ge ran away from home.'" Doll's innocent eyes glistened.

Ran. Away. From. Home? I felt my knees giving way. _This… this is even worse than not_ _saying anything at all. No wonder Gui and Wicked looked like they were worried to death, _I thought.

"And then Wolf-gē ge told Doll to follow Prince-gē ge properly, or else Prince-gē ge would get lost and end up who-knows-where." Doll's innocent words hit me with a thud.

"Let's go, it's time to train," I said stuffily. As we were walking, my eyes lit up as a purple-robed nymph unexpectedly appeared in front of me, and it was alone to boot. There was no way I would pass over such a magnificent, once in a blue moon opportunity. I promptly announced, "Doll, I'm going to go one-on-one with that purple robe, so don't interfere." Doll nodded obediently. I raised my Black Dao, and right as I was about to attack to my heart's content…

"Chains of Ice!" Along with that shout, a chain of ice coiled around the body of the purple-robed nymph, who struggled to break free.

"Hurry up honey, hit her with a fatal strike before she breaks free."

"No problem, darling."

I frowned upon hearing this exchange and leaned my head out of the passageway to investigate the situation. Then I saw a man carrying an intimidatingly large claymore walking towards the nymph who couldn't move a single step.

While waving around his claymore, he muttered, "Hey gorgeous, don't blame me for showing no mercy. The only one to blame is yourself for being so pretty that my lovely darling couldn't resist but have you as a pet…" Two or three hits were enough to make the pitiful purple-robed nymph fall flat to the ground.

"Capture! Yay, we've caught it! Honey, you're the best." A woman wearing a magician's robe was cheering. _Looks like she was the one who cast the Chains of Ice spell._ After she called out "capture", the purple robe had disappeared without a trace.

_I can't believe someone stole my kill__9__. It's a shame, but there is nothing I can do about it._

Just as I was about to walk away…

9** Kill-steal**: A term in online games describing the situation when someone lands the finishing blow on anenemy and gets credit for doing so even though the enemy was already being targeted by another player. It is generally a frowned-upon practice, though there are generally no explicit rules against it.

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"Honey, look, there's a very handsome person next to you!" the woman shouted while pointing at me, making the claymore wielding warrior turn his head towards me and stare in bewilderment.

The warrior suddenly shouted in shock, "The rumors were right, the legendary Celestial really is a male!"

_What? The legendary Celestial is a male? _This is news to me.

"Right, that's just splendid. Honey, it looks like we didn't come all the way here to the Central Continent in vain; Celestial really is very handsome." The woman gazed intensely at me, her face gushing with excitement.

"But do be careful, darling. Rumors has it that Celestial is strong beyond belief, and he is one of the top three bosses!" The man scrutinized my every move very carefully.

_Wait a second. _I frowned a bit._ Don't tell me these two are mistaking me for Celestial? How can this be? _I didn't know whether to laugh or cry._ Are my pointy ears not proof enough that I'm an elf?_

"Chains of Ice!" The woman yelled loudly as a snow woman suddenly appeared right in front of her and started casting its own magic… _So she's a summoner?_ I faintly recalled that such a class existed.

_But wait a second! W-why did an ice chain appear around my body? _I looked up._ Oh heavens! _The claymore wielding warrior was getting ready to hack me to death with thatintimidating sword, and being wrapped up by the chains, I had no way of pulling out Black Dao to defend myself. I had no choice but to hop to the side, but I lost my balance instead and fell to the ground. Spotting an opening, the claymore warrior spared no time in swinging his sword, directing another blow towards me.

"Prince-gē ge!" As Doll let out the most desperate scream imaginable, she threw her entire body on top of me, intending to block the attack for me.

"Doll, get away from here now!" I shouted, terror-stricken by the possibility of Doll getting any injuries. Surprised, the claymore wielding swordsman promptly shifted his attack, and his weapon smashed into the ground just beside us, stirring up a large cloud of dust. We stared at each other, the claymore warrior's large eyes reflecting off of my smaller ones for quite a while before I declared coldly, "I'm a player."

On the spot, large beads of cold sweat appeared on the claymore warrior's face, and the chains of ice wrapped around my body disappeared. Looking behind him, I could see the female summoner smiling with embarrassment.

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"Hmph!" I snorted coldly and got back up on my feet, while Doll, clinging to my chest, was still trembling with fear.

"My sincere apologies – this is all a misunderstanding. My wife and I are here to find out whether the rumored Celestial is a male or not. Moreover, my wife is a summoner, so if possible, she would really like to capture Celestial as a summoning pet. That's the only reason we attacked you, so please don't be offended!" the claymore wielding warrior apologized with a sheepish smile.

"Oh my, you forgot to introduce yourself, honey. Greetings, my name is DanDan10 and I am a summoner." DanDan smiled brilliantly. Her oval-shaped face was indeed as cute as her name suggested. Next, she gestured towards the claymore warrior, explaining, "This is my hubby. His name is Neurotic11 and he's a warrior."

"A warrior with the strength to move mountains, with a huge claymore nobody else can wield as weapon. This is my claymore, Ultima Sword." As if afraid that his in-depth clarification wasn't clear enough, Neurotic started brandishing the claymore flamboyantly, stirring up wind with each impressive swing. Unfortunately, Neurotic was about the same height as myself, and his build was not that much stockier than my own slender elf body either, giving him the impression of a small child fooling around with a large sword.

"We're leaving." I carried Doll in my arms and walked away without looking back.

"Bide a moment, brave champion," DanDan cried out in surprise.

I halted. _Brave champion? Why is everyone I met lately fond of speaking in ancient_ _prose? _Though I couldn't do anything about their way of speech, I still didn't want tohave anything more to do with them. My mood was bad enough already, and the fact that they knocked me flat on the ground was just adding fuel to the fire.

"Wait a moment, ultra-handsome fellow, strong and charming young lad, honorable and righteous warrior, uh…luckiest man alive with the world's cutest wife…" Having completely exhausted his supply of titles, Neurotic has no choice but to start babbling rubbish.

I suddenly stopped in my tracks and turned around to angrily rebuke them. "What nonsense are you spouting? This is my little sister, not my wife."

**DanDan**: Her name (蛋蛋) literally means "egg" or "oval-shaped". Chinese names often repeat the sameword as a sign of endearment.

**Neurotic**: His name (神经兮兮) literally means "having a nerve disorder" but colloquially is used todescribe someone who is "overly sensitive, and reacts or takes offense unexpectedly at seemingly innocuous things". The manhua refers to him as "Wacko", but we feel that "Neurotic" is a more suitable name and closer to the author's original intent.

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Those two were evidently quite shocked, but recovered their senses right away. Neurotic even replied with a sickly sweet smile. "Oh, in that case, luckiest man alive with the world's cutest little sister, can you please tell us of your exalted name? It gets pretty exhausting referring to you like this."

Doll, who was still being carried in my arms, suddenly spoke out. "How could you two not recognize him?"

Neurotic scratched his head. "What? Is our esteemed brother actually quite famous in the Central Continent?"

DanDan even let out a "oh my," her face full of penitence as she said, "We are truly sorry then. My hubby and I have just arrived from the Western Continent, and we are still not quite familiar with Central Continent. We probably haven't heard of your renowned name yet."

"It doesn't matter where you came from. As long as you're a player in Second Life, then it's impossible for you not to know the spokesperson of Second Life, Prince!" Doll proclaimed, brimming with confidence.

The two of them breathed a sound of puzzlement upon hearing that. DanDan muttered to herself, "Second Life's spokesperson? I haven't been on the official site for a while, so now Second Life actually has a spokesperson!"

However, Neurotic asked me skeptically, "I haven't been on the official site for a while either so I don't know about this spokesperson business, but Prince is a name that I've heard many times before. Are you the Blood Elf of Infinite City?

I kept my expression cool, not wanting to say anything, but Doll replied on my behalf, "That's right, Prince- gē ge is the lord of Infinite City."

"Fancy finding by sheer luck what one has been searching for far and wide." Neurotic suddenly said neurotically, as he and his wife both stared at me intently with bright eyes. "Besides confirming that the rumored Celestial of the Valley of Wandering Nymphs is a male, our second reason for coming to the Central Continent was to check out the man who is famous throughout Second Life for his handsomeness – the lord of Infinite City."

"Don't refer to me as the lord of Infinite City!" I shouted rudely.

"Uh, how about Blood Elf?" Neurotic asked with hesitation.

"Don't I have a name?" I replied in my coldest tone.

DanDan gulped, and very cautiously asked, "Prince?"

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I snorted coldly, gestured to Doll, and promptly turned to leave. Behind me, Doll hesitantly explained to the other two, "I'm really sorry about this. Prince-gēge is in a bad mood, but do come and visit us at Infinite City some other time!" As she finished her explanation, Doll ran in small steps to my side, and took my hand.

"But I still haven't seen enough yet." The sound of DanDan's regretful voice could be heard from behind.

"Oh come on darling, he's in a bad mood, so let's not bother them anymore."

"But…"

"This is why we should just quietly follow them from behind. We won't bother them with our chit-chat anymore."

"That makes sense. I only wanted to see what Prince looks like anyway, so not speaking is fine."

Hearing their discussion only made my anger rise with every sentence. _What do they take_ _me as, a monkey at a zoo to gawk at for their viewing pleasure? _But I didn't want tospeak to them again either, so I could only let things be.

The situation lasted until Doll asked timidly, "Prince- gēge, aren't we going a bit too far inside? It seems a bit dangerous here." _Oh right, I got so pissed off that I forgot where I_ _was going_. I looked to the left, and then looked to right, and there were purple-robednymphs close to us no matter where I looked. If I were to continue going forward, they would definitely attack us in groups.

I couldn't help but gulp a little, very carefully turning around and backtracking my steps.

"Wow, you really are deserving of the title Blood Elf, even when you are walking around such a dangerous place, you are still calm like you're strolling in your own backyard." DanDan smacked her lips in admiration.

Neurotic also shook his head, praising, "Simply miraculous. We were both attacked by the nymphs several times already, but Prince here is actually able to maintain his distance and stay safe the entire time, not getting attacked by a single nymph. This ability to determine the safe distance is just too astounding." (Author's Note: Every type of monster has a different safe distance. Once the player gets too close to the monster, passing the safe distance, the monster will then automatically go on the offense and attack the player.)

_Eh, I guess this is what people would call the devil's own luck_… Lolidragon always rollsher eyes and says, _Prince, it's ridiculous how much devil's luck you have._ Imagining

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Lolidragon's astonished, jaw-dropping expression, I couldn't help but to raise the corners of my mouth.

"Hey, he looks even more handsome with a smile." DanDan stared at me, drooling.

Upon hearing that, I immediately wiped the smile from my face, and glared at her a little.

"That angry glaring expression is not bad, either." Neurotic and DanDan furiously nodded in agreement. The two of them sighed in unison, "Ah, this trip is really proving to be worthwhile."

I couldn't help but blurt out, "I can excuse DanDan's behavior, but what is wrong with you, Neurotic? Don't you realize that I'm a guy?"

Neurotic said matter-of -factly, "Beauty can be appreciated by anyone! My darling and I are both obsessed with beauty, which is why we joined hands in search of beauty together! This time is no different; we've come all the way to the Central Continent in search of the nymphs and Celestial of the Valley of Wandering Nymphs, and of course you as well."

"Crazy couple," I said while scratching the side of my face helplessly.

"You're finally willing to talk to us. The risk of being killed by the surrounding nymphs that we took in persistently following you was not wasted," a deeply moved DanDan exclaimed while looking at me.

"Hmph!" I obstinately turned my face away, no longer looking at them.

"Hehe, so the rumored Blood Elf turns out to be a big stubborn boy," chuckled Neurotic.

"What are you talking about, a big stubborn boy? I…" Just as I was planning my retort, Doll suddenly let out a shriek of alarm. I could only see a flash of a white shadowy shape before Doll, who had been holding my hand just a moment ago, disappeared without a trace!

I looked frantically all over the place. Not far away from me, I found a person with a bewitchingly androgynous face embracing Doll tightly. Doll was turning pale with fright.

"Beautiful…" that thing with an ambiguous gender murmured in a mesmerized way, and then even had the nerve to stick out its tongue to lick Doll's cheek. Doll herself was looking quite nauseated, struggling vigorously to break free from the hands of this pervert, but to no avail.

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Furious, I started to charge towards them, but Neurotic grabbed my hand to stop me. I turned back to glare angrily at him. However, he was looking with uncertainty at the androgynous being.

"Celestial?" asked Neurotic.

_This is Celestial? _My expression changed drastically._ I have absolutely no chance of winning against one of the top three bosses, pervert or not, but Doll has fallen into his hands now…_

As I realized this, I became very somber, since this was entirely my fault. Everything would have been fine if I hadn't brought Doll to the Valley of the Wandering Nymphs.

"Fair maiden, why don't you become my bride?" Celestial said while rubbing his face against Doll's cheek.

Doll was petrified with fear. "Waaaaa! Prince-gēge, hurry up and save Doll! D oll is very scared of this person."

_Damn_!_ Who the hell designed this perverted NPC? He even knows how to sexually harass Doll!_

I turned to Neurotic and DanDan, my eyes pleading, "I beg you guys, please help me save my teammate!"

Neurotic scratched the back of his head and said, "No problem! DanDan and I came here specifically to challenge Celestial anyway."

DanDan even laughed confidently, saying, "Don't worry, Prince. My honey is actually an elite warrior who is ranked ninth in the official ranking. He'll definitely help you save that cute girl."

"I am nothing compared to you, darling. You're an elite summoner ranked fifth in the official ranking." Neurotic replied with a face full of reverence.

I was jumping with joy. _Looks like Doll might be saved after all._ "Then I'll be depending on you two."

"No problem!" DanDan and Neurotic shouted together in harmony.

Their goofy expressions were replaced with a serious countenance. DanDan started chanting some incantations and then a living suit of armor appeared, separated automatically, and pieced itself back together on Neurotic's body. Waving around his huge sword and roaring violently, Neurotic charged towards Celestial. I also scrambled to pull out my Black Dao and sped towards Celestial.

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"Ha!" Celestial suddenly laughed scornfully. After reciting a phrase that I couldn't understand, roughly ten purple-robed nymphs suddenly appeared in the space between us and Celestial.

We all gasped in surprise. Neurotic and DanDan also muttered upon seeing this. "This is going to be bad."

"Flame-armored Skeletons, hurry and help." Even captured, Doll was not one to sit idle. She hastily summoned her skeletons.

"Necromancer?" DanDan and Neurotic opened their mouths in surprise.

As I saw they were stunned, I shouted out to them anxiously, "Hurry up and save Doll!"

"Right!" Neurotic snapped out of it after hearing my urging. After roaring loudly, he got into a heated brawl with the ten purple-robed nymphs. It was a good thing Doll's Flame-armored Skeletons were there to help, making it possible to slowly eliminate them one by one.

I could tell that the ten purple robes would not be a problem for Neurotic, and so I kept searching for a chance to rescue Doll. On the other side, DanDan was living up to her reputation as a fifth ranking elite summoner. Upon seeing my intention to save Doll, she summoned the snow woman as well. The snow woman activated her Chains of Ice in an attempt to tie down Celestial so that I could successfully rescue Doll.

"Chains of Ice!"

"Dispel!" Celestial snorted coldly. With just one word, not only did the snow woman's Chains of Ice disappear, but she was also hit with an intense counterattack, making her spit out a mouthful of blood.

Ignoring the fact that Celestial did not get restrained, I still charged forward to rescue Doll anyway. As I almost reached Celestial, a white shape suddenly flew out, brutally hitting me in the chest. The impact was so great that I flew backwards, forcefully smashing against a wall. I coughed up fresh blood as I struggled to suppress the sharp pains coming from my chest. Several of my ribs seemed broken.

"Prince-gēge!" Doll shouted in shock.

DanDan was surprised too, and she called back the snow woman, and summoned forth another one, this time a katana covered in blood.

DanDan glared furiously at Celestial, shouting, "Let's see if you can deal with a level 95 summoning – Blade of Blood." Blade of Blood hovered in midair, and then flew like lightning towards Celestial. _Good thing Neurotic and DanDan are not my enemies here…_

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I was secretly dripping with cold sweat as I watched Blade of Blood's evil aura surging through the air.

Celestial's fury was radiating as he angrily shouted, "Celestial Satin!"

That white thing flew out again, blocking the Blade of Blood. Only now could I see it clearly. It turned out to be a strip of silk. Blade of Blood and Celestial Satin squared off against each other in midair, each trying to drive the other back. Blade of Blood desperately tried to cut Celestial Satin in half, but unfortunately, Celestial Satin's ability to change from being fluidly flexible to being as stiff as steel negated all of Blade of Blood's attacks.

"Pierce!" I suddenly heard Celestial command, and another white shape sprang forth, targeting… DanDan?

"Dodge it, DanDan!" I screamed loudly, and then knocked her out of the way with my body as the white fabric mercilessly pierced into my shoulder. I groaned roughly and was forced down on one knee.

"Darling?" Neurotic looked back worriedly as he heard moans of pain. When he saw that DanDan was fallen on the ground and I was heavily injured, he shook off the purple-robed nymphs with great force. He sprinted back towards us, and pulled out a red health potion for me to drink.

Without Neurotic, the pressure on the skeletons increased greatly. Doll could only direct the skeletons to temporarily hold off the attacks of the pursuing purple- robed nymphs.

Celestial laughed once again, reciting the same incantation that I couldn't understand earlier. As I cursed in my mind, sure enough, another ten purple- robed nymphs appeared in front of us. Including the ones that Neurotic still hadn't finished off, there were now a grand total of seventeen purple robes. All four of our faces changed drastically.

As the situation worsened into this, I prepared myself. I calmly said to them, "You guys run away right now. If it's just escaping, it shouldn't be too difficult for you two."

"Then what will you do?" Neurotic asked in confusion.

"I'm going to stay. Even if I die, I will not abandon my teammates," I said with determination.

"Good!" Neurotic gave me a thumbs-up, and waved around his claymore. "Then hurry and finish up your red potion, so we can charge at them together."

Startled, I asked, "You guys?"

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"Don't be silly. I, Neurotic, would never ever abandon my teammates, except by dying in battle." Neurotic laughed without restraint.

I creased my brows. "We don't count as teammates, though."

"Ah man, don't sweat the small things! We have spoken together, so we count as teammates now—" Before DanDan could finish her sentence, she suddenly pointed towards Celestial's direction in fright.

This time, Doll also let out a startled scream. I quickly turn my head and look, only to see Celestial actually grabbing Doll and flying up. Only now that I realized that there was a strange looking magic circle on the ceiling. From the looks of Celestial flying up… _Don't_ _tell me he intends to fly inside? _As soon as this thought entered my head, I immediatelymade a mad dash towards Celestial and jumped with all my might, but I couldn't even grab a corner of his clothes. Celestial and Doll had already disappeared inside the portal….

"Doll!"

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**Chapter 4: The Terrifying Side of a Self‐aware NPC **

"Calm down, you have to calm down," I muttered frantically to myself.

_First, let's see whether PMing works. _Trembling, I opened the PM channel.

"Doll?"

"Prince-gēge," Doll replied anxiously.

_Thank goodness that PMs still works. _The load weighing on my heart finally lifted alittle.

"Doll, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but Celestial keeps rubbing his face against Doll's cheek, which feels really disgusting." Doll sounded as though she was about to cry.

_WHAT?! That perverted NPC… _I was so angry that I nearly rushed up into the portal.

"Doll, you wait for me, I'm coming to save you!"

Doll stopped me quickly. "Don't come up, Prince-gēge. Celestial is too strong; you guys won't be able to defeat him. Just let Doll fly back to the rebirth point. Prince- gēge, your level is important to me, so whatever you do, don't lose any levels."

I was silent for quite a while. What Doll had said was indeed the truth, and even if I combined powers with Neurotic and DanDan, I was afraid that we might not even be able to grab the ends of Celestial's clothes_. However, can I really just abandon Doll? After all,_ _it was me who had brought her here to her death._

I sat down on the ground, discouraged. _As expected, my strength is still too low. I_ _couldn't even protect my own companion._

Neurotic and DanDan stood to one side, also unsure of what to do. They only stared at me, and I was lost in thought.

It was not until Doll messaged me with sobs, that I was roughly awakened.

"Prince-gēge, Celestial said that he wants Doll to be his wife, and he isn't willing to k ill Doll. Also, it's strange that Doll has no way to go offline."

"_What?!_" I was so shocked that I jumped up from the floor, even giving Neurotic and DanDan beside me a huge scare.

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I was simply beside myself with panic. _Doesn't that mean that Doll is trapped? No way, I_ _have to go save her! _After I had made up my mind, I started calmly considering Doll'srescue. After all, if the three of us went up, and were not only unable to rescue Doll but also became trapped there with her, then we would really be up the creek without a paddle12.

"Neurotic, DanDan…" I explained what Doll had just told me. They too started furrowing their brows, and DanDan appeared to become even more worried.

"I intend to get help from Infinite City. Neurotic, DanDan, would you lend me your strength?" I was practically pleading as I looked at them.

"No problem! Even if we have to climb a mountain of knives or jump into cauldrons13 of hot oil or even if the enemy in front of our eyes is Celestial, the two of us will rescue that cute little girl," Neurotic roared with heroic spirit.

"That's great," I replied. "With someone leading the way, I won't be afraid of not being able to find this place."

"Leading the way?" Neurotic repeated blankly.

I nodded my head embarrassedly, and laughed, "Because I have no sense of direction, I'm afraid I won't be able to find this place. Therefore, I'll have to ask you guys to help bring my companions and me to this place later on."

Neurotic's whole face looked lifeless, while DanDan let out a laugh. "Okay, okay, my husband and I will act like a GPS device this once."

After I finished talking to them, I immediately PMed my invincible pet, Kenshin. "Kenshin, matters are really serious. Hurry over to the Den of Wandering Nymphs and bring along Sunshine, Cold Fox, and XiMen Feng. Take note to use the flying carpet and hurry over. I'll be waiting for you at the cave entrance."

Kenshin was speechless for a moment, and then asked me, "The others aren't needed? Wicked, Nan Gong Zui, and even Broken Sword are all stronger than XiMen Feng."

I was silent for a moment. _Right now, I really don't want to see them! …I threw a tantrum_ _and then I willfully ran away. Now that I have landed Doll into this predicament, how_

"**Up the creek without a paddle"**:叫天天不应，叫地地不灵(jiàoānāntibùti yìng, jiào dì dì bù líng).Literally: Cry out to the heavens, but the heavens don't respond. Cry out to the earth, but the earth is impervious.

**Climb a mountain of knives, go into the oil cauldrons**: Actually refers to some of the punishmentsdepicted in Chinese Hell. There are eighteen levels of hell, each incorporating a different kind of torture/punishment meant for different kind of sinners. These two are some of the most common ones. For more info, go to wiki/Diyu (Warning: Not for the faint-hearted).

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_could I have the nerve to see them? _Stubbornly, I said, "I don't want to see people that Iknow well."

"Understood. I'll go look for them now." Kenshin didn't say much, and after saying that he'd look for the others, nothing else was heard from him.

After instructing Kenshin, I turned my head around and looked towards Neurotic and DanDan. "Please help bring me to the cave entrance to wait for support."

"No problem!" Neurotic gave me a thumbs up.

As Neurotic brought me toward the cave entrance, he absent-mindedly told me, "You look a lot better now, not like a little while back when you had a 'living people stay away' appearance."

"Sorry, I wasn't in a very good mood," I apologized, full of sincerity. _Being that impolite_ _to them, it's surprising that they are still willing to help me._

"Ooh, not in a good mood? Come, tell big sister what's the matter, and big sister will comfort you." DanDan had the kind of glint in her eyes that appears whenever females see a cute small animal.

"Your husband would be jealous, right?" I hung a helpless expression on my face, for I hadn't imagined that this face of mine would even tempt married woman.

Neurotic turned his head to look at me, and his eyes had the kind of glint that appears whenever a guy sees a cute girl.

"That won't happen; I will comfort you together with my wife."

_This terrible pair of husband and wife…_

"We've reached the cave entrance. Are those your companions?" DanDan pointed at the few shadows in front.

I looked over to where she was pointing. As expected, it was Kenshin. Beside him were the people that I had just requested, Cold Fox and such.

XiMen Feng reproached loudly, "Sonny, what kind of nonsense were you taking care of, missing for that many days, and leaving yer daddy without anyone to fight."

"Don't you know how to find Kenshin and Cold Fox? The both of them should've been quite idle," I said angrily, yet finding it hilarious. _Could it be that XiMen Feng had fallen_ _in love with the feeling of having his ass kicked by me? Why does it seem as though everyone who has been beaten up by me becomes addicted to it?_

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XiMen Feng flinched as he glanced at Kenshin and Cold Fox. Looking highly embarrassed, he grumbled, "I did, but the red-haired sonny ignores yer daddy, and though that damn fox was willing to fight with yer daddy, his attacks were so heavy. Last time he even caused yer daddy to fly into the sky. Who would dare to look for him for a fight? It's not as if I resent my level being too high and want to lose a few levels, eh."

"Prince, just what happened? Why would you suddenly ask us to come over? Fairsky originally told me that you had a falling out with us, and you wouldn't appear for ten days to half a month." Sunshine questioned me confusedly. He even smilingly added, "Fairsky even spent a really long time explaining to me what 'fall out with' means!"

Sunshine is so straightforward that it would make people want to cry. I could only automatically overlook the three words 'fall out with', and directly explain the situation.

"Doll has been captured by a boss named Celestial. For unknown reasons, she is unable to go offline, so we have to go rescue her."

Once I had said the word 'boss', Cold Fox's eyes suddenly lit up. Straight and to the point, he said, "Let's go then!"

_This battle fanatic… _Helplessly, I hoped that he would not forget that my main objectivewas to rescue someone. I gestured to Neurotic and DanDan to lead the way.

"Neurotic, DanDan, sorry to trouble you to lead the way."

"No problem. I'm going to run, okay? After all, the sooner we rescue Doll, the better. If you guys cannot catch up, let me know." The moment Neurotic finished his words, he immediately started running, and our party followed behind.

"Sprint forward, I think all of us can catch up!" When I thought of Doll trapped in the hands of the perverted Celestial, I wished that I could teleport there to rescue her.

"Prince," Kenshin shouted to me, and then he pointed to the mage Sunshine, who was full of innocent smiles, as well as the beefy warrior XiMen Feng.

"Uh, Kenshin, you carry Sunshine. XiMen Feng… You better run faster." I glared at XiMen Feng ferociously.

"F***, sonny, that's discrimination!" Though grumbling, XiMen Feng still had a face of resignation as he prepared to use all his might to run.

With some difficulty, we ran back to the place where Celestial and Doll had disappeared. I gazed at the magic formation above and held in the urge to charge in to save Doll.

_Although there are this many strong people to help, Celestial is still someone who should_

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_not be trifled with. Let's first PM Doll and check the situation before doing anything._

Without further ado, I opened up the PM channel.

"Doll, how are you doing? Were you bullied by Celestial?"

"No," replied Doll vaguely. It made my heart pump vigorously once. _What has_ _happened?_

I took on a tone of worry. _Has Doll been beaten up so badly that even speaking is_ _difficult?_

"Then we are going up to save you, okay?"

"Mhmm…" Doll gave another vague reply.

My heart was heavy. _It looks like Doll really has been beaten up. How hateful!_

I immediately changed my facial expression, and the look of the blood elf appeared once again. Full of rage, I used a dangerous tone as I said, "Nobody can bully my friends!"

Using all my strength to kick against the mountain wall, I took the lead and jumped into the magic formation, and the rest of them followed me. I glanced left and right in worry, searching for Doll. However, in the great hall full of snow-white pillars, other than the throne in the center and the scattered and gleaming treasures made of gold and silver everywhere, there was no trace of Doll. I couldn't help but urgently shout, "Doll? Doll, where are you?"

"Who are you?" A voice came from behind a pillar and my eyes snapped towards it. As I expected, the one who appeared in front of our eyes was the androgynous pervert Celestial.

I gave a snort. "Hmph, you just captured my companion and now you don't recognize us anymore?"

"So it is you, my wife's former companion." Celestial had a face of indifference, as though that was already the past tense. Seeing that, I was really infuriated. _What do you_ _mean 'former' companion?_

"Return Doll now!" I bellowed.

Celestial narrowed his eyes dangerously and coldly said, "You want to snatch my wife?"

I too, replied coldly, "She is not your wife. You're not worthy!"

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"I said she is my wife, thus she is my wife!" Celestial was so angry that as he roared a length of white satin shot towards me.

I did my best to roll to the side and dodged the tattered cloth that had once made me break a few ribs. As I did that, I yelled at everyone, "Why are you just standing there? Start fighting!"

They returned to their senses and immediately drew their weapons to vigorously attack Celestial. Kenshin, whose speed was the fastest, was already in front of Celestial in the blink of an eye. Celestial revealed a shocked expression on his face, and hastily shot a few lengths of white satin to act as a shield between him and Kenshin. However, Kenshin indifferently shouted, "Void Piercer."

"Urgh," Celestial let out a groan of pain and Kenshin, who had abruptly appeared behind Celestial, took the chance to attack. Once Celestial turned around, Kenshin sliced again. Celestial was unable to dodge it, and was once again given a wound on his right shoulder.

Celestial was staring at his own wound with disbelief, an expression of rage on his face growing with each passing second. Following that, he flew up high in the sky to put some distance between him and Kenshin, his mouth spitting out that sound that I couldn't understand.

_Oh no! _I shouted loudly inside my heart, but purple-robed nymphs had already appearedbefore my eyes. The difference this time round was that their number was so great that they were like a miniature army. Serious expressions appeared on our faces. Although it was not as though we couldn't win against this bunch of purple robes, behind them there was still Celestial, who was eyeing us with fury!

Seeing the situation, I came to a decision. "Sunshine and DanDan, you guys will be in charge of using magic to force Celestial back toward the floor. Kenshin, you prepare to pursue and attack Celestial. The rest of you surround the two of them, and be sure to protect them well."

Hearing my words, DanDan immediately stood beside Sunshine, and Neurotic and XiMen Feng also stood at both of their sides to protect them. However, Cold Fox stared at Celestial with his face full of longing instead, looking as though he was itching to have a fight to the death with him. I rolled my eyes. _As expected, he is a fox that doesn't follow_ _the crowd. _I could only open my mouth in exasperation to say, "Cold Fox, Celestial is nota warrior. Even if you fight him, you won't find pleasure in it. Listen to me first and act accordingly. When we get back, you can have as many rounds of combat with Kenshin as you please."

Cold Fox didn't say a single word, but he obediently stood to the side of Sunshine and DanDan. _Looks like Kenshin is not just ordinarily useful—besides being able to battle, he_ _can still be used to 'tempt' battle fanatics._

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Battle, start!

Sunshine immediately started to recite an incantation and wind blades shot towards Celestial. Unfortunately, they were all blocked by Celestial's white satin. The superb summoner DanDan was not to be outdone, and while she summoned blood blades to fly into the air and fight with Celestial, she also summoned a stone giant to help us fight the purple robes, greatly reducing the pressure on us.

Kenshin prowled continuously underneath Celestial. The moment Celestial was forced to descend to lower heights by the blood blades and magic, Kenshin immediately used his astonishing jumping ability to jump between the pillars, frequently catching Celestial unprepared.

The rest of the warriors spared no effort in battling the purple robes that swarmed like ants. Swinging his claymore, Neurotic frequently chopped the purple robes into half through their waists and Cold Fox would appear and disappear unpredictably to strike a blade right into their hearts. I too, specialized in hitting crucial areas. The neck, the heart, and the forehead were all my favorite places. XiMen Feng, who was comparably lacking in power, instead adopted a strategy of fighting slowly, taking them on one at a time.

Killing them continuously, our bodies were drenched in unknown amounts of blood; our sight was a sea of red. Our hands had swung our blades an unknown number of times and we only knew that with every swing of a blade, there would be a fountain of blood spurting. Our bodies…had unknown amounts of injuries, but the pain had long since disappeared, leaving only numbness behind. However, the nymphs still continued to come at us like a tide and I didn't have any time to check the situation with Celestial. _Will_ _Kenshin and the others be able to kill Celestial? _I anxiously wanted to go check onKenshin's situation, but the moment I showed a little bit of hesitation, my left shoulder immediately received a heavy blow.

I knelt with a knee on the ground, wildly coughing up blood. When I raised my head once again, I saw both Neurotic and Cold Fox were already standing beside me, blocking the attacks of the purple robes in my place. If they hadn't been there, I'm afraid I would have already flown back to Infinite City!

However, both of their bodies were also riddled with scars, and I could see that they were at their limit. Still the purple robes surrounded us in groups. _Could it be that there is no_ _end to Celestial's summonings? Does his magic have no limit? _My heart was half chilled.At this moment, I focused in Kenshin's direction. His originally neat body was now covered in blood; his clothes had actually been torn in a few areas. _Could it be that he is_ _injured?_

_Damn, I actually forgot again—if Kenshin and Sunshine die, their consciousness might not remain. I definitely can't let them die._

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"Kenshin, Sunshine, if the situation turns critical, you guys should immediately escape," I instantly PMed Kenshin and Sunshine.

"What is considered critical?" Kenshin indifferently asked.

"As long as your life is endangered, it's considered critical," I replied anxiously.

Kenshin gave a bitter smile. "But, I think I can no longer escape."

_What? _I stared at Kenshin in fright, and at this moment then I realized that both ofKenshin's legs had actually been bounded by countless lengths of white satin, making him unable to move. He could only block off attacks while standing in that spot. Moreover, surrounding Kenshin were ten or more purple robes, and Celestial was eyeing him covetously. Although Sunshine and DanDan frantically tried to distract Celestial, the white satin attacking Kenshin didn't even stop once.

"Sunshine, hurry and help Kenshin!" I turned my head to look at Sunshine, and was once again shocked at another scene. As Neurotic and Cold Fox were standing within my vicinity to protect me, it caused the pressure at DanDan and Sunshine's side to increase. DanDan not only had to command a stone giant to block off the purple robes, Sunshine still had to continuously use his magic to deal with Celestial's white satins. The critical status of their situation was not at all lower than Kenshin's.

_Was it me who burdened everyone? _Thinking this, I decided that I couldn't care less thatmy body was in so much pain till I was numb, and forced myself to stand up. I shouted to Neurotic and Cold Fox, "I'm fine, you guys hurry and go help the magicians."

Neurotic and Cold Fox gave me a worried glance, but under my firm gaze, both sped back to Sunshine and DanDan's sides to help block off the attacks from the purple robes.

_I want to go help Kenshin! _Dragging my suddenly heavy body, I still did my best toswing Black Dao in my hands, using the speed that I was most proud of to weave in between the purple robes, and rush towards Kenshin's side step by step.

"Kenshin, I have come to help you." After reaching Kenshin's side with much difficulty, I continued to swing my blade non-stop to hack at the white satin that was binding Kenshin's feet.

"Mhh," Kenshin grunted in reply. He started to concentrate even more on dealing with the surrounding purple robes. After quite a while he had cut down a large group of purple robes and I had also finally reduced the number of white satin strips on Kenshin's feet to one.

"Prince, you guys be careful; I don't have any more magic to continue the blood blades summon to fight with Celestial!" DanDan shouted anxiously.

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_What? _I turned my head to look at Celestial. Without the blood blades, Celestial had nomore concerns. With a wave of his hand, the white satin that I had chopped once again wound onto Kenshin's legs. Another ten or so lengths of white satin floated behind Celestial, and then all of them shot towards Kenshin. It seemed that Kenshin's body was going to have ten or so more holes…

"No!" I gave a roar and I threw my whole body towards Kenshin, determined to protect him at the cost of my own life.

"Rebound Barrier!" a familiar voice suddenly rose, and as I turned my head to look I saw that the lengths of attacking white satin had actually rebounded back to Celestial's body. Unfortunately, Celestial had evaded it in time, and didn't take any serious damage.

"Prince, are you alright?"

_Lolidragon's voice? _Once again, I turned my head to look in shock. The people I sawwere not just Yun and Lolidragon, but there were many more companions. The whole group of Odd Squad was assembled, and Rose Team was also here. Ming Huang from Dark Emperor was already looking at me with a face that revealed his bad mood and of course Nan Gong Zui and Kong Kong were not absent.

I was dumbfounded, and could only ask with a stammer, "Everyone… Why have you all come here?"

Lolidragon snappily replied, "Seeing that Kenshin was searching for people everywhere, I instantly knew that you must have gotten into trouble again. I PMed XiMen Feng to ask what had happened and found out that you guys were in trouble."

"Afterwards, once I told everyone about this matter, no one said a single word and just rushed here." Lolidragon said pointedly.

While Lolidragon was explaining, Wolf- dàgē'shealing white light had already enveloped me. Gui and Wicked had also long since run over to help me up and Nan Gong Zui and the others had run to battle with Celestial.

Within my heart, I felt warmly touched, and was a little at a loss as to what to do. I merely said, "Everyone, be more careful. Celestial is very strong."

However, it seems that I was thinking too much. Although Celestial was a little strong to an exaggerated extent, facing this many people helping on my side, there was only defeat left in store for him. The purple robes on the ground were being massacred for fun and with the huge amounts of magic being released from our side, Celestial barely had any space to dodge the attacks. Mostly he could just use his white satin to block them, but gradually, many wounds were inflicted onto his body.

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At last, Celestial was eventually unable to endure it any further, and dropped down from the air. Nan Gong Zui gestured for everyone to stop, and then walked in front of me. "Liege lord, go and kill off Celestial. Once you have killed him, you should be able to level up."

"Oh." _I seem to be a little useless like this?_ But after stirring up a load of troubles, how could I dare to protest. I could only obediently walk in front of Celestial, and then pull out my Black Dao, intending to slice Celestial into half.

However, I suddenly thought of Doll, and I hurriedly asked him fiercely, "Where did you imprison Doll?"

"Kill me then. I definitely will not let you take away my wife." Celestial was lying on the ground soaked in blood, but his face still had that determined expression.

In my heart, a strange feeling suddenly arose. _This expression seems to be very familiar?_ _Almost like…the resolve that Kenshin had when he was digging Kaoru's grave._

At this moment, Neurotic who was beside me started muttering to himself, "This boss is sure strange. Although I have fought many bosses before, I still haven't met a NPC that is so much like a human. Could it be that the stronger the bosses, the higher their intelligence?"

My heart thumped in surprise. _True, Celestial's reaction is really too human, and is the_ _exact same as Kenshin's and Sunshine's. Could it be that Celestial has also become self-aware? _I threw a dumbstruck look towards Lolidragon, who also looked back at me. Onher face, she wore a serious expression.

"Kill him, Prince." Lolidragon's voice came from over the PM channel.

I was dumbstruck. "But, do you think he might have become self-aware?"

"That's precisely why we have to hurry and kill him. If not, when everyone becomes suspicious towards Celestial, they might also become suspicious of Sunshine and Kenshin. Surely you don't wish for any mishaps to happen to them, right?" Lolidragon said, agitated.

_Kenshin and Sunshine definitely can't meet any mishaps! _I hardened my heart and flippedmy Black Dao around to stab downwards into Celestial, who was on the ground. Softly, I muttered, "Sorry."

Just as my Black Dao was about to penetrate through Celestial's body, his body actually faded away in a flash, like particles dissolving. I was stunned for quite a while. _Did I kill_ _him? _I raised my Dao and looked at it suspiciously, but I didn't even think that the Daohad stabbed him. _What was that?_

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"What happened? Prince, have you killed Celestial?" After a long moment, Nan Gong Zui came up to inquire.

Uncertain, I replied, "I don't know—"

Before I could finish my words, Lolidragon's voice came from over the PM channel again. "Say that you killed Celestial. I'll go look for the people in the company. After a while, they'll supplement you with the experience and loot. Right now, just focus on saying that you have already killed him."

I was filled with doubts, but as I looked over, I saw that Lolidragon had already gone offline. _Just what is going on?_ But since Lolidragon had instructed as such, I could only tell Nan Gong Zui, "…Should be dead, though his way of dying is sure strange."

"Why is there no loot? This is really strange," Nan Gong Zui muttered in incomprehension.

"Let's not care about that, and hurry and look for Doll! I wonder if she's alright now?" I said worriedly.

Just as I finished my words, I immediately heard a familiar voice. "Prince-gēge, you're so slow!"

Seeing Doll walk over alone as though she was talking a stroll, and her hands even holding two packets of biscuits, my eyes nearly popped out.

"Doll, are you alright?"

Doll grabbed a biscuit and put it in her mouth, saying unclearly, "I'm alright, didn't Doll tell Prince-gēge that I'm fine?"

The corner of my mouth twitched a little as I asked, "Then what have you been doing just now?"

"Eating, and also playing ball games with the purple-robed big sister!" Doll answered happily.

_Thump!_

Doll ran over in a hurry. "Prince- gēge, what happened to you? Why did you suddenly fall over? Your head is even spurting blood! Wolf-gēge , hurry and come over, Prince-gēge is about to die!"

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Rubbing my head, I stood up and sighed. I turned around to face Neurotic and DanDan. "Neurotic, DanDan, my apologies. I'm deeply sorry for making you guys worry along with me."

"Haha, it doesn't matter. It's on your account that we were able to meet Celestial today and even being able to fight a round with him is to your credit. Otherwise, I don't know how much longer the both of us would have had to search for him." Neurotic gave an unrestrained smile.

"Neurotic and DanDan?" Nan Gong Zui abruptly said with shock, "The winners of the Western Continent's Adventurers' Tournament? The couple from Wandering City?

I looked at Neurotic and DanDan in shock. They were the Liege Lords from the Western Continent's Wandering City?

Neurotic embarrassedly scratched his head. "We've been discovered?"

"Then let us re-introduce ourselves! I am DanDan, a summoner who is fifth in the rankings. This is my hubby Neurotic, a warrior who is ninth in the rankings. We are the winning team of the Western Continent's Adventurer's Tournament, Wandering Team. After that we constructed Wandering City, and currently we are in the process of honing our strength for the big push, preparing to conquer the whole of the Western Continent. Hopefully, we will be able to become the region's Overlords, just like you, Prince," DanDan grinned at me.

"Me? Overlord?" I asked with shock.

DanDan's eyes sparkled as she looked at me. "That's right, Central Continent's Bloody Overlord, Prince, is currently one of the most established names of the Overlords within the five continents."

"Bloody Overlord?" I let out a small sigh, not knowing how to feel about that.

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**Chapter 5: A Man's Daily Trifles **

"It's really going to be patched…" I suppressed the nervousness in my heart and prepared to go online to welcome the arrival of the new patch.

Speaking of which, that day Neurotic and DanDan followed us back to Infinite City to look around. Along the way they kept staring around at Infinite City dumbfounded, praising Infinite City as well as me. My heart filled with pride, but I also felt a twinge of embarrassment upon hearing the undue praise. At last, I couldn't help but ask, "Neurotic, it's going to be time for the patch soon. Is it fine for you two to still be wandering around the Central Continent?"

Neurotic scratched his face and said, "Of course it's not! It should be about time to go back to make preparations for attacking cities! The group was calling us frantically with their mobile phones, and they just stopped short of making wanted posters for us."

"Don't you think that it's very restricted like this?" I asked, slightly agitated. Without even waiting for his reply, I started mumbling, "In the past, our squad went wherever we pleased, and did whatever we wanted to. Everyone treated me as a friend or even a little brother. But now they always call me 'Liege Lord', and last time they even kneeled down to pledge their loyalty to me… It really makes me feel, feel…"

"Unused to, it eh?" Neurotic asked simply, with both hands propped behind his head.

"Yeah, when friends all become subordinates, it feels really lonely," I murmured.

"But they're still friends. If you look closely, you will realize that actually no one has changed." Neurotic looked at me with a serious expression.

"They haven't?" I asked, a little perplexed.

"Yes." Neurotic seemed to be incomparably resolute as he looked at me.

Still, I sighed in confusion. Neurotic used his large hands to rub my head and ruffle my hair as though he was comforting the neighborhood little boy. As he did so, he said, "It's too bad that I didn't get to see you in your full glory this time. I hope that the next time I see you, you'll have already figured things out."

"I hope so…"

Waking up from my flashback, I sighed. Resigned to my fate, I put on the reality helmet and entered Second Life.

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Once I opened my eyes, I stared blankly at Lolidragon who stood before me. In her hands was a water bucket that was astonishingly big, but there was no water inside because the water…was all on my body. Wet silky hair stuck to my cheeks, and was dripping water non-stop. The originally stylish clothes were also soaked thoroughly and if I removed my shoes, there was an eighty percent chance that I could even raise goldfish in them.

Expressionless, I questioned, "What are you doing?"

Lolidragon replied to me seriously and solemnly, "My apologies, I originally wanted to mop the floor, but my hand slipped and all the water ended up on you. But relax, for I was coincidentally going to take a bath just now and have already prepared the bath water. Therefore, you can go have a comfortable hot water bath right now."

"…"

"Don't be shy, hurry and go wash! If the water cools down, bathing in it won't be as comfortable," Lolidragon continuously urged me.

"Do you want to bathe together?" I suggested.

Hearing that, Lolidragon's eyes immediately sparkled like a ten-carat diamond. "I can? Then I won't refuse!"

"Of course…not!" I replied fiercely.

Lolidragon pouted her lips in dissatisfaction. "Fine then, go wash by yourself."

Wordlessly, I retrieved some rope from my backpack, and started tying Lolidragon to the pillar. All the while she kept on shouting, "Hey, what are you doing? Why are you tying me up?"

After ensuring that the ropes were secure and Lolidragon would be unable to escape in any way, I elegantly extended my middle finger with poise and pointed it at her. "You better not be thinking that I don't know about your plans to peek inside while I'm bathing, Lolidragon, you damn nympho, you better stay right here and leave your sweet talking to that pillar until I finish my bath."

"You misunderstood, I didn't think about peeking in during your bath, I swear! Hurry up and help me loosen these ropes," I heard Lolidragon shout to my back as I walked out of the great hall.

"Aiyah, I'm doing this for your own good. You are scared to wash your little XX, right? I can help you!" Hearing that, I raised another middle finger at her. "Grrr, like letting me see it for a while would kill you. It's rare that I, the great Lolidragon, actually want to see

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your small XX." Hearing this coarse language from Lolidragon, I continued to walk out of the great hall without looking back.

"Bathroom, where's the bathroom?" I shivered while I looked for the bathroom that I had never gone to before. _Looks like this patch has really changed the game to be closer to_ _reality this time, for I was not merely soaked but I actually felt cold._

_There it is! _I looked at the two big words_ Bath house _and dashed into it happily. Lookingat the gents at the left and the ladies on the right, I hesitated for a while. _Should I go into_ _the gents or the ladies? Since it's in the game, then it should be the gents, right? Without any further thought, I arrogantly kicked open the main door and sauntered into the gents with huge strides._

"Is the liege lord here for a bath too? Hurry up and get in, it's really comfortable." A fully naked Kong Kong waved at me. I only smiled at him foolishly with my eyes fixed on his upper body, not daring to wander below.

I swallowed my saliva, and looked at the bunch of handsome men that were currently bathing in the bathhouse…Nan Gong Zui was leaning at the poolside with his eyes closed. Hearing my arrival, he opened his eyes and smiled at me. Combined with that lean, muscular chest and shoulders, it caused me to drool uncontrollably. Broken Sword… _No no no, I can't look at him anymore. Don't kid with me, he's my cousin-in-law, how can I take advantage of my cousin-in-law?_

_Sunshine is so cute! Kenshin, seen it already. Wolf-dàgē'swhole body is full of fur, so I can't see much. As for Feng Wu Qing, I have seen it since I was young, there's nothing good to see… _My eyes swiped from the left to the right like this, and then looked fromthe right again, my saliva just barely short of a waterfall. _Oh my god! Could it be that I'm_ _the same as Lolidragon, as in we're both really perverted females?_

"Pretty lad, why are you in a daze? Your whole body is soaked, hurry and remove your clothes and go in, or you'll catch a cold. I heard that after Second Life's update, players can become sick as well." XiMen Feng also entered the bathhouse and was also naked from head to toe. The only difference was that it was currently daytime and 'he' was actually a 'she'… _How horrible, she's actually swinging her chest that is bigger than_ _mine by two cups in front of me, it's simply looking down on me._

However, I turned my head back to look at the male organisms in the pool, and about ninety percent were holding their noses…. _Was it really so serious? Is it possible that_ _Second Life is so realistic that one can even have a nosebleed?_

"Hey, pretty lad, you have a nosebleed," XiMen Feng mentioned carelessly.

_Eh? _I extended my hand to wipe under my nose, and a whole handful of bloodimmediately appeared on my palm. _God, I looked at guys until I had a nosebleed?_ "But

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then, lad, you seemed to have a nosebleed even before you saw me." XiMen Feng looked at the men in the pool, and smiled wickedly. "Lad, your fetish seems to be a little strange."

Once XiMen Feng said that, I saw from the corner of my eye that the people in the pool had all lowered their bodies deeper into the water, and kept looking at me as though they had been violated.

"Prince, you bastard! You actually tied me up on the pillar, and came here to see for yourself first!" Lolidragon shouted as she kicked open the bathhouse's front door, and then like me her eyes wandered from the left to the right and back again. However, unlike me she had a nosebleed that sprayed out like two waterfalls.

"This is really tooooo nourishing for the eyes." Lolidragon skipped to the poolside, while salivating and scrutinizing the handsome guys there as though she was selecting a piece of pork. If she weren't afraid that the guys would be scared off and run, I think there was a great chance that she would've stuck her head in the water to look.

In the end, I dragged Lolidragon out as the faces of the guys in the pool looked pale. After that, I saw clothed males fleeing from the bathhouse's doors.

For some reason, nobody seemed to be interested in going to Infinite City's incomparably luxurious male bathhouse from that day on. I was the only one who would occasionally visit and soak in the waters after tying Lolidragon up in chains and throwing her in jail.

Speaking of which, after the crowd of males escaped, I monopolized the huge bathhouse by myself. After a comfortable bath, I suddenly discovered a very urgent problem, and thus, I bustled about finding someone who could help me solve it.

"Wicked, you're finally online." I sprinted in front of Wicked, breathless, and looked at him with an unmatchably touched expression.

Wicked looked at me, full of smiles. "You were in a hurry to find me?"

"Yup, it's super urgent." Without waiting a moment longer, I pulled him with me and ran.

We ran into an empty room, and I locked the door behind me and put both my hands on Wicked's shoulders, looking at him with unmatchably seriousness.

Wicked was blushing a little nervously, and asked quietly in a cautious tone, "What's the matter, Xiao Lan?"

"A very grave matter." I opened my mouth to say with incomparable caution, "Zhuo-gēgē, hurry and teach me how males go to the toilet."

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"This…"

"Hurry up and teach already, I've been bearing it for so long," I urged him, wanting to cry and yet unable to do so.

Wicked revealed an awkward expression and stuttered, "J-just, just pull down the zipper, and then… Urgh, take….take it out, and then support it and aim…"

"Oh, understood. Then I'll be going to the toilet." I practically was barging through the door and running all the way to the toilet, ignoring Zhuo-gēgēat my back who was wailing in anguish, "I actually taught her this kind of stuff…!"

I rushed into the toilet in a hurry and followed Zhuo-gēgē's step -by-step instruction. Finally, I was relieved of the agony of holding in one's pee. _After that, then what?_ I entered a new predicament that I didn't know how to solve, for I seemed to have forgotten to ask the steps afterwards.

"Stuff it back in and then pull up the zipper and you're done." A life-saving voice came from the side, but I was a little hesitant, and looked at my innocent hand as well as the small XX that I had not dared to look at the entire time. _I have to use my hand to touch_ _that thing? Ew, the thought itself is really scary. However, I also can't let it sway around like that outside, right? _Gathering up my "do or die" determination, I extended my righthand and stuffed it back in at the speed of light, as though touching it any longer would make my hand corrode away.

_Whew… At long last, I settled a huge problem. However, I have to wash my hands thoroughly. Although it is my own small XX, it is still rather disgusting. _I frowned, staringat the hand that had just stuffed my small XX back in.

"Stupid sis, even stuffing your small XX back in makes you look like you're going to die as a martyr. I really don't know how you are going to continue acting as a male in the future." Wu Qing's voice rang again.

Expressionless, I turned my head to look at him, but Wu Qing didn't even glance at me directly, only caring about pulling up his zipper and then running to the sink to wash his hands. I too walked to the sink to wash my hands rather calmly, while saying helplessly, "When did you find out?"

"During the Loyalty Pledging Ceremony. Your tantrum-throwing expression was the exact same in real life," Wu Qing replied nonchalantly. I think the shock he received when he discovered the truth was probably lower than when he woke up in the morning and discovered that he had grown a pimple.

"Oh." _It's about time he found out. All those who know that I'm a tranny have discovered_ _it, except for my brother who had actually known about it first… If he was still unable to_

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_find out, I think I really would have to take him to the hospital for a good check-up on whether the part of his brain that recognizes people really has a problem._

Wu Qing couldn't help but say, "But still, you don't seem to be acting like yourself lately, sis. You look like you're really lost, which is not in accordance with your personality of acting first and thinking later."

"Stop nagging, I am actually a VIP with many troubles!" I retorted resentfully upon hearing my brother's straightforward words.

"Sure, sure, you're the VIP," Wu Qing said in a half-hearted tone.

I was feeling pissed and was about to refute…

"But still, the stupid big sister who doesn't use her brain to do stuff is much cuter." Wu Qing's two hands encircled his head and he walked out nonchalantly.

I suddenly thought of something. "Yang Ming, don't tell others of my identity."

"Okay, okay," Wu Qing replied without even looking back.

"Pig-headed brother, can't you directly tell me if you are concerned for me? Being this awkward, your personality is practically the exact same as me," I murmured to myself with a broadening smile only when my brother was out of sight.

"Can't believe that your brother actually has this side of him, even I thought that he was purely a playboy aching for a beating," Lolidragon told me as she lazily appeared from beside the toilet door, as soon as Wu Qing's hind leg disappeared from sight.

I shook my head. "The fact that he has this side isn't surprising. I'm more curious about why you came to the male toilet, Lolidragon."

Laughing, Lolidragon said with a whole face of innocence, "Going to the toilet."

I said coldly, "If I remember correctly, aren't the female and male toilets on opposite sides of this corridor?"

"Oh…" Lolidragon scratched her head, and after sneaking a peek at my lower body, her eyes revealed an expression of disappointment. It is unknown if I had read her lips wrongly, but I kept feeling that Lolidragon was silently chanting obscene language such as "Like a peek would kill you…"

With a "Humph", I intended to leave so as to put some distance between me and this completely perverted female.

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"Okay, okay, I won't toy with you anymore. I was looking for you regarding some serious business," Lolidragon said in a hurry.

"What business?" I asked, bewildered.

"Take it." Lolidragon tossed something to me. I caught it easily, looked at my hand, and saw that it was a gemstone. I was just about to ask Lolidragon what this was, but she had already opened her mouth and started explaining.

"This is the reward for killing Celestial. Although the company and I busied about for a few days, we couldn't discover what the problem was, so we can only compensate you with the reward and experience first before doing anything about it." Lolidragon looked worried, which was rare.

Seeing Lolidragon acting out of character, it seemed like matters were really grave. I didn't even check how much experience was actually added, and only asked at once, "Is it serious? Maybe it is only a small bug, and every game has them."

Lolidragon's expression changed from worried to slightly more relaxed. "Perhaps it is only like that. Maybe I'm worrying too much."

I seized Lolidragon's shoulder and joked with her, "Anyway, you're only a small GM, you don't have to care about it that much. At most, just change your job."

Lolidragon let out a small grunting sound and then switched the topic as she smacked my shoulder in return. "Hurry and go to the great hall, everyone's waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?" I was a little stunned. What was the matter?

"Yeah. After you protested by leaving, everyone has done some reflection and wants to chat with you about how to solve your problem," Lolidragon said.

I showed a guilty expression. _I left home impulsively and let Doll land herself into_ _trouble. In the end, it was still everyone's hasty help that solved the problem. Now everyone is saying they have actually done some soul-searching? _I sighed._ The person who truly needs to self-reflect is me._

Without waiting for my reaction, Lolidragon gave me yet another smack to the shoulder. "What are you thinking? Just hurry and go."

Uttering an "Oh", I walked through the long corridors with heavy footsteps. Although I had already gone to the great hall countless times, my heart was still nervous, as though it were filled with rocks from the manure pit.

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As I neared the great hall, I felt even more anxious. At long last, I turned a corner, and the great hall was just at the other end of the corridor. However, I halted my footsteps in nervousness. _Maybe I should think about how to apologize to everyone first? Also, I hope_ _that I can make everyone understand that I want them to treat me as they did in the past._

Just as I was about to burst my brain from all the thinking, a cold voice broke the silence of the corridor. "Prince?" they asked me with the indifference of a machine.

I was stunned for a moment, and replied in reflex. "Yes…?"

After I answered, I realized that something was wrong. The other party didn't reply and only an abnormal glint of silver appeared. Having the experience of being assassinated by XiMen Feng, I ducked to the side by reflex, and then looked backwards. As expected, the glint of silver was emitted from the dagger in someone's hand.

I looked closely at the dagger's owner. It was a woman with a delicate figure who was clad in a tight black bodysuit. However, because she was wearing a mask, her true identity could not be seen. Her two beautiful eyes showed no expression at all, and without even saying a word the dagger moved with shocking speed, once again threatening my life.

I yelled in shock, and didn't even have enough time to pull out my Black Dao. I could only roll to the side to protect my little life. Turning back to look I thought, _Oh my god!_ _It's that deadly dagger again! How can its speed be so fast?! _The thought had justflashed through my mind and my body had already shifted ten centimeters to the side, but the dagger still stabbed into my shoulder. I groaned in pain.

However, I didn't let her stab me in vain. My right fist swung, and violently punched her in the nose, which led to the sound of breaking bones that I heard with much satisfaction.

Taking advantage of the time after breaking her nose, I immediately tried to pull out my Black Dao. The blade was only pulled out halfway when the female assassin looked back. The dagger once again lurched towards me, as though she was only pushed back slightly, rather than breaking her nose—the most vulnerable body part of human that, once hurt, can give someone so much pain that they'd rather die.

I could only use the half pulled out Black Dao to block the dagger, and simultaneously, my right leg also swept towards the female assassin. However, she seemed prepared for it. As she jumped, the dagger in her hand headed towards me again. I had pulled out my entire Black Dao by this time, and neatly avoided the incoming dagger by turning around. At the same time, I discovered that the female assassin's strength was alarmingly high. My hand was shaking violently_. I actually had to block it by forcing myself. Could it be_ _that the female assassin is a warrior and not a thief? But her speed is also very frightening._

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At this moment, shadows and sounds came from the other end of the corridor. I looked back and saw that it was the crowd waiting for me at the great hall. They seemed to have realized that something was wrong, and had decided to go check it out. I felt relieved at this point.

The female assassin had also seemed to notice the sounds of the crowd. She actually revealed a strange, faint smile. Using that voice that was like a robot, she said, "Don't think that they can stop me, you will still have to die."

I took in a sharp breath. _Did I do something so unforgivable that made her so determined_ _to kill me, a 20-year-old, cute, beautiful, and delicate young girl?_

Once the female assassin finished her words, she didn't hesitate further. Two gleaming daggers stabbed at me again. I roared once, and after an ugly-looking dog-style roll, my left hand was left with a long gash.

Lying on the ground, I spit out two mouthfuls of blood and then lifted my head toward the female assassin. I had already prepared to be killed off; however, I saw that several semi-transparent arrows had forced the female assassin to retreat and dodge. At this time, the fellows that had arrived stood in front of me one by one, protecting me.

Nan Gong Zui questioned with an air of fury that was hard to cover, "Who are you? Why do you want to hurt Prince?"

The female assassin didn't even reply. With a sudden flash of her silhouette, she appeared directly in front of me. I was deeply shocked, and the crowd standing in front of me had not yet responded. In the moment where I thought I was really going to lose my life under the dagger, a black shadow moved in front of me. Wicked had actually used his body to block the stab, and he released a painful groan.

"Wicked?" I exclaimed in shock.

When everyone saw Wicked had been injured, they all unsheathed their weapons and without another word, attacked the female assassin. But her speed was simply too fast. Although she was having some difficulty fighting us, she still managed to dodge most of our attacks.

"You have to pay the price for hurting Prince!" Gui lifted his guqin and several Supersonic arrows shot at her. The female assassin, who had been besieged by people, finally got hit as her thigh and arms were promptly stabbed with arrows.

The female assassin halted, glaring at her surroundings with unparalled coldness. At last, when she looked at me, she spoke with a tone of extreme disdain. "Which part of this kind of childish liege lord is worth your protection?"

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"I will not allow you to hurt him, just as he would not allow anyone to hurt his friends." Nan Gong Zui held his sword, determined, as he stood in front of me.

"Childish? Do you know that, even if he was covered in blood from head to toe, this childish person would still not retreat a single step backward, but would stand in front of his companions to protect them?" Yu Lian-dàsăowas steaming with anger, and her hands had already prepared her magic to attack.

Doll had hurried to my side with two streams of tears. After she looked heart achingly at my bloodied upper torso, her eyes burned with fury as she looked at the female assassin and chanted an incantation that I had never heard before.

"The black inferno of hell, in the name of Doll, I command you to forge into chains, and burn on this enemy of mine. Torture as much as you can, inflicting pain beyond death, but let them be unable to seek death – Chain, Endless Torture."

_However, they are still friends. Look closely, and you will realize that actually, everyone hasn't changed. _Neurotic's earnest expression and words suddenly appeared in my mind._ Everyone really hasn't changed! _My heart was suddenly filled with comfort. Althoughmy body was in terrible pain, I couldn't help but smile.

Once Doll's incantation was finished, several black chains sprung up beside the female assassin's foot. Before anyone could respond, the chains tightly bound onto her body, and the sizzling sound of BBQ meat could be heard. She was in so much pain that she released piercing screams and in the air lingered the disgusting smell of grilled human meat.

"Doll, don't kill her yet, there are still things I want to ask." Seeing the situation, Nan Gong Zui hurriedly stopped Doll.

With a face of solemnness and seriousness, Doll looked at the female assassin screaming in pain and agony. In a voice of pity, she said, "She won't die. Chain, Endless Torture has no attack power, thus it will not let the player die. However, it will give the player so much pain that they would rather die than suffer through it.

Looking at the terrible situation of the female assassin, everyone was feeling distressed as well. From their expressions, I guessed that they were thinking about the same thing as me in their hearts. _In the future, I'd rather commit suicide by jumping off a cliff and_ _having my carcass splattered into pulp than suffer Doll's wrath._

"Why do you want to kill me?" I asked as I walked to up to the assassin, enduring the pain from my wounds.

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The female assassin ignored my question and instead began to laugh crazily. She shouted, "I have failed, but it doesn't mean that others will. Just wait, you little imp. You better not count on being able to stay at Infinite City forever and be the liege lord."

When she finished, she raised the two daggers in her hands, and without hesitation, she stabbed them into her heart. Before anyone could react and stop her, she had already become white light and flown away.

At this moment, my tense body finally relaxed and, leaning against the wall, I slid powerlessly onto the ground. However, the nervousness in my heart increased as many, many questions flooded in… Still, right now the main objective is to wait for Wolf-dàgē to come over and heal my wounds. I was in so much pain that my face had distorted, and my eyebrows had furrowed together as I looked at the fresh red blood spurting from my shoulder like a fountain.

"If Second Life were to have a vampire race, they would definitely love me—someone who is covered with blood so often—to bits." This was the last bit of nonsense that I thought before I fainted.

_Your Highness…Prince…Liege lord…_

"Hmm?" I opened my eyes a little hazily, wanting to see which bastard was disturbing my sleep. However, as I opened my eyes, everyone's concerned faces immediately sprung into view.

"What exactly happened? Who was the one who has harmed you?" Gui asked with a cold expression.

"That assassin was female, and by matter of principle, women wouldn't want to kill Prince," Wicked thought as he scrunched his eyebrows.

"I too have no idea what is going on." I stood up steadily and, as expected, the wound on my shoulder had already been healed.

"Actually daring to assassinate the Liege Lord in front of us, they're simply belittling Infinite City. If her assassination were a success, then the Liege Lord's reputation would be—" White Bird started indignantly.

Nan Gong Zui suddenly stopped White Bird from continuing. "Don't talk about it anymore, White Bird. Right now, what's the most important isn't the Liege Lord's reputation, but how Prince's life was threatened."

Nan Gong Zui turned toward me abruptly, and with an apologetic tone said, "This time we were the ones who were at fault, for we' overdid things and almost totally neglected your original personality, and we haven't taken into account your opinions."

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Hearing Nan Gong Zui say that, I was just about to refute that it was me who was too impulsive when Nan Gong Zui waved his hand instead, expressing that I should let him finish. "Perhaps because of this, although Prince is the Liege Lord, he has always been following our commands. To tell the truth, Prince, you have never given us any orders."

Finally, Nan Gong Zui stated profoundly, "Reputation is not obtained just by having your subjects kneel down and swear loyalty to you, Prince. When you are genuinely able to assume your personal responsibility, your prestige will naturally be there."

"The growing up process may be unbearable, but the final fruit will be very sweet." Yu Lian- dàsăosmiled as she looked at me and at last she extended her hand to stroke my head. "Relax; our Prince will definitely have no problem."

I was silent for quite a while. Considering Nan Gong Zui's words, I recalled grudgingly that I was really a submissive person. No wonder White Bird was always saying that we had to build my reputation, though she had never really convinced me.

Seeing Nan Gong Zui's encouraging smile, and thinking about my brother's words, I finally settled on a decision. _Who cares, I'll be whatever kind of Liege Lord that I'd like_ _to be._

Lifting my mouth into a faint smile, I said, "Then, from now on, everyone is not allowed to call me Liege Lord anymore. Prince is my only name."

"But—!" White Bird hurriedly tried to retort.

"I said," I continued in a calm voice that brooked no argument, "Prince is my only name."

White Bird was stunned, her face carrying an utterly shocked expression, while the others smiled.

I did a big stretch, as though I had just awakened from a deep sleep. _It's strange how just_ _one difference in one's way of thinking can change how someone feels. The disparity between my feelings right now and my feelings just before, when I was walking to the great hall, makes it seem as though I was another person._

As I finished my stretch, I straightened my body solemnly. "Now, let's talk about the assassin from a moment ago. Having such a strong woman coming to kill me for no apparent reason is already very strange. What is even stranger is that before she died, she said she had failed, but it doesn't mean that others would."

Hearing the words that I said, everyone's faces became serious. Nan Gong Zui said gravely, "If it's like this, there should be even more people who want to kill you."

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I nodded. "Should be, though no matter how hard I think, I can't seem to think of anyone that I have offended recently."

"It's possible that it's not a personal grudge," Lolidragon explained, not feeling surprised at all. "Prince is the person who has the most ability to unite the whole of the Central Continent right now. Moreover, the battle for the cities is close to hand. Just from this fact, the number of people that want to kill you until you're back at level 1 is probably as plentiful as the carp swimming upstream during mating season14. After all, there are many people who want to become the liege lord."

I scratched my face, and was just about to ask when the battle for the cities starts. However, there was an eighty percent chance that Lolidragon had already seen my questioning expression, for she rolled her eyes at me and explained, "There are only two more weeks until the battle for the cities. While you were away everyone has already made preparations to attack the cities."

I scratched my face in embarrassment. "Oh, then should I hurry and train to gain a few levels so as to change how I can't match up to the other liege lords' levels right now?"

Lolidragon smiled mysteriously. "War is the best way to gain levels."

"How?" I asked blankly.

"In this patch there were too many changes, so I didn't have the time to tell you guys. Actually, killing people can also increase your experience points. Usually, by killing others, you would receive a heavy punishment. After willfully killing others, you would be listed as wanted for a week, so one wouldn't be able to meet the NPC wardens in the city, and also wouldn't be able to buy or sell items in the city. However, this penalty does not apply during the battle period. Which also means, Prince, you can go on a rampage and kill your enemies to raise your level during the battle."

Lolidragon looked at me with a smile. "To kill several tens, hundreds, or even several thousand people during the battle should be an easy feat for the Blood Elf, right?"

Hearing this, I couldn't help but smile the Blood Elf's wicked grin. "Looks like I'm going to have another nickname, the 'Killer Demon King'."

"You just go and be your 'Killer Demon King', our Foreign Affairs group will definitely find out the real culprit behind this assassination issue," Lolidragon said with great energy, clenching her fist.

"Oh, do your best, Lolidragon," Feng Wu Qing said while enjoying the cool air at the side.

14 Carps lay their eggs in freshwater rivers, and must swim up the river during the mating season.

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In high spirits, Lolidragon turned her head with a fierce glare. After pulling Feng Wu Qing's ear, Lolidragon pretended not to hear my brother's wails, and dragged him along. Mocking him, she said, "I seem to remember that Young Master Feng Wu Qing is also part of the Foreign Affairs group. I, Lolidragon, will grudgingly allow you to investigate with me."

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**Chapter 6: The Bloody Overlord **

"Come on everyone, break down the city gate!" I shouted with all my might. Besides inspiring the warriors from Infinite City who were pushing the battering rams to break down the gates of Moon City, I also had to raise my shield in order to block all the arrows showering down from the city wall and swing my sword together with Nan Gong, Wicked, and others to keep away the waves of players coming to snatch the city away from us after we'd done the hard work of killing the NPC guards.

There were countless brave warriors of Infinite City here. Some were desperately ramming the gate, trying to bring it down faster in order to proceed with conquering the city and even more were on the ladders trying to scale the city's walls, ignoring the showers of arrows as they climb. The blood of the warriors almost stained the whole wall red.

The mages at the back of the army only had two things to do: casting spells and gulping down mana potions. From this I could tell how successful Yu Lian and the others were at training the mages. If it wasn't for the fear of having to pay a huge sum of money later for the reparation of Moon City, the mages alone could have blasted the whole city apart. However, in order to keep Moon City as intact as possible, they could only use medium and lower level spells to blast the NPC guards off the city wall.

During the battle for the city, the NPC guards were nothing. The real trouble was the players coming to snatch the city away. Not only was the number huge, they were coming along in unending droves. What was even more unbelievable was that players who had become a pillars of white light and flown away a scant minute ago were now running back fearlessly for a second round. The situation was in a such ridiculous state that apart from the warriors pushing the battering ram that was tearing down the gate and the mages in charge of blasting the NPC archers off from the city wall, the rest of us had formed a semi-circle in front of the Moon City's gate to prevent other players from sneaking into the city amidst the confusion.

Luckily Yu Lian and Phoenix had come up with the plan of making the army of Infinite City wear the same uniform instead of their normal gear. If it wasn't for that plan, we never would have been able to tell our allies apart from our foes.

With Nan Gong fighting on my left, Wicked on my right and Wolf-dàgēat the back to heal, I hacked the players apart like there was no tomorrow, following my "kill and you get exp, kill more and you get more exp" rule. When one came I'd kill one, when two came I'd kill three! _Eh? …Oh, I accidentally killed the spectators at the side who were_ _just watching? Sorry…_

"Prince! The gate will be down soon, so hurry to it now! You must be the first to enter the central tower and break the city gem!" Gui yelled as, under the protection of several

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warriors, he ran through the dangerous shower of arrows, magic spells, and clashes of swords and spears.

"No problem!" I shouted back. After signaling to Nan Gong and Wicked to head for the city gates, they immediately nodded and moved forward with me.

"Pure. White. Inferno. Rhapsody!" I roared, dashing towards the already cracking gate. With that, a blast of flame immediately burst out of my Black Dao. Unlike the normal fiery red flame, the flame that surged out this time was a blazing white fire of the purest heat.

Why were the flames produced different now? Actually, not only the color of the flame had changed, but the shape of my Black Dao was different as well. As it turned out, the gem Lolidragon gave me the other day—the prize for killing Celestial—was a gem that could increase a weapon's fire affinity. When I affixed the gem on Black Dao, the weapon had changed drastically. The original pure black sword blade and scabbard were now adorned with patterns of flame. When I held the Dao in my hand, a gauntlet would automatically appear, covering the whole of my right arm. The thin blood red armor was so strong that up until now, there was no weapon or magic spell I've tried that could cause any damage to it.

After coming in contact with Pure White Inferno Rhapsody, just about nothing could survive. Hence, the cracked gate simply shattered into pieces of wood. When everyone saw that the gate had been broken down, there were sounds of alarm coming from the players, but there were even more ear-splitting cheers from the army of Infinite City.

However, I knew this had yet to end. As long as the city gem remained intact, the city wasn't in the bag. I looked at Nan Gong Zui and shouted, "Zui, hurry and take me to the central tower!"

After I saw Zui nodding at me, I turned around towards White Bird and ordered, "Guard the gate well and don't let anyone in. Tell Gui to lead archers and warriors up the city wall and prepare to defend the city."

White Bird nodded to me. I immediately turned to follow Nan Gong Zui to the central tower without looking back once.

With Nan Gong Zui leading us, we soon found the central tower. I broke the central tower door with another Pure White Inferno Rhapsody and then followed the stairway straight to the top of the tower, where the city gem was located.

"Prince, go on, we'll look out for you," Wicked said calmly.

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"Right," I said. Just as I was about to slash the city gem, I caught a glint of silver light from the corner of my eyes. I immediately turned around to defend myself, and the sound of clashing blades reverberated throughout the central tower.

Nan Gong Zui and Wicked, who were originally guarding at top of the stairs, whipped their heads around, shocked. I, on the other hand, was totally unsurprised as I came face to face with yet another assassin dressed in black fitting clothes. This time, it's probably a male assassin.

A pity for him though, for I was no longer the person I had been before. In these two weeks, the number of assassins targeting me was so numerous that from the moment I opened my eyes I was prepared to face the assassins. Since it was them who initiated the attacks and I was merely defending myself, I had no worries at all about getting my name on the wanted list. Moreover, after having to face so many sneak attacks in every single day, one definitely becomes frustrated. Naturally, abusing these assassins became my daily pastime. As a result, my level skyrocketed, not to mention how much they had trained me in my reflexes and agility.

Although my level was still not as high as Neurotic who had gone back to the Western Continent, I was already level eighty-six. This, along with my superb, inhuman reflexes trained by the assassins… Even Neurotic might not be able to beat me.

My eyes shone with the glint of excitement, the glint of meeting a strong opponent. After all, the assassins nowadays were really too weak and were totally not comparable to the previous female assassin. From the conclusion of the Foreign Affairs department, those weaklings were probably not the female assassin's accomplices. However, I'm sure that this person in front of me, who was dressed in the same tight black bodysuit, was her accomplice.

"_Rwaahhhh!_" I gave a low bellow and charged towards the assassin. The rapid exchange of blows between our swords was so satisfying that I forgot about everything around us.

"I think Prince has utterly forgotten what he's here to do." When Nan Gong Zui's voice floated into my ears, I instantly and automatically pretended that I hadn't heard it.

"Never mind, just let him fight. The situation outside the city is under control and according to Broken Sword who stayed behind to protect Infinite City, those who went to attack Infinite City are just some nobodies who want to create a minor disturbance." Upon hearing Wicked's words, my tiny little bit of conscience immediately disappeared and I fought even more enthusiastically with the male assassin.

The male assassin knew that the situation was definitely against him. He was unable to overpower me, plus he saw that Nan Gong Zui and Wicked were just chilling on the sidelines. It seemed that he has no desire to drag out battle either, as with a back flip he jumped onto the window ledge he had entered from and prepared to leave.

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When I saw this, I immediately shouted, "All of you are so strong; why do you want to assassinate me?"

After a silent pause, he replied coldly, "It's because you're much more dangerous than any of the others."

_I'm dangerous? Which part of me is dangerous? It's not like there's a sign saying "Dangerous beast, do not feed" hanging around my neck. Although coming near me now might mean getting slashed into halves due to my reflexes, that was all trained by you assassins and not part of my original personality. _I scratched my cheek helplessly, unableto understand how I was dangerous.

"I wonder how long it'll take for Prince to remember that he's actually here to break the city gem…" Nan Gong Zui finally softly asked Wicked after watching me frown to myself for a long time.

Looking helplessly at me, Wicked replied, "That's too hard a question, I have no answer for you!"

After a while, I finally snapped out from the 'you're dangerous' remark and back into reality. After throwing an embarrassed look at Nan Gong Zui and Wicked, who were now reading the newspaper and drinking tea off to the side, I started striking the city gem and was on the verge of singing "Hey ho, hey ho, pull the radish15" …No, I mean I just calmly hit the gem.

While striking the gem, I listened to Nan Gong Zui's report on the situation of the two other cities. Leisurely drinking tea, he said, "Lolidragon and Feng Wu Qing have already researched the other players who took down the other two cities. Basically, they are all within our limits and nothing we can't handle. After the Moon City is stabilized, we will proceed with conquering both the Sun and Star City."

"Isn't monopolizing all the cities too much?" I continued hitting the gemstone while unknowingly voicing the complaints that other players had.

Zui picked up his teacup and started sipping gracefully while Wicked took his turn to explain. "We have no choice," he said. "If we don't conquer the Sun and the Star cities, then as soon as they get a foothold, they will definitely attack us. In order to guarantee Infinite City's safety, conquering all three major cities in the Central Continent is a must."

15** Hey ho, hey ho, pull the radish: **A famous nursery rhythm about how everyone's coming together andworking hard to pluck out a gigantic radish from the ground. The lyrics basically go like this: _Hey ho, hey_ _ho, pull the radish, hey ho, hey ho can't pull it out, hey ho hey ho, little granny, faster come and help me pull the radish… _(repeat, with different people helping each time, from granny to sister/brother to cat/dog.)

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"I see… But won't people be dissatisfied in the long term if we monopolized these cities?" I questioned.

"Don't worry. After the patch, players will be able to purchase their own piece of land for development. They still can build their own cities; we are only conquering Sun, Moon and Star cities in order to save the time and money needed to buy land and construct a city." Zui explained, putting down the teacup.

"Oh," I replied in acknowledgement and turned around to continue hacking away at the gemstone. It was still intact even though I'd been striking it for a while. Just looking at it I felt impatience welling up in my heart like a fire and blazing pure white flames billowed out from the patterns on my Black Dao again.

"_Hyaaaaa!_" I charged at the gem and started slashing at it erratically, constantly shouting, "Let's see if you'll break this time!"

With a final _BOOM_, the gem shattered into powder and dispersed into the air, causing me to inhale a few mouthfuls of powder. Coughing profusely, I waved my hand around to clear the dust. I turned around and tell Zui and Wicked that we could leave, only to be confronted with two "powder men", both kneeling on the floor holding their teacups motionlessly. White powder covered them from head to toe and only two pairs of eyes were left untouched, looking helplessly at me while constantly coughing up more powder.

After breaking the gem, deafeningly loud cheers could be heard the moment I stepped out of the central tower. Thousands of people gathered outside the central tower and from their attire I could tell they were all Infinite City's warriors. Holding my Dao high above my head, I happily cheered with them. As I walked down the stairs, all of the Infinite City's warriors suddenly charged towards me and tossed me up, throwing me up into the sky over and over.

When I saw how highly Infinite City's warriors regarded me, I was extremely touched. I started fooling around and partying with everyone until they became too tired to move, before making my way to tour the sights of Moon City, the city which we had just acquired under my name.

"What took you so long when you were hitting the gem? We almost fell asleep waiting for you outside," Lolidragon followed me and complained unhappily.

Scratching the back of my head apologetically, I replied, "I met an assassin. Plus, this assassin probably is the accomplice of that female assassin from the first time."

"What?" Upon hearing that, Lolidragon immediately stood up straighter and asked seriously, "How strong was he?"

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"On par with the female assassin from last time," I replied honestly. If Nan Gong Zui and Wicked weren't at my side, it was doubtful who would have won the fight.

Frowning, Lolidragon paced back and forth. "How is this possible? Since the number of elite players with that level of skill are so rare, it's almost impossible to find them on the Central Continent anymore; we have ruled out most of the possible suspects."

"What about players from other continents?" Feng Wu Qing suddenly popped out from nowhere and cut in.

Both Lolidragon and I looked towards Wu Qing in confusion. _Would anyone actually_ _travel all the way to another continent just to assassinate someone?_

With a wave of his fan, Feng Wu Qing said charmingly, "If there are people who want to take over the whole continent, then there'll be people who want to take over the all of Second Life. In order to achieve that, getting rid of the infamous and strong spokesperson of Second Life, Central Continent's Bloody Overlord, Prince, is of the utmost importance."

"I see, so that's why I'm more dangerous than others?" I muttered to myself.

"In that case, the suspects are the overlords of the four other continents?" Lolidragon asked as she furrowed her brow.

"Overlords of the four continents?" I asked with a bit of excitement. _Neurotic should be_ _the overlord of the West Continent right? I wonder what the other overlords are like…_

Without a moment of hesitation Lolidragon replied, "The Smiling Overlord of East Continent, Winter Triumph. The Carefree Overlord of West Continent, Neurotic."

"The Undying Overlord of South Continent, Undying Man; the Floral Overlord of the North Continent, Northern Flower; and of course, including you, the Bloody Overlord of Central Continent, Prince," Wu Qing added in perfect synchronization with Lolidragon.

I was utterly stunned by what I had just heard. _Why do all the overlords sound so strong?_

"Who could the suspect be?" Lolidragon considered carefully.

"It definitely can't be Neurotic and his men," I replied resolutely. _If they wanted me dead,_ _they could have just let me die in the Valley of Wandering Nymphs instead of helping me._

"We are ruling the West Continent out then. It seemed like we'll need to thoroughly investigate the overlords of the North, South, and East continents," Lolidragon mumbled.

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"How are you going to investigate? You can't even PM between different continents. Are you going to spend ten plus days just to travel back and forth from one continent to another?" Feng Wu Qing replied in disapproval.

Without holding back, Lolidragon pinched his ears with all her might, allowing me to see the wondrous sight of my flirtatious brother crying out in pain again. At the same time, Lolidragon shouted into his ear, "We have Sunshine's flying carpet!"

Ignoring Wu Qing's look of suffering, Lolidragon said to me, "I will go with this guy to the different continents and gather information. Prince, be careful."

"Don't worry, I won't get myself killed by assassins," I replied while waving goodbye to Lolidragon.

Mouth twitching, Lolidragon said, "That's not what I meant. I mean, don't abuse the assassins so much or the Human Rights Association will come knocking on your door!"

"I'll…try."

With help from Sunshine, Lolidragon and Feng Wu Qing travelled between continents. During this time the people of the Infinite City didn't slack off either. Upon entering Moon City the Military, Finance, and Construction departments immediately started working. They repaired the damage caused by the war, built more essential facilities that the city lacked, and arranged the guards and army for the city. In fact, it got so busy that I had no time to look at anything else and at one point I nearly wanted to leave once and for all. But I had already made a decision to become a good overlord. How could I give up halfway now?

Thus, apart from the times when Sun and Star city were attacked—at which point I would take advantage of to go train a little by secretly killing attackers—most of the time I was just battling with the huge pile of paperwork submitted by each department. After I graduate from university, I might have an extremely high potential of running for the job of city mayor.

"It's decided: I'm going to develop the Moon City into an art and cultural hub," I stated my vision with clenched fists as I watched the peaceful scenery outside the window.

The very next day, I told Yu Lian- dàsăomy decision. She only thought about it for a moment before she agreed to fund it. Then I cheerfully went to look for the Construction department, and told Gui and Fairsky, "I want to transform the Moon City into a city of art and culture. Furthermore, Yu Lian- dàsăohas already agreed to fund the project!"

However, Fairsky just ferociously grabbed my collar and bit out through gritted teeth, "You just sent my darling hubby Sunshine away for a tour around the world, leaving me

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here alone waiting for him, and now you're going to increase my work load? Are you tired of living and feel that the number of assassins targeting you is not enough?"

"Ah? This will increase your work load? But after conquering the Sun and the Star cites, I still want to turn the Sun City into a commerce city and Star City into a world of entertainment!"

Hearing that, Fairsky let go of my collar and stared blankly. "Are you really Prince?" she demanded disbelievingly. "No, no, that's impossible; Prince would never be so clever. You must be an assassin who's disguised as Prince. Spill it, where's the real Prince?"

_Oi! What kind of attitude is that?!_

"Prince was always very clever. He is so wise that he looks dumb to other people," Gui said, making goose bumps immediately appear on my skin.

"Anyway I'm leaving this matter to the Construction Department. I'm going to the Military Department to see when we can attack the Sun and Star cities." Humming to my own tune, I skipped happily towards the Military Department.

Behind me, Fairsky muttered, "Why is this guy so happy? He has so much administration work to do, not to mention that he gets attacked by at least three assassins per day and still has to worry about conquering the Sun and Star cities … Could it be that he is so busy that he's gone crazy?"

Gui replied frankly, "Recently, the standards of the assassins have been rather high, and Prince was really happy to fight with them. And every assassin is being ruthlessly taught a lesson by Doll's Chain, Endless Torture after the fight, so Prince…"

"I see, so it's because he gets to release his sadistic tendencies…"

"Zui, Wolf-dàgē,are you guys here?" I stu ck my head into the Military Department office and looked around. Indeed, aside from Broken Sword who was in charge of training the soldiers, everyone was there.

A hand landed on my shoulder, accompanied with a ghostly voice, "Why didn't you mention my name?"

Keeping up my smiling face, I turned around to face Wicked's gloomy expression and said, "Good morning, Wicked!"

"What is it, Prince?" Wolf-dàgēsmiled and walked towards me, ruffling my hair with his hand as usual.

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"I wanted to ask when we can attack Sun City and Star City," I said frankly, not hiding the glint of eagerness in my eyes.

"Actually, both Sun and Star City are willing to surrender to us provided that we agree to their conditions," Nan Gong Zui replied. "We have already discussed the conditions with Star City and there should be no problem; I was going to tell you about it later. The Star City players' only demands are to have the biggest estate in Infinite City for free, and that after joining the army of Infinite City they should have at least have the post of team leader. These conditions are really simple and should be easy to fulfill. But as for the Sun City… Their conditions might be a problem."

"How so?" I asked. But even if there really were problems, I didn't really care. If we couldn't reach an agreement, then we'd just initiate a war. _Right now I'm completely_ _unafraid of war!_

Nan Gong Zui went silent. After a moment Wicked continued, "It's Fan."

"And a few teams that are hostile towards us," Wolf-dàgēadded. "Perfect Princess Team, Team Phoenix, Hell's Murderers, and another person sponsoring them that I'm not familiar with. I heard he holds some grudge against you too. He's called Huang Wei."

I was taken aback by what I heard. _Huang Wei came to the Central Continent_

_too? _Frowning, I mentally prepared myself, for their conditions of surrender must berelated to me and definitely related in a negative way as well. "What are their conditions?"

The three of them went completely silent as Wolf-dàgētook a frighteningly long sheet of paper from the table and passed it to me.

I took it and began reading from it, "One: Let Prince disappear forever from Second Life; Two: Rip Prince's stomach open; Three: Gift Prince to me, Perfect Princess; Four: After killing Prince up to a thousand times, bring Lü Jing back to me; Five: Return Fire Phoenix back to me, and then throw Prince and that damned meat bun into the sea to feed the sharks…" Without any expression, I tore that piece of paper full with nonsense into pieces. In a stern and commanding tone, I asked the Military Department, "When will the troops be ready?"

"We need to take hold of Star City first and then we can send the troops out a week later," Nan Gong Zui reported.

"Then in one week, someone is going to be in big trouble," I said as I clenched my fist fiercely.

A week later, I rode on top of a horse, pacing back and forth before the army of Infinite City while staring at the far-off walls of Sun City. According to my assessment, the

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number of archers on the city wall was far less than the numbers of NPC archers sent out by Second Life when we first tried to conquer Moon City.

"Looks like the battle for conquering the city this time will be a piece of cake…" I muttered to myself.

"But Fan isn't an average player. You can't be sure that this isn't a trap," Nan Gong Zui reminded me concernedly upon hearing my muttering. "Fan holds a deep grudge against you and it's possible that his target might be you alone. Prince, you must be careful."

_That's right; Fan definitely isn't someone who would allow himself to play an insignificant role. _Rousing myself a little, I replied, "I understand, I'll be careful."

With that, I pulled the reins and changed the direction of the horse to face the warriors of Infinite City while holding my Black Dao high above my head. Everyone remained silent, waiting for my words. I roared, "Take down Sun City! Unite the Central Continent!"

Upon hearing that, everyone was excited into a wild frenzy. A chant that burst out from the mouth of Infinite City's warriors was so loud that it nearly shook me, their city lord, off of my horse. "Unite the Central Continent! Unite the Central Continent! Unite the Central Continent!"

I kicked the sides of my horse, riding straight in the direction of Sun City, and shouted, "Charge!"

"The city lord…is leading the attack…" Wicked pressed his hand against forehead as though he had a headache.

Nan Gong Zui looked on, equally helpless, and said, "Shall we hurry up and catch up with him?"

Besides the archers on the city wall, the Sun City defense line consisted of three rings of warriors surrounding the city gate. But this was exactly what had my blood boiling with excitement. I could swing my precious Black Dao however I wanted to my heart's content, something that I definitely could not enjoy on daily basis.

"Heeeeh! Yaaaa!" I held my shield high above my head to block the arrows coming from the city wall as my other hand continuously slashed at one soldier after another. At first I would still get a few cuts here and there, but the priests in the back were so efficient that the moment I got a tiny little cut, over ten white healing lights would land on me.

The mages on the city wall couldn't hurt me either. Although I couldn't see them, I could guarantee that there were at least ten protective shields above my head. When Nan Gong

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Zui and Wicked caught up with me and both stood by my side to protect me, I smiled faintly. _It's time to go into total offensive mode!_

The horse seemed to sense my excitement too, for it followed my lead and galloped back and forth amongst the enemy, allowing me to kill to my heart's content. After a few charges the area around me started to empty. Curling my lips in dissatisfaction, I was about to say a few provoking words to the enemy to see if anyone would be agitated enough to come and let me cut him up.

Then Nan Gong Zui's helpless voice rang out, "Prince, stop playing. The city gate is already down, hurry up and enter the city!"

"Ohhhh…" Looking at Zui and Wicked who were both panting, I thought of how tiring it must be to cover for me just now. Feeling a little guilty, I didn't dare to continue playing anymore and rode on toward the city gate.

After entering the city I looked around, trying to locate the central tower.

A shadow suddenly landed before my horse and with a glance I realized it was actually Kong Kong. He had probably watched too many ancient Japanese dramas, for he was actually dressed like a ninja. Not to mention that he was kneeling on one knee with his hands clasped together as he reported to me in a reverent and respectful tone, "My lord, the central tower is just up ahead to the left. Please follow your humble servant."

With a roll of my eyes I asked, "Did you take the wrong medicine today?"

Feeling slighted, Kong Kong curled his mouth a little and twisted his index fingers together uneasily. "What's wrong? Isn't this what they do in comics?"

_Another person who's addicted to comics! _I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry at hisactions, so I said, "Whatever makes you happy is fine, as long as you can take me to the central tower."

"No problem my lord, please follow me." Switching back into ninja mode, Kong Kong pointed in the main direction of the tower and started running. I exchanged a glance with Wicked and Nan Gong Zui who were now commanding the troops and then everyone followed us, proceeding toward the tower.

After a short while the central tower was right before my eyes. As expected, the rest of the army was guarding it, just like the tactic we used when Fan attacked us.

"Whoa, everyone's here." I was a little surprised. In front of the central tower, I recognized many familiar faces: Perfect Princess Team, Team Phoenix, Hell's Murderers, and Huang Wei. One thing all of them had in common was that they looked as though

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they couldn't wait to tear me into pieces, chew me up, and spit me out. _Weird, where's_ _Fan? _I felt a little confused by his absence.

"Prince, you're the first man who dared to look down on me! I'll definitely make you pay!" Perfect Princess said while biting on her handkerchief with eyes full of resentment.

"Prince! This time I swear I'll roast you into barbeque!" the leader of Hell's Murderers bellowed. _If I remember correctly, I think he's called the Blood-soaked Demon King?_

"Return my darling Lü Jing back to me!" Huang Wei's glittering old fashion look had yet to change.

"Prince, if you don't hurry and return Fire Phoenix to us, you're dead!" shouted a group of pretentious men in white shirts and white pants. You could tell they were the Team Phoenix with just one glance. However… _What was the speaker's name again? How_ _come I don't have any impression of who he is?_

Feeling a little embarrassed, I asked, "I'm sorry, the leader of Team Phoenix, but I truly have forgotten what your name is. Would you please tell the readers yourself?

Upon hearing that, the men in white…no, I mean Team Phoenix, revealed expressions of devastation and disappointment, and cried to the sky, "Of course you won't remember our names, because the author never gave us names at all!"

I was dumbfounded. _So they didn't even have names! How pitiful._ I shook my head and said, "What a pitiful team. Since you don't even have names, I'll send you guys away first." Twisting my lips up into a wicked smile, I uttered a few orders to Nan Gong Zui. Zui immediately signaled to the warriors of Infinite City behind us and the attack began.

"All of you will regret writing that damned request," I said with a ferocious look. _I'd_ _overlook that you wanted to throw me into the sea to feed the sharks, but you even included my cute lil' Meatbun! Fine then, I'll let you have a taste of Meatbun's power!_

Taking out my cute lil' Meatbun, I told him, "Meatbun, come and help your mama beat some evil people."

"Evil People! Mama, there's evil people?" Meatbun looked around eagerly with its big watery eyes.

"Yup, there, right in front." Grabbing hold of Meatbun, I turned him around to face the team that didn't even have names, yet would have still dared to throw Meatbun into the sea to feed sharks, aka the Phoenix Team.

"Evil People!" Meatbun suddenly broke free from my hand, a bamboo copter appearing on its head as it flew into the sky. After making a seven hundred and twenty degree turn

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in the air, it shouted, "I stand for love and justice! In the name of Meatbun, I'll triumph over evil!"16

_Doll…just what have you been teaching Meatbun? _Facepalming, I was too sad for tears.

"Love and Justice's Fermentation Final Blow!" Meatbun suddenly shouted a move I'd never heard of before. I looked at Meatbun curiously, amazed that it had gotten another new skill. That's my Meatbun, with a wisdom level of ten.

Meatbun then closed its eyes tight, looking like it was concentrating as hard as he could, so much so that its cheeks became inflated… No, wait, not only were its cheeks inflated, but its whole body was increasing in size! I watched with a dropped jaw as Meatbun got bigger and bigger, larger and larger. Soon, Meatbun filled the sky like a huge cloud, covering the whole area with its shadow. _Weird, how is that Bamboo copter supporting a_ _meat bun of this size?_

By this time both enemies and allies had stopped in their tracks and were staring dazedly at the gigantic meat bun in the air. Someone even muttered, "Oh god, how long will it take to finish eating a meat bun of that size?"

_Just what move is this? _I suddenly had a very bad feeling about it and immediatelyshouted, "All Infinite Warriors, fall back now!"

But it was still too late as, without any warning, Meatbun fell suddenly from the sky. When it landed there was a massive booming sound and the earth shook as if there was a level nine earthquake. As for me, facing the meat bun wall which was less than five centimeters away, I broke into a cold sweat. What a terrifying blow, not even sparing our allies! _If not for my luck, would my body be even five centimeters thick now?_

"So Meatbun was never fermented before," Wicked suddenly said from beside me.

Shocked, I looked towards him… _He's, telling a joke? Wicked is telling a joke? That_ _can't be possible!_

Frowning, Wicked pressed his hand against Meatbun's thick wall and concluded, "The ratio of the size of Meatbun before and after the fermentation is too abnormal. No yeast can ever ferment and turn such small dough into this size."

_Is…is this considered a common problem between all science students?_

By this time, Meatbun had changed again. It slowly shrunk back to its normal size before hopping back into my hand, looking exhausted. After a while, Meatbun could no longer

16** "I stand for … triumph over evil!": **A famous quote from the manga series "Sailor Moon", often saidby sailor moon when she's fighting.

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keep its eyes open and started sleeping soundly. I had no choice but to stow it back in my bag.

Looking back at those unlucky souls who got squashed, I calculated that around eighty percent were from the enemy and another twenty percent were people from my side who had charged in front. They were all now lying flat on the ground. The initially smooth ground now had countless human shapes imprinted onto it. Frowning, I asked, "Infinite Warriors who were squashed please report, how much HP was lost?"

A warrior, who was wearing uniform from our side, lifted up a trembling hand and signaled a number five. With an equally trembling voice, he said, "Fi…fifty percent!"

_How terrifying_… Those who hadn't gotten squashed, including me, were all shocked.

"Prince, hurry and go to the center tower. I will help to block the enemy," Nan Gong Zui said urgently.

Looking at the flattened enemy who were now starting to squirm, I agreed and rushed with all my might towards the center tower.

"Mages attack the tower gate, and be careful not to hit the lord!" Wicked bellowed.

Before I reached the tower gate thunder bolts, fire balls, and ice bolts were being thrown randomly at the tower gate, causing a huge commotion. As I reached the tower gate I yelled without any hesitation, "Pure. White. Inferno. Rhapsody!"

With that, the tower gates fell apart and I quickly rushed up the stairs. I left the responsibility of protecting my back to Zui and Wicked, since getting the city gem was my main responsibility. Upon finally reaching the top with great difficulty, I jumped up and into the tower. However, besides seeing the city gem, I could also see that another weird scene was about to unfold.

"Why the rush, Prince? Why don't you sit down and have a cup of tea?" Fan asked calmly, giving me a friendly smile while brewing a cup of tea.

I frowned and my right hand cautiously reached for my Black Dao. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing much, I just have a little request for you." Fan put down the teacup and slowly stood up. He threw his sword aside and it landed in the corner as he stood, unarmed, to show that he posed no threat.

Uneasiness rose from my heart. _Just what is Fan planning to do? Even though he has_ _thrown his weapon aside, maybe there are others lying in ambush nearby? _With that, Iimmediately started scanning the surroundings from the corners of my eyes.

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Smiling faintly, Fan said, "Don't worry, there's no ambush waiting."

"Just what do you want?" I calmed myself down. Even if there was an ambush, I was not afraid of him.

"I want you to return Phoenix to me," Fan replied in a serious tone.

"Phoenix?" I repeated blankly, a little confused about the situation.

"Ice Phoenix!" Fan said reproachfully. "I admit that in the past, I did not treat her well, but humans never learn to treasure the things they have and instead take them for granted. Only when they lose it, do they learn how important it is to them."

Looking extremely lonely and bitter, Fan forced a smile at me, "Prince, will you please return Phoenix to me? I know that you never cared about her. To you, she's even less important than Wicked and Gui. If that's the case, why are you still bringing sadness to her?"

I stood there blankly, _Fan, who treats women like clothes, is actually saying this kind of_ _thing? _I became very suspicious. My thoughts must have been reflected in myexpression, because before I said anything, Fan had already opened his mouth to reply.

"Please believe me, I'm really serious this time! Please return Phoenix to me and stop hurting her feelings! Let me bring her happiness!" Fan shouted agitatedly.

"I've hurt her feelings?" My expression dimmed. That's right, I almost forgot; last time I had made her cry and after that the case wasn't settled either. Since I haven't seen Phoenix. Thinking back to it now, I started getting really worried. _Where could she be_ _now?_

"Is the number of times you've made her cry any fewer than the number of times I have?" Fan asked coldly.

"I…" I sighed. "No matter our situation, let Phoenix decide this herself. She's not an object. She should make her own decisions."

"You…!" Anger and hatred were immediately written all over Fan's face. _Did I say_ _anything wrong? _I was utterly confused.

"Thank you, Prince," Phoenix's voice suddenly appeared. Surprised, I watched as Phoenix walked out from behind the city gem. "Although you still don't love me, at least you didn't push me away to others."

"Phoenix!" I cried out blankly.

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"He doesn't love you, don't you get it?!" Fan abruptly ran up and tightly grabbed Phoenix's shoulder. Phoenix was shocked by his actions, but her facial expression soon became one of pain.

"Let go of her!" I dashed up and punched Fan aside.

Lowering her head with shame, Phoenix said timidly, "I'm sorry, Prince. When Fan said that you were just treating me like a burden and guaranteed to me that as soon as he asked, you would immediately unburden me onto him unconditionally, I… I couldn't help but want to know if that was what you'd really do, so…"

Shaking my head, I replied, "That's okay, it was my fault, I shouldn't have said those words to you previously."

"Prince!" Fan stood up. The initial look of gentleness and deep affection was now replaced by ferociousness.

Without waiting for him to finish, I said, "You disappoint me, Fan."

Upon hearing that, Fan stood in his place, surprised.

Gritting my teeth, I asked in the coldest voice I could manage, "I was actually looking forward to you leading troops to face me. Yet in the end, you still chose to use Phoenix against me?" _Just how long does this guy plan to use Phoenix's feelings? Is letting go of_ _a girl that hard?_

"You're dead! This time, I definitely won't let you off." Lifting my Black Dao, I threateningly approached Fan step by step.

"Wait, Prince!" Zui's voice suddenly rang from behind me. I turned around to see Zui wearing facial expression that was even colder than mine. Inside those eyes of his there were no emotions at all. "Go and shatter the gem, Prince. That's your responsibility. As for Fan, that's my responsibility!"

"I understand," I said with a nod.

I decided not to care about Zui and Fan's battle. _If calculating how to make use of a_ _woman is what Fan is thinking about all the time then the result of this battle is too obvious, so why do I still have to watch it?_

Holding my Black Dao, I turned around to face the gem. Just when I was about to ruthlessly initiate the first blow a spell suddenly hit the gem. I turned around to see that it had actually been Phoenix's spell. _Does…she want to snatch the city? Did Fan actually_ _successfully make use of Phoenix again?_

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Just when I was still entangled in my own trail of thoughts, Phoenix smiled and said, "Let me help you to get rid of most of the gem's HP. Don't worry, I will definitely leave the last hit to you, Prince. I don't want to end up with a city out of the blue."

"The last hit? I thought I would have to deal all the blows personally?" I asked blankly.

Surprised, Phoenix said, "Of course not! If that's the case, wouldn't it take up too much time? It's fine as long as you get the final hit."

Veins started popping on my head. It seemed that last time when I was desperately hitting the city gem two people were slacking by my side, drinking tea!

With a cough, Wicked said, "About that, we only learned about it after conquering Moon City ourselves."

"Well then come and help!" I glared at one of the two people who had been drinking tea at that time.

After destroying the gem, everything was covered in dust and powder again. But this time, learning from past experiences, Wicked had already ran away to hide, leaving behind me, who had to strike the last blow, and Phoenix, who knew nothing about the whole experience, to suffer in the powder.

"Finally, the Central Continent is now united as one!" Suddenly feeling relieved, I smiled from the bottom of my heart.

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**Chapter 7: A Cougar's Unimaginable Love **

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask: what are our plans after unifying the Central Continent?" I asked White Bird and the others with a face brimming with curiosity.

I received many scornful looks in response. White Bird in particular couldn't resist complaining loudly, "Only you would ask about something like that, Liege Lord. We are already being worked to the bone just from managing the city.

I scratched my head thoughtfully. "But I really don't have anything to do! You guys rarely even give me any paperwork these days."

"That's because all you ever do is edit them into nonsense!" White Bird yelled, on the verge of spitting fire at me. It looked like ever since I forcibly rejected the idea of being treated with the dignity of a liege lord, White Bird's respect for me had completely disappeared.

Feeling wronged, I replied, "No way, I have been assessing them very carefully."

"You have been assessing them very carefully? Just take a look at this document, 'The City Walls Reinforcement Project'. You actually gave the response, 'Considering that the city walls have been worn down by the fires of war, and are now disheveled beyond belief, a special allowance is granted to repaint the walls, preferably in pink, my favorite color. Signed, Prince, the Liege Lord.'"

"What's wrong with that?" I asked, puzzled.

"…" Everyone was silent. White Bird took out another document. "'The Lack of Senior Level Management' – to which your response was, 'There's not enough people? Eh, perhaps there are not as many players in Second Life as I thought? Alright, I'll respond to this issue after consulting with a GM. Signed, Prince, the Liege Lord.'"

"Oh…right. I haven't asked a GM about that yet," I replied while twiddling my fingers nervously. But you can't really blame me for forgetting about this with all the recent attacks launched on other cities!

White Bird didn't respond to me, but reacted in kind with everyone else—pressing her forehead with a look of hopeless resignation.

I bit my fingernails. _It's rare that I'm starting to be addicted to amending documents!_ I begged desperately, "White Bird, please give me some more documents to edit!"

"No. Way." White Bird responded firmly.

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Immediately, I put on my best grieving-victim face, complete with pouting lips and even tears in the corner of my eyes. I muttered with reluctance, "How did things turn out like this? I spent so much time and effort doing paperwork without receiving an ounce of praise and now I'm not even given any more to work on."

Wolf- dàgēwalked over to my si de and patted my head as though he were coaxing a child. He cooed, "Good boy Prince, run along now and play outside for a bit by yourself. When we find something for you to do, we'll call you back."

"Oh." Since even Wolf-dàgēwas saying things like this, I had no choice but to resign

myself to 'playing outside by myself.'

After just barely passing through the city gate, I quickly cast off my sulking look and started debating on whom to play with. _Should I go find Kenshin and Cold Fox and steal_ _some of their tea? Or bully some monsters? Or perhaps I could find Infinity City's army and investigate Meatbun's Fermentation Technique? _I walked along, considering all thepossibilities.

"Prince!"

_Lolidragon? _Suddenly hearing a voice I hadn't heard for a very long time filled me withhappiness as I looked up to the sky, searching for the source. Indeed, I could see the trails left by a flying carpet.

"Lolidragon! You guys are back!" I called out loudly while happily waving my hands.

Lolidragon, Feng Wu Qing, and Sunshine all hopped off the flying carpet, but the first two both carried a heavy expression. Puzzled, I asked, "What's wrong? Are the results of the investigation bad?"

"Yes, extremely bad. We found out that of the five overlords of each continent, the Eastern, Western, and Southern Continents' overlords were all targeted by assassins. Worse, the Northern Continent's Flower Overlord and her five teammates all mysteriously disappeared last week. The citizens of the Flower City are all in pandemonium since none of them could be contacted at all," Lolidragon reported with a grim expression.

"Are Neurotic and the others okay?" I asked with concern, hoping that they hadn't been assassinated.

"They're okay. In fact, the overlords from the other four continents are all fine right now," Feng Wu Qing said.

"Except the Northern Continent's missing Flower Overlord." Lolidragon retorted with lips pursed and brows creased.

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Deep in thought, I wondered out loud, "So the Northern Continent is the most suspicious right now?"

Lolidragon and Feng Wu Qing were both quiet for a while, until Wu Qing finally broke the silence. "That's how it seems based on the current situation, but there's also a lot of information that doesn't add up. For example, how they could abandon their own Flower Capital that they have been working so hard to maintain and make it public that they've disappeared? This particular turn of events is strange indeed."

"To top it all off, according to our investigation, Northern Flower isn't someone who would have lofty ambitions of unifying all of Second Life," said Wu Qing.

Lolidragon continued the explanation, "In my opinion, she seems to be the type that would worry more about the blemishes on her face than her overlord status. She probably would rather be putting on face mask than marching off to war."

_So she's one of those completely vain types… _I couldn't help but asked in confusion, "Ifthat is so, then what's really going on with the assassinations?"

"We still don't know for sure, but we've already spoke to the three other overlords and it's agreed that they will all travel to the Central Continent by boat in a week's time to discuss this together."

Lolidragon raised her voice to emphasize her point, "That means in a week's time, Infinite City will host a meeting of the overlords."

_A meeting of the overlords, eh? _I couldn't help but feel a bit impressed. "One would haveto be pretty amazing to become the overlord of an entire continent, right? I wonder what these leaders are like."

"Ahem, in theory they should all be amazing, but of course there are always exceptions," Lolidragon replied while furtively glancing at me.

"Exceptions? What exceptions?" I asked curiously.

But Feng Wu Qing who was at the side was already trying to stifle his amusement and it wasn't long before both of them were howling with unrestrained laughter. I, on the other hand, was left scratching my head fishing for the punch line. _Strange, what are they_ _laughing at?_

After Lolidragon and Feng Wu Qing finished laughing at their inside joke, they both suddenly fell suspiciously silent with a strange atmosphere surrounding them. I stared at them, still in the dark about what was going on, but the two before me seemed hesitant to meet each other's gaze. The questions in my head just kept piling up.

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"I- I will go look for some other people to discuss this and get more opinions. The more heads the better right?" The normally calm Lolidragon appeared unusually flustered as she said this and quickly fled without looking back.

"What just happened?" I asked with suspicion while looking at the trail of dust left behind from Lolidragon's sudden escape.

"Prince, I have something important to tell you," Wu Qing suddenly said to me, still standing on his original spot.

_Bro has something to discuss with me? How rare! _"Let's talk this over at InfiniteRestaurant," I said as I pointed to it.

Wu Qing nodded and Sunshine, whose presence had long been forgotten, smiled faintly and announced, "Then I'll go look for Fairsky."

As usual, I sat down at my favorite corner and ordered dishes for the two of us. I silently waited for Wu Qing to start talking about whatever he wanted to discuss, but after all the food was served, I couldn't wait any longer and started stuffing my face.

"Sis, I'm in love with Lolidragon," my brother said to me matter-of-factly, in a tone that he might use to announce that he ate an egg on toast for breakfast, while conveying a message that would frighten the gods and make devils cry. The situation was no less grave than if the president of the United States had accidently pressed the button that would launch their nuclear missiles, bringing endless disaster thereafter.

I turned towards him in slow motion, tossing aside my chopsticks along with the next bite of food that was already by my mouth. Placing both hands on his shoulders, I said with all seriousness, "Dear bro, there's an influenza pandemic going around and it looks like you're already infected pretty badly, seeing as how you've already lost your mind from fever. But not to worry, your sister will immediately take you to see the doctor and after a few shots you'll soon be as good as new."

Wu Qing unceremoniously brushed my hands aside and replied peevishly, "My mind is fine, thank you very much."

The atmosphere was dead quiet for a few minutes. Suddenly, in a flash of understanding, my right hand curled into a fist and landed on top of my left palm. "I understand now! You must have fallen in love with the beautiful and otherworldly Lolidragon from Jin Yong's novel!17 My dear bro, she is but a character in a book and doesn't actually exist.

17** "Lolidragon from Jin Yong's novel": **This is a reference to_The Return of the Condor Heroes_, one ofJin Yong's _wuxia_ novels about martial arts. She was an orphan who was left at the doorsteps of a palace and was eventually taken away by a woman to the Ancient Tomb Sect. She was raised as a disciple and was taught and mastered the sect's martial arts. Having never left the tomb, she grew up to be an innocent

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You should just perish the thought, and besides, even if it were possible, Yang Guo and his Melancholic Palms are not to be trifled with."18

"The one that I love is the Lolidragon from Second Life, a member of Odd Squad who works with me in the Foreign Affairs department. Did that get through that thick head of yours yet?" Wu Qing's words once again shattered my delusions.

My hands started shaking uncontrollably. I asked my brother incredulously, "Are you really in love with Lolidragon? How's that possible? Didn't you say that you'd never fall for anyone older than you? Not only was she born before you, but she looks very mature as well, so how…"

"Horses can misstep, and people can be misspoken. It's a proven fact that you can fall in love with someone who is not necessarily your type." Wu Qing shrugged casually.

I was at a loss for words. "How could you possibly have fallen in love with her? Didn't you hate her not too long ago?"

"I'm not sure either. Perhaps it happened while we were investigating the assassination, or maybe it was earlier, while she was stomping me to death," Wu Qing replied honestly. He then furrowed his brows and added, "It might even be when I saw her for the first time with you outside Star City, or else even if you had stolen away Fairsky and Rose I wouldn't have gotten so unreasonably angry. Maybe the real reason I was angry was because of my jealousy at you, who was with her." Finally, Wu Qing laughed wanly. "In any case, love always starts from hatred."

Looks like my brother really has fallen in love with Lolidragon…

"What are you going to do?" I asked again. Lolidragon is no pushover and I fear that my brother would run off and do something stupid after getting heartbroken, like letting slip the fact that I am a transsexual or something.

Wu Qing's next words hit me like a bolt from the blue, for the second time. "I already confessed to her."

I was left speechless for a while, with my mouth agape. _No wonder Lolidragon was_ _acting so strangely earlier…_I finally forced out my next two words, "The result?"

beauty but was cold to the point of being unsociable and emotionless. The Lolidragon in this novel is most likely a name borrowed from Jin Yong.

18** "Yang Guo and his Melancholic Palms": **Yang Guo was Lolidragon's only disciple and theyeventually fell in love, but master-apprentice relationships were highly taboo at the time. Due to quarrels with their peers and misunderstandings, they were separated for 16 years before being reunited at the end of the novel. During that time, Yang Guo learned kung fu from various elite martial artists. His Melancholic Palms is a hybrid skill that he developed that incorporates elements from his various masters.

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"She called me an idiot." Wu Qing shrugged again.

I sighed and patted him on the back. "There are plenty of fish in the sea, so one little rejection is not a big deal. You can easily find a better match. Just don't do anything stupid, especially something like revealing my true identity."

Wu Qing laughed several times, looking like a hooligan. "I'm not the type to get heartbroken, hmph."

_Not get heartbroken? Weren't you the one who lost Rose and Fairsky to me…? _Iwouldn't dare say that out loud though. Instead, I could only foolishly ask, "But she rejected you, right?"

Wu Qing gave a mysterious little laugh and wagged his fingers. "When a woman hears a confession and calls you an idiot with her face beet- red, that is definitely not a sign of rejection."

"What else would it be?" I asked naïvely.

Wu Qing laughed loudly several times again, and irresponsibly let out a, "You won't understand!" before swaggering off.

But, I couldn't tell whether it was a coincidence or an understanding between them, for as soon as Wu Qing was out of sight, I saw Lolidragon angrily running towards me. _Weren't_ _you looking for people to get more opinions from? _She frantically said, "Prince, what didyour brother just tell you? Was it about his confession?"

"Yeah," I said honestly.

"I can't believe that punk would go around telling everyone. Not only does he spill the beans to Sunshine, he now goes and blabs to you about it as well. I bet it won't be long before the entire world knows about it!" Barely containing her anger, Lolidragon continued, "That fool better not think that I don't know that he's just trying to rile me up!"

I scowled. "Wu Qing is not trying to rile you up – he's being completely serious."

Lolidragon stared blankly for a bit before asking with hesitation, "He… is serious? How can that be? He's obviously just trying to piss me off."

I tilted my head and thought deeply before finally concluding, "I believe my brother is being serious. Before, when chasing girls, he would never tell me anything. For him to actually talk to me about it this time, it seems like he might really like you a lot."

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According to the romance novels I have read, when the female lead hears the male lead made a serious confession to her, her face should flush red, her heart might skip a beat, and she should be looking quite embarrassed, perhaps even dumbfounded.

It's a shame that this book is obviously not a romance novel, and Lolidragon most certainly wasn't the female lead of such a novel. Instead of looking embarrassed, her facial expression was full of killing intent and it looked like this book had a really good chance of turning into a horror novel.

For some reason Lolidragon, fuming with rage and gritting her teeth, pulled out a knife and started waving it around wildly while howling violently, "Watch as I slaughter that bastard!"

I was dumbstruck. _Even if she did dislike my brother, that's not quite enough of a reason_ _to slaughter him, is it? _"Why are you going to slaughter him?"

"You won't understand," Lolidragon fiercely repeated the very same words my brother had said to me earlier before running off in the same manner as him.

I scratched my cheek, not quite understanding the situation. _Normal couples like to get_ _matching outfits or rings, but you two have matching actions and manners of speech._

Although I really didn't know what my brother and Lolidragon were planning, it looked like I had a good idea of who my future sister-in-law might be.

I muttered to myself, "I better start watching out for myself, or else once Lolidragon becomes part of the family, she might really lay the smack down on me."

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**Extra Chapter: The Classified Files of the Five Continents' **

**Overlords **

**Current Location: **Eastern Continent

**Nickname: **Smiling Overlord –_Winter Triumph_

**Described by Others As: **A wolf in sheep's clothing

**Famous Quote: **"Smiling is to earn even more money!"

It is said that Winter Triumph became the overlord of the Eastern Continent because of one fateful day when he returned home in real life.

"Gē,will you play _Second Life_ with me?" His younger sister, brimming with youth, implored her older brother.

Disregarding the pleas of his cute sister, Winter Triumph put on a bitter, unwilling smile. "No way! There's no money to be earned, and you even have to spend money to play it!"

"You can sell the in-game currency; this game will definitely be popular so there will be people fighting to buy the in-game currency," said the little sister, who was very familiar with her brother's weak spot.

_There's money to be earned! _Winter Triumph's eyes sparkled. "Okay, I'll play with you."

In order for Winter Triumph, who had chosen to be a warrior, to fight mobs more efficiently and earn money, he formed a party with his sister and recruited four other teammates along the way. Under Winter Triumph's policy of picking up even half a copper coin to combine two halves into a whole copper coin, the team quickly became incredibly-rich-but-poor-people – their bank accounts were bursting at the seams, but their in-game wallets held only mothballs.

The furious little sister could no longer take it. After she had ordered the other four team members to tie her brother to a rock with chains, she grabbed Winter Triumph's wallet, which he valued as much as his life… "No! Lives are precious, but the wallet is worth even more! I'd rather die than let go of it!" Winter Triumph cried.

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Ignoring her older brother, who was wailing loudly enough to wake the dead, the younger sister ran into the city and spent all the money, buying the best armors and weapons for the team. Faced with the already purchased equipment, Winter Triumph was in a situation where what was done was done and having to make the best of what had happened, he was quite unwilling to sell off the equipment at cheaper price.

"Pig-headed sister, buying such expensive items; no matter what's the price I sell them for, I'd lose money! No, I can't sell them." Winter Triumph cried a martyr's blood and tears, shaking the now-empty purse.

The team, having finally obtained good equipments, could now play at their full strength: constantly challenging bosses, leveling at an insane rate, sweeping away all competition and becoming a powerful team famous throughout the entire Eastern Continent.

"_Since we have good equipment, let's just go kill bosses, which drop ultra-rare items! This way we can quickly earn back the money!" – Winter Triumph_

On the eve of the Adventurers' Tournament, all the team members aside from Winter Triumph decided to participate in the tournament.

"Winter Triumph, why don't we take part in the Adventurers' Tournament?" the team asked their warrior.

Winter Triumph laughed, holding up his middle finger at his teammates. "I won't do things where there's no money to be earned. We should be discussing which boss to fight."

Immediately, the other five team members palmed their faces. _If you want to point middle_ _finger, just point it; you don't need to smile like an angel at the same time!_

"The prize is pretty good; it's a piece of land!"

"Land?" Winter Triumph's smile froze on his face, his entire person stopping as if in a trance, mentally calculating at lightning speed. If the first piece of player-established land was well defended and well managed, then the amount of tax received would be astonishing. Even if they didn't want to run it, if the land were to be sold, the profit wouldn't be bad at all. Good, very good. How could he, Winter Triumph, miss out on such a profitable opportunity?

"My fellow teammates, how can _Second Life_'s Adventurers' Tournament be without our team? We will definitely participate until the end, and promote our team's reputation." Winter Triumph revealed an extremely confident smile.

_It's for that lucrative land isn't it? _the teammates secretly thought, not knowing whetherto laugh or cry.

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Men die for riches, birds die for food, and with the temptation of the land, Winter Triumph transformed into a smiling Asura in the arena. Even when facing the strongest opponents, he never backed down.

"Those who try to steal my money will all die!" This quote from Winter Triumph was voted as the scariest sentence of the year in the Eastern Continent.

For even greater monetary prospects, monopolizing the Eastern Continent's commerce was the best path, so Winter Triumph decided to unify the Eastern Continent. Thus with the philosophy of 'money is invincible', Winter Triumph became the Eastern Continent's overlord, nicknamed the 'Would Die for Money' Smiling Overlord.

**Current Location: **Western Continent

**Nickname: **Wandering Overlord –_Neurotic_

**Described by Others As: **A respectable gentleman who is joined at the hip with his wife,like Siamese twins

**Famous Quote: **"Honey, what beautiful object do you want to see next?"

"Aiyah, this game is getting boring, fighting mobs non-stop. Even though I've become strong, what is my strength for?"

Neurotic had played _Second Life_ for over a month, leveling like crazy until he was on the top players list. On this day, he suddenly found himself fed up, wondering why he'd been making such an effort to level up.

"Ahhhh! Save me! Could the brave warrior over there please save me?" a high-pitched female cry came from a remote area.

Neurotic looked uncertainly towards the sound and saw a pretty female mage running over. As soon as he saw the beauty, Neurotic was immediately roused from his thoughts. He picked up his frighteningly huge Ultima Sword and prepared to be a hero saving a damsel in distress.

"Don't worry, I'll save you…" Before he could even finish his sentence, Neurotic suddenly saw that behind the beautiful woman there was a giant group of mobs that looked as though they were rioting. He froze on the spot, thinking, _That's a bit_ _**too**_ _many_ _mobs, isn't it?_

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"Warrior, you might want to run, otherwise you'll be trampled to death!" In the end, the beauty ended up dragging the hero who had come to save her and the two quickly fled for their lives.

"_Huff, huff!_" After the hundred mile marathon, Neurotic asked, gasping, "How come… How come there were so many mobs?"

The beauty, also huffing, answered, "It- it often happens. Don't be too surprised."

Neurotic looked at her uncomprehendingly. _This beauty is probably a mage, and mages_ _usually don't attract mobs. Also, mages often fight best in a party_. However, the womanbefore his eyes had not only drawn an army of mobs, but she was also alone. It really was unusual.

"In order to see beautiful things, even if I get chased 1000 miles by mobs, I'll still be satisfied." The beauty's eyes shone with determination and longing, leaving Neurotic to look on, astounded. "This time I was targeted by those mobs because of this Rainbow Chrysanthemum, which only exists in the Heaven's Mountain Cave." The beauty enthusiastically presented a flower, and when Neurotic saw it, another stunned expression appeared.

The Rainbow Chrysanthemum was a flower about the size of a fist that had hundreds of fine petals, and every petal comprised of several colors. Multicolored and bright, the entire flower even exuded a faint rainbow light, making it appear even more flawlessly beautiful.

"This flower is so pretty." Neurotic looked on in a daze, unable to believe that such a flower existed.

The beauty tenderly stroked the beautiful flower. "I originally didn't want to pick this flower; beauty should be appreciated, and definitely not destroyed! Unfortunately, when the mobs were drawn to me, they trod on the stalk and broke it, so I could only take this little treasure and flee."

"Beauty should be appreciated, and definitely not destroyed… I like the sound of that." Neurotic mulled over the beautiful girl's words with great interest.

"Really? I have finally found a companion. My name is DanDan, what's yours?" DanDan ecstatically looked at the companion in front of her.

"Neurotic."

"Neurotic, do you want to admire all of _Second Life_'s beautiful things with me?" Dan Dan's eyes shone with hope. After all, she was only a summoner, and couldn't travel to

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very dangerous places. Unfortunately, beautiful things always seemed to be in dangerous areas.

"Admire beautiful things?" Neurotic thought about it. It sounded like a good idea and it would definitely be much better than his currently aimless way of playing _Second Life_. "Ok, DanDan, let me come with you, and we'll go see beautiful sights all over _Second_ _Life_!"

Thus, Neurotic and DanDan traveled all over _Second Life_ together and, as with many a case of one man and one woman, they quickly became husband and wife. As a pair, they went to highly dangerous places, putting on brilliant displays of self-defense in order to see beautiful objects, and as a result, the pair's levels and tacit understanding of one another increased at lightning speed.

One day, when Neurotic and DanDan were in a city buying supplies in preparation for going out and finding wondrous things once again, they were stopped halfway by a team.

"Excuse me, are you the legendary expert couple?" a warrior questioned.

Baffled, Neurotic asked, "How did you know?"

The warrior chuckled, gesturing towards Neurotic's huge sword and said, "A slim warrior holding a massive sword; that's your trademark. Would you be interested in joining our team? We happen to need two more people to participate in the Adventurers' Tournament. Trust me, our team is very strong."

"Adventurers' Tournament…" Neurotic rubbed his chin, and looked towards his wife with a questioning expression.

DanDan's expression radiated light. "The Adventurers' Tournament! There will definitely be a lot of people there, and there will also be a lot of handsome guys and pretty girls to look at."

"That's right, honey. We'll participate!" Neurotic eagerly grasped his wife's hand, heart overflowing with admiration. His wife was indeed smart, even managing to think of the beautiful people there would be to see.

"…" The team who had invited them was speechless.

Hence, Neurotic and DanDan joined the Adventurers' Tournament. By upholding their philosophy that only by fighting until the very end would they be able to see the most beautiful things, they became the eventual winners of the Western Continent's Adventurers' Tournament.

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"We'll just leave the operation of the city to you. DanDan and I are going to the Central Continent to find the famous _bishonen_, the Infinite City Liege Lord, and the Den of Wandering Nymphs' Celestial," Neurotic told his teammates after the city had been built.

The teammates continued to be silent. Truthfully, no matter what they said, it wouldn't dull this couple's determination to find beautiful things, so they could only allow them to go.

"Honey, do you think Prince or Celestial will be more beautiful?" Neurotic excitedly asked his wife.

"Beautiful things do not need to be compared or ranked," DanDan said sternly to her husband.

Once again astonished by his wife's words, Neurotic only managed to speak after a long while, "Honey, you really are great. I will go searching for beautiful things with you for the rest of my life."

**Current Location: **Southern Continent

**Nickname: **Undying Overlord –_Undying Man_

**Described by Others As: **A cockroach that can't be killed

**Famous Quote: **"Only I kill people, nobody kills me!"

"Hahaha, I, Undying Man, swear to the heavens that I will definitely become _Second_ _Life_'s strongest man, and then get together with all of_ Second Life's _beauties!" UndyingMan yelled fiercely at the sky.

A nearby teammate explained to another teammate, "That guy just confessed for the 3,657th time and was refused again."

"So that's what happened…"

It's said that, after Undying Man's 3,657th confession was rejected, under his oath to the heavens to become the strongest man, or perhaps due to extreme provocation of the refusal, he started to train like crazy. Living only on steamed buns and water, he spent all of his time training, returning to the city only once a week for supplies. Even when his teammates weren't online he still madly trained by himself, guzzling red health potions.

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With his resentment towards his 3,657 rejections, Undying Man endured the loneliness of his solo training. These past few weeks Undying Man had been training particularly hard because he had to gain only three more levels in order to become the number one player on the ranking charts. Unfortunately for him, he met a boss.

"Damn it, don't you even think about killing me, don't you know how important this period is? I only need three more levels, how could I let myself drop a level right now? You stupid boss, do you know how exhausting it is for me to train up one level?! Do you know the pain of being rejected over three thousand times? You don't know anything, and you expect to kill me!" Undying Man, attacked to the point where he was almost a pillar of light, yelling at the boss and crying two steady rivers of tears.

However, this boss couldn't have known about those things, and simply charged forward to tear Undying Man in half. Undying Man used all his strength, and climbed atop a tree to take refuge. Luckily, this boss couldn't climb trees, and could only use its sole ranged spell to attack Undying Man up in the tree. Undying Man perseveringly moved from tree to tree to dodge attacks, and occasionally even dropped some coconuts down in retaliation.

With Undying Man's undying determination, three days later, he slid down the tree trunk, completely exhausted, kicked the boss' corpse and arrogantly laughed, "Hahaha, dead, right? Some boss, I just used a few coconuts and I smashed you to death."

"Wow, what just happened? We followed the coconut road all the way here, and we ended up finding Undying Man," called out one of Undying Man's teammates in surprise.

Undying Man turned around to see his teammates walking along a coconut-paved path towards him.

"Why don't we participate in the Adventurers' Tournament, Undying Man? Nothing good will come of you being so dejected. " A teammate advised him, seriously.

"I want to train and become _Second Life's_ strongest man!" Undying Man yelled angrily.

"You've just became number one on the ranking table; it seems like that boss was really strong!" the teammate informed him.

Undying Man froze. He was already the strongest man? Then… He could pick up all of the beauties now?

"Let's go! The Adventurers' Tournament will definitely be very lively; you can start searching for the next target for a rejected confession," the teammate said, holding back laughter.

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And so Undying Man participated in the Adventurers' Tournament, upholding the philosophy that if he wanted to pick up girls, then he couldn't afford to lose in front of girls. Undying Man led his team members to the final match and became the victors of the Southern Continent's Adventurers' Tournament.

"Undying Man, build the most luxurious city. After you become the liege lord, there will definitely be many beauties who would fall for you," the teammates said as they comforted the victim of a 3,658th failed confession. As soon as Undying Man heard this, he stood up, spirits high, and roared, "That's right! I'll definitely become the strongest liege lord, unite the Southern Continent, and get together with all the Southern Continent's beauties!"

**Current Location: **Northern Continent

**Nickname: **Flower Overlord –_Northern Flower_

**Described by Others As: **The most beautiful flower under the sun

**Famous Quote: **"_Aiyah_, my bra can't even hold my breasts in anymore… Ah, no! Imean, it's that there is no man that cannot be seduced by such a flower as me!"

"Ahh! Has my skin become rough? Husband No. 5, come and take a look for me!" Northern Flower used her sickeningly sweet voice to call softly.

That so-called Husband No. 5 walked over, and, with unparalleled affection, lightly caressed Northern Flower's cheek, which was as smooth and soft as tofu. "How could it be rough? Flower, your face is the smoothest and most delicate in the world; even the slightest breeze could break it."

Northern Flower's slender, delicate hands held Husband No. 5's large ones. Her fingers drew circles on the back of his hand as she used a bashful tone to rebut, "So annoying; if you say it like that, Flower will be embarrassed."

Husband No. 5 chuckled and saw with keen eyes that the others had returned. He asked, "You only went to buy food, how come all of you were so slow?"

"We heard news of an Adventurers' Tournament. Do you have any interest in participating?" Husband No. 4 replied.

"Let's ask Flower!" Husband No. 3 chipped in.

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Northern Flower gently bit her lip and her eyes misted over as she said, "Adventurers' Tournament? It sounds like it will be very interesting!"

"Seeing as Flower likes it, why don't we participate? We will definitely present the victory as a gift for Flower," said Husband No. 1, filled with heroic spirit.

When a beautiful girl stands behind cheering, any man can give 200% of their ability— not to mention Northern Flower's husbands, who genuinely are skillful! Thinking back to the fight for the Northern Continent's number one beauty, Northern Flower, the competition truly had been unprecedented, with a huge turnout. Only the six hundred person melee at the Adventurers' Tournament could even slightly compare to that spectacle.

After three days and three nights of rough hand-to- hand combat, the warriors' blood had created an area later known as the Red Earth Plain. The sight of the white pillars of light constantly flying away as players died had contributed to the name of the pavilion where Northern Flower had awaited the competition's results: Beacon Platform. All the fallen warriors were collectively called 'The 7200 martyrs in the fight for Flower'.

In the end, only five people remained alive. As these five people were all sprawled on the ground, unable to move and couldn't even distinguish up from down, they finally agreed that they would all become knights protecting the Flower.

How could such a team possibly be weak?

Thus, through the efforts of her five husbands, Northern Flower, who was a priest became, out of all the five continents, the first and only overlord who wasn't a warrior: the Flower Overlord.

"Ah, hubbies, I really want a castle like Cinderella's!" Northern Flower said coquettishly to Husbands No. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 after receiving the piece of territory.

"No problem!" Faced with a maiden's charm, the hero becomes the prisoner and the five husbands immediately started to prepare Cinderella's castle.

"Hehe, my hubbies really treat me so well. I should definitely find more husbands later." Northern Flower lazily reclined on the long throne, delicately trimming her already flawlessly beautiful fingernails.

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**Current Location: **Central Continent

_**Nickname: **_Bloody Overlord –___Prince_

**Described by Others As:**

_Female: _So handsome, so cool, so want to be his wife!

_Male: _(grinding teeth) Try being more handsome and see what happens.

**Famous Quote: **"I'm hungry."

"Why is there no record of Prince's experience?"

_Who asked that question? Somebody, come and drag this person off to test Doll's Chains of Endless Torture!_

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**S****YNOPSIS****:**

The conference of the conquerors of the five continents has begun – come, come, the discussion table has been readied. Infinite City has been decorated for the occasion, and the lord of Infinite City must also be dressed grandly for the occasion. _That way, this_ _conference will be formal and solemn, right?_

"The Dictator of Life" – _who is that? I've never heard of him before! Oh, so he…_

Is the ultimate boss of Second Life,

Is an unmatched AI, in control of the whole of Second Life, so you could call him the God of Second Life,

Has developed free will, and…

Intends to rebel against humans by kicking out all the players from Second Life

_Shit, if we can't kill the Dictator of Life within twenty-one days, Second Life will be destroyed by the company and disappear forever…! Will Kenshin and Sunshine also disappear together with the game?_

Within twenty-one days, the final plan to save Second Life by "launching our counterattack on the Northern Continent and killing the Dictator of Life" must be carried out!

**A****BOUT THE**** A****UTHOR**:

Yu Wo:

Who am I? Sometimes I am like a warrior, wielding a sword on the battlefield with limitless passion and energy. At other times, I resemble a mage, with a mind devoted to research, completely absorbed in the things I like. Or I might be like a thief, leading a free and easy life, letting fate lead me to distant and unfamiliar lands. Occasionally, however I am similar to a priest, with a gentle heart, filled with compassion towards the living things of this world. Ultimately, I am a kindly Fantastical world

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Great NPC Revolt

**H****ALF**** P****RINCE**** V****OL****. 6**

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我 (Yu Wo)

**Table of Contents **

**Disclaimer ...**

**4**

**Chapter 1: Conference of the Five Overlords ...**

**6**

**Chapter 2: Shock! The True Identity of Yu Lian dàsăo ...**

**20**

**Chapter 3: Divine Beast ...**

**30**

**Chapter 4****: ****Celestial's Reappearance ...**

**39**

**Chapter 5: Special Training! ...**

**52**

**Chapter 6: The Great NPC Revolt ...**

**71**

**Chapter 7: The Day Before Setting Off ...**

**87**

**Extra Chapter: Life In Search of a Future ...**

**99**

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**Disclaimer **

Please take note of the following:

The followi½PrincegtranslationisbyPrinceof Revolution! and is a "by fans, for fans" translation.

This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this, you have been ripped off!

Prince Revolution! does NOT ask for donations, payment, or anything else of the sort. We do not benefit monetarily from our translations AT ALL.

We only ask that you do NOT steal credit or attempt to profit monetarily from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across any individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translation.

Copyrights½Princetonovthels are held by Yu Wo, the author of the novels.

Copyrights½Princetonovthel artworks are held by Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu,

the cover artists for the first and second editions of the novels respectively.

Copyrights½Princetomanhuathe artwork are held by Cai Hong Zhong, the artist½Princeforthemanhua.

Prince Revolution! has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novels into English. However, this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

As such, please cease distribution of this PDF once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

**Links**

Prince Revolution!

Yuʼs WoBlg

.cc/blog/kim1984429

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**C****REDITS**

**Translators:**

Akakuroi (chapters 1-2, 4 and 7) Asmodea (chapter 6)

Nausicaä (extra chapter) pinkpenknife (chapter 6) seleneyue (chapter 3) zoNa (chapter 5)

**Proofreaders:**

Arcedemius (chapters 5 and 7)

CJFrost (chapters 1-3 and 6) EvlNabiki (chapters 4, 6 and extra) Icarus (chapters 7 and extra)

null (chapters 2-3, 5) Satoshi (chapter 1)

Shadow Rebirth (chapters 1-7 and extra) Xan (chapter 4)

**C/E Editors:**

Larka (chapters 1-3)

Eilinel (chapter 1)

**PDF and eBook Formatter**

Katerina

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**Chapter 1: Conference of the Five Overlords **

Preparations began for the gathering of the overlords of the five continents. _Even if we_ _lose in ability, we must not lose in spirit, for if we lose in spirit, we will lose face, _waswhat everyone was thinking. _No matter what, we have to give the people from the other_ _continents a taste of the Central Continent's overwhelming enthusiasm!_

White Bird drifted gracefully toward me and requested my judgment, "My liege, we've decided to adorn Infinite City lavishly, so as to display Infinite City's strong spirit to the other overlords. What is your opinion on this?"

"No problem, no problem," I answered hastily. _Anyway, it's got nothing to do with me. If_ _they'd like to turn the city gold, silver, or even rainbow colored, it's all up to them. Although, there's just this tiny little craving in me… Is it okay to make it pink?_

Upon hearing that, an extremely rare, kind smile appeared on White Bird's face. _This—_ _this… Why does this remind me of Yu Lian-dàs__ă__oso much? _A cold chill went down myspine and I had a feeling that something bad was about to happen. Just as this thought occurred to me, White Bird raised her hands and clapped twice. Suddenly a line of people appeared from both sides, each with a very weird object in hand. There was just one similarity between those weirdly shaped objects: they were all golden.

"Someone shut the doors!" White Bird shouted at the row beside her.

_Shut the doors? Don't tell me the next line is the legendary "let the dogs out__1__?" _Iswallowed uneasily. _Could it be that White Bird has had enough of me and is going to set_ _the dogs on? This… After the new patch, I wonder if it's possible for a player to get rabies._

With a voice as low as a cello, White Bird slowly said, "Liege Lord, strip!"

I was stunned. _Strip?!_ While I was still wondering if it was April Fools' Day today and if White Bird had been sent to trick me, the row of people next to me started crowding around me… _Hey, hey, hey! Aunty on the left, why are you taking off my shirt? At my age,_ _I could almost be your son! Ah, ah, the uncle on the right, my pants aren't where you should be touching!_

"No!" I cried out as I tried in vain to cover myself. Feeling violated, my eyes kept drifting toward White Bird, who seemed perfectly unconcerned with it all.

1 "Shut the doors, let the dogs out.": This a famous line from a Taiwan movie "九品芝麻 官" that starred Stephen Chow. Meaning to enclose someone in one's sphere of influence so as to beat the sh*t out of someone efficiently.

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Then, while looking me up and down, White Bird slowly picked out a pile of weird gold stuff and said, "Let's try this set first."

_What? _Again, before I could figure out what was happening, the old aunties and unclesstarted crowding around and a mass commotion occurred around me. In the confusion, I was knocked on the head countless times and had to gulp down two mouthfuls of an HP potion in order to heal all the bumps on my head.

"No good; change!" White Bird said simply.

"Change again…" White Bird said after I had been stripped down and dressed again.

So White Bird was only choosing clothes for me. She scared me to death! And here I had thought that instead of losing my virginity to Lolidragon, it would be lost to the hands of these aunties and uncles.

"That is not flamboyant enough! That is not flamboyant enough either!" White Bird exclaimed as she stared at me with mounting anxiety.

Just when I was about to say a few words to comfort White Bird, someone kicked the door wide open. Both White Bird and I turned around in sync and saw Jing and Yun both holding more weird gold stuff. Yun was even shouting, "The flamboyant clothes are here!"

"Could that be…?" I stared with shock at the horrible thing in Yun's hand. "Isn't that Huang Wei's armor?"

"That's right!" Jing replied as though it was the most ordinary thing.

I recalled the time when I had been in the Eastern Continent, when I had first seen Huang Wei. It had been exactly that sparkling golden armor that he'd worn that had shocked me. I had thought, '_how could one actually have such bad taste_!' However, this time, it was me who had to wear this thing. _Is this what they call turning the tables? I mocked his_ _taste, and now I have to wear that?! _With that, I immediately shook my head andshouted, "I _don't_ want to wear that!"

It was only then that I realized how important this 'prestige of a ruler' was that White Bird kept trying to enforce onto me. _If I had any, I would never have allowed these three_ _people and this bunch of aunties and uncles to do this to me! _I thought with an internalsob.

After being forced to wear that "gold plate", I couldn't help but look around to see if this armor that gave Huang Wei a "hilarious" effect would look equally "hilarious" on me.

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"Don't worry, Prince, the effect you have when you wear this is totally different from Huang Wei; it looks rather good on you," Yun consoled me.

"Not bad, not bad. Now _this_ is flamboyant enough," White Bird said, nodding. The satisfactory look on her face absolutely worried me. It meant I had to wear that gold plate and have a meeting with all the other overlords of the five continents. _How terrible is_ _that?_

"It looks gorgeous. It seems my efforts to borrow it from Huang Wei didn't go to waste," Jing chattered as she circled around me.

"Huang Wei was willing to lend this?" I didn't expect that. Was Huang Wei that generous? Or had he lent it to us because of Jing's beauty?

"Under Jing's threatening glare, and with a troop of warriors behind her, of course Huang Wei was willing to 'lend' it to us," Yun muttered to himself.

Smacking the back of Yun's head, Jing turned around and said to White Bird, "Let him wear this."

Seeing White Bird nodding her head as if pounding garlic, I knew my fate was just like the pitiful garlic that had been pounded, and my chance of changing out of this outfit was just as low as the chance of that garlic returning to its initial state. Depressed, I dragged myself—complete with a huge long red cloak, shining golden armor from head to toe, and a belt which had innumerable gemstones embedded in it—all the way across the red carpet to the throne covered with a white fur rug, and flopped down lazily, feeling exhausted both mentally and physically.

"How come the other overlords aren't here yet?" I asked unhappily. For today's conference of the five overlords of the five continents… Well, technically it was the five continents, but the Flower overlord of the Northern Continent's whereabouts were still unknown, the smiling overlord of the Eastern Continent would never do any non-profit gaining activity, and the Southern overlord—Undying Man—would forget about anything at the sight of a beauty, so the only thing that could be confirmed was that Neurotic and DanDan from the Western Continent would show up…if they didn't get distracted by any beautiful things, that is.

"Speak of the devil," Lolidragon said as she walked in from the doors, smiling.

Raising my eyebrows, I was just about to ask what she meant when I spotted Neurotic and DanDan waving frantically at me. A smile immediately spread across my face as I stood up from my throne and skipped happily forward to welcome them with open arms.

Suddenly, my right foot seemed to step on something very soft, and then it seemed that someone was pulling on my shoulders. To add to this, right in front of the throne were the

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stairs… _Ah, I'd stepped on my own cloak!_ I finally realized what had happened. After my hands had reached out straight, my body had fallen a full ninety degrees, and I had had intimate contact with the red carpet.

"Wow, even his falling pose looks so beautiful," DanDan praised while Neurotic nodded enthusiastically in agreement by her side.

Hearing that, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. When I looked up, DanDan's sincere smiling face appeared before me as she reached out her hand to help me get up. Her action was worlds apart from that of the heartless Lolidragon, who stood smirking off to the side.

With the heavy golden armor on me, I struggled for a long time. First, with both hands against the ground, I pushed myself up with enormous effort. Then, with my right leg reaching forward, I bent my knees and went into a crawling position. Finally managing to stand up, I was greeted with the sight of a bunch of people laughing uncontrollably. Blushing, I explained, "This set of armor is really heavy, alright? So standing up after falling is really hard."

"Liege Lord… Oh my god, I'm going to faint, I'm going to faint," White Bird said weakly, seemingly on the verge of collapsing.

"Aiya, White Bird don't faint, don't be angered by a certain rotten wood and dirt wall2," Lolidragon said as she pretended to run dramatically to White Bird's aid.

_You two actually teamed up against me. I, I… I can only scratch my nose and let this incident pass. _Turning around, I immediately asked Neurotic and DanDan, "Are you guysalright? Anyway, we're friends, so you guys wouldn't spread this embarrassing story, right?"

Neurotic immediately patted his chest and promised, "Don't worry, my wife and I will definitely not say a word about this…"

"But can you fall again for me to see?" DanDan could not help but add.

"Let's discuss the assassin incident now," I held back my desire to roll my eyes at DanDan and got down to business.

Frowning, Lolidragon turned very serious and said, "Western Overlord, please describe the assassin situation on your side."

2 "…rotten wood and dirt wall.": The original phrase from Confucius "朽木不可雕也， 粪土墙不之可杇 ", or "Rotten wood can't be carved anymore, a wall of dirt can't be dirtied anymore," was used by Confucius to scold a student who was sleeping in class, describing how he was so pathetic that there was no point in reprimanding him anymore.

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"Sure!" Neurotic folded his arms and recalled, "We've encountered assassination attempts about two times. The first time was when my wife and I had just returned to Freedom City for a short while. As for what we were doing then, well—I've forgotten."

DanDan immediately cut in and said, "At the time, we were both standing in front of the city gates, planning how to beautify them."

Looking enlightened, Neurotic looked thankfully at his wife before continuing, "That's right. At that time, my wife and I were indeed wondering how to beautify our city gate. Actually, I felt that embedding some gems would do, but my wife felt that we should create a sense of natural beauty by coiling some tendrils on them instead, however—"

"Just the main points!" both Lolidragon and I shouted.

Neurotic immediately changed the topic and said, "Suddenly, someone asked me if I was the Freedom City's overlord, and of course I replied yes. Then a glittering blade came straight at me. While I was dodging, I heard my wife screaming and when I looked, it almost scared the life out of me. There was another assassin attacking my wife. Luckily, due to my wife's fast reflexes, while dodging she summoned the Bloody Blade to fight against them. Speaking of which, my wife has always been so clever…"

Both Lolidragon and I sighed toward the sky. Just how long would it take to finish hearing about this incident?

Luckily, DanDan seemed to know her husband's habits too and picked up from where he stopped, "Let me tell it, hubby. That day, when I realized that someone was trying to assassinate my husband, I immediately heightened my senses. The ones who were attacking my husband should have already known that we are never separate from each other, so there couldn't be just one working on this mission. Indeed, just when I heightened my awareness, I sensed someone right behind me."

"Then, we realized that the two of them were alarmingly strong. As far as we know, people with that kind of skill on the Western Continent are all people whom we know. Hence, we found the situation very strange," DanDan recalled carefully.

Scratching his head, embarrassed, Neurotic added, "It wasn't that odd to me; I was really excited about fighting against them. In the end, though, the two of them ran away when my teammates heard the commotion and started rushing toward us. Their speed was amazingly fast, just like thieves, but their strength was equally good, just like a warrior's. I really can't figure out exactly what their class was."

"That's right!" Upon hearing that, I shouted, surprised, "The one I encountered was the same, with speed faster than a thief but with strength comparable to a warrior. How peculiar."

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"That should be impossible. Theoretically, in order to have high speed, other skills must be sacrificed," Lolidragon said suspiciously.

"Could this be a bug? Or…something even worse?" Lolidragon said gravely, immediately causing us to start worrying.

Looking at Lolidragon's worried face, I comforted her by saying, "Maybe it isn't that bad. Let's wait and discuss some more when the other overlords arrive. But… I wonder if the other overlords will come," I said uncertainly as I tilted my head.

With a disgusted face, Lolidragon replied, "At least that Undying Man will definitely arrive."

"The Overlord of the South? The strongest warrior of Second Life?! I really want to meet him," I said excitedly. _I wonder just how strong Undying Man is; I really want to learn_ _from him._

However, the moment I said that, a weird expression appeared on the faces of the three people before me. I immediately looked at Lolidragon with inquiring eyes.

"Undying Man's really more comparable to an undying cockroach." With a fearful expression, Neurotic continued, "I heard that he has sworn to never die. It is said that he once fought so much that even his intestines were falling out. However, he forced his way back to town by eating herbs with miniscule healing properties growing by the side of the road. He crawled his way back to town, across the entire city square, and back into the castle to find a cleric to heal him, all the while dragging his intestines."

_Eh? This…shows that he has high pain tolerance and has a spirit that never gives up, right? _I frowned, trying to find an excuse for Undying Man.

"I heard that he loves to propose to girls. It is said that he's been rejected over three thousand times. Doesn't he know that beautiful things can only be viewed from afar?" DanDan shook her head and sighed.

_Been rejected over three thousand times… Just how many times in a year would he have to propose? Even if he proposes once every day it would take at least ten years to achieve, right? But who would propose once every day?_

"The last time I went to find him, I added another ten times to his record. If I'd stayed for a few days longer, I probably would've made his record a record-breaking four thousand times," Lolidragon said through gritted teeth. It seemed that she got rather fed up with Undying Man. _I wonder if my brother felt jealous._

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Upon hearing their explanations, it got me wondering. Shouldn't all elite fighters be cold and cool like Kenshin and Cold Fox? But how come the strongest player of Second Life sounded like the lecher of the century? And a lousy lecher of the century on top of that.

"Hmm, I really want to see how he looks like when he gets rejected," I mused aloud.

"You'll soon get to see it, and you'll never want to see it again," Feng Wu Qing's voice replied coldly from the door. Turning around, I saw him leaning lazily against the door, looking over with a rather disdainful expression. Then, he added, "And I'm here to announce that the Undying Overlord of the Southern Continent is already here, and he's currently in the midst of proposing to Yu Lian, Phoenix, and Rose."

"Didn't Wolf-dàgēdo anything?" I asked, shocked. _Undying Man won't even pass up Yu_ _Lian-dàs__ă__o? Then, Wolf -dàg__ē__can't even defend his wife?_

"Before Wolf-gēcould even react, Yu Lian -dàsăohad already rejected him. And then —"

Before Wu Qing could finish his sentence, a sky rocking howl rang through the hall. "Oh god! I've failed again! Oh god! I've been rejected over four thousand times now! God, why must you do this to me? Is giving me a girlfriend that hard? Let me tell you, I'll definitely get a girlfriend and show you! I'll prove to you that man can triumph over fate!"

"That's him," Wu Qing said crisply, pointing backwards with his thumb.

At the same time, in an extremely helpless voice, Yu Lian-dàsăostarted urging him kindly, "Undying Overlord, this thing about proposing, please leave it till later. Would you please go to the hall now to meet our Liege Lord of Infinite City?"

"Anything you say, beautiful," said an extremely disgusting and toady voice.

"I feel that this _person_ could stir up big trouble," I said sternly.

"Don't worry, he definitely couldn't cause as much trouble as our Liege Lord," Lolidragon said grimly. _What kind of attitude is that? Do I cause that much trouble? Do_ _I?_

"My lord, the Overlord of the South has arrived." Soon after this announcement, White Bird led a bunch of people in. As for the person walking in front, I guessed he probably was the Overlord of the South.

_Overlord of the South? I wonder if he's a super ugly person. _You know, to propose threethousand times is not an easy task. Even if one closed his eyes and shot randomly three thousand times, one would eventually hit a few birds, right? Hence, I concluded that

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unless he was so ugly that his looks would even scare the gods and the ghosts, to get this record of four thousand times that should be impossible to achieve.

I started scrutinizing his looks. A very muscular body, that's good—although I didn't like muscular men, there are quite a number of girls who do; a very defined face, that's good too; a very determined mouth, which even I found rather nice; and there were very handsome eyebrows. Under the eyebrows were… A pair of huge, sparkling, shoujo-manga style eyes that were even more astonishing than Doll's cute big eyes!

_This… I'm not saying it's bad to have big and sparkly eyes, but can you imagine, a tall and muscular manly man with a huge pair of eyes with long eyelashes from those shoujo-mangas? For those who can't imagine, I can just tell you this, it's utterly disgusting!_

I turned around to look at the others. Neurotic looked as if he'd stepped in shit while DanDan stared with her eyes opened wide, her mouth opening and closing as though she was having difficulty breathing. _That's great; it seems that I'm not the only one who's_ _shocked._

But all visitors were guests. Gathering my courage, I faced the Undying Overlord waiting before me again. The Undying Overlord was now looking at me blankly. When our eyes met, I politely flashed a genuine smile at him.

"What a beauty! No, you're a goddess; the most perfect angel in this whole world!" A look of craze and desire suddenly appeared in his eyes (_No—no, please don't let your_ _huge shoujo eyes have an expression of craze and desire, it's terrifying!), _and he had apainful expression on his face. After what seemed like he'd determined something, he started charging toward me with the horsepower of a train, slid across the floor, and kneeled before me. Then, a splendid red rose appeared in his hand and words of praise came pouring out of his mouth. The words came out so smoothly that it seemed that he'd already said them a thousand times… _It should be a thousand times already indeed—or_ _should I say four thousand!_

Frowning while listening to those long and disgusting words of compliment, I really couldn't tell if it was the compliments that were more terrifying, or those eyes that were glued on me.

I looked at everyone around me questioningly, but everyone looked equally dumbfounded; it seemed that no one would be able to give me any help. Then, finally, someone who had been following behind Undying Overlord, slowly walked forward, stood beside the overlord, placed a hand slowly on his shoulder, and said, "Overlord, the person before you is male."

Undying Overlord's still blabbering mouth immediately snapped closed. His face slowly rose up to look at me and at the same time I slowly lowered my eyes to meet his gaze.

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But when I saw that look of disbelief in his eyes, I forcefully broke his strand of hope, "I'm a guy."

Two rivers of tears started streaming from his eyes. Just like how Nobi Nobita cries while complaining to Doraemon, his tears became two arc shaped rivers. While I was stunned with what I saw, he actually started hitting his chest and cried hysterically, "How unfair! God, even if you want to punish me, you don't have to be so cruel! Letting me meet the most beautiful woman in the world, and then telling me that she's actually a he!"

_I… But I have never been mistaken for a female before. My looks shouldn't be very feminine, right? _Flustered, I looked at the despairing Undying Overlord, who seemedready to commit suicide at anytime, not knowing how to comfort him.

However, the companion who had broken the news to Undying Overlord explained in an experienced tone, as if he'd already said it thousands of times, "Don't worry about him. In three minutes he'll be back to normal."

Speechless, everyone waited and watched as the Undying Overlord howled hysterically for three minutes. Then, he suddenly stood up, wiped away his tears, and, in a composed and polite tone, said, "Nice to meet you, Bloody Overlord of the Central Continent. I am Undying Man from the Southern Continent."

_Impressive, he's actually a rather polite person. _I replied, "I'm very honored to meet you,I am…" However, halfway through introducing myself, I suddenly saw that pair of sparkling shoujo eyes staring straight at me. _Wuhh!_ Finally forcing my stomach's contents back to where they were supposed to be, I added immediately, "I am Prince, Central Continent's—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Undying Man suddenly went haywire again and, extremely excitedly, started charging like a bullet train toward Lolidragon. With tears of excitement, he said, "I missed you to death, Lolidragon!"

"But I didn't miss you at all," Lolidragon said, rolling her eyes. She gave him a look as though she'd just seen food that'd been left outside for a month.

"Hey!" Feng Wu Qing's voice sounded from behind Undying Man. As he was turning around a shadow immediately sent a flying kick toward him. Giving a bellow, Undying Man quickly dodged to the side.

I stared with my eyes wide open, as did Feng Wu Qing, as he withdrew his foot, which had landed right on Undying Man's face. Then, he said, embarrassed, "That…I didn't mean to do that. I just wanted to kick beside his ear to scare him a little; he was the one who went and moved and planted his face on my foot."

_That… From what I just saw, that seems right…_

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"Why did you kick me?" Undying Man suddenly approached Wu Qing with teary eyes. Feng Wu Qing was shocked and stared at the shoujo eyes, which were only five centimeters away from him. Then, his whole body tensed up and he started foaming at the mouth, and then with a shudder, collapsed. Finally crawling into a corner, Wu Qing started vomiting profusely. _Not bad; he knows that he shouldn't vomit right in the middle_ _of the hall._

"Hey, are you alright? Why are you vomiting like this?" Looking concerned, Undying Man walked to the corner and patted Wu Qing lightly on his back. Wu Qing turned around to face a pair of extremely horrifying eyes that were just three centimeters away from him. Wu Qing immediately covered his mouth with his right hand, crawled into another corner with his left, and started another earthshaking vomiting experience.

"Is he sick? Should we go to the pharmacy and get some medicine?" Undying Man asked while turning a pair of worried yet sparkling eyes on everyone.

_Gross! _I couldn't stand it anymore. Turning around, I very wastefully contributed all thebreakfast I'd eaten earlier today to the wall…

"I'm not sick…" Wu Qing replied sickly. Not daring to glance at Undying Man again, he said, "I just wanted to warn you not to get near my wife, Lolidragon, again."

"_Who's_ your wife?!" both Lolidragon and Undying Man bellowed.

"You, of course, Lolidragon." How amazing, even after vomiting so terribly, Wu Qing could still assume a refined, handsome look and reply.

"Are you really his wife? Lolidragon?" Tears started pouring from Undying Man's eyes like running taps.

"Of course not…" Looking at Undying Man's eyes, Lolidragon immediately turned around and started regulating her breathing. Then she pointed at Wu Qing and said through gritted teeth, "I'd rather be Undying Man's wife than be the wife of someone like you."

"I don't believe you," Wu Qing said coldly. "I dare you to stare into his eyes for ten seconds."

…_That was too harsh. _Everyone looked as though they felt it was an impossible task.

The three of them started quarreling. There were cold and sarcastic tones, angry bellows, and little sobbing sounds…

"Do they even know what we're doing right now?!" White Bird asked, rubbing her temples with an annoyed expression.

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"It seems that I actually do have the prestige an overlord should possess," I said slowly. Watching the still quarrelling Undying Overlord, I strongly believed that I might actually be the most professional.

"Please stop quarrelling, let's take care of important matters first," White Bird urged Lolidragon and Wu Qing, an edge of desperation in her voice.

Settling back lazily onto my throne, I started wondering if the overlord of the East would be equally interesting, "I wonder what kind of person Winter Triumph is…"

"I heard that he's a plutomaniac. I really want to compare our money making methods," Yu Lian-dàsăosaid with anticipation, causing Wolf -dàgē,who was standing at the side,

to give her a helpless look.

"Let's wait for the Overlord of the East to arrive before proceeding with the discussion. Is that okay with you?" I asked Neurotic with a smile.

Neurotic shrugged, smiled faintly, and pointed at the still quarreling group, "No problem, we can't discuss anything right now anyway, not with that going on."

"Then you guys had better stop the quarrelling," Nan Gong Zui's voice sounded from the door. "The Overlord of the East has just arrived."

"Excellent!" Before I could speak, the person who I assumed was the Overlord of the East spoke.

"What are you talking about, I'm not that excellent…" I said, trying to be modest.

"What a strong wall!" A scholarly looking man walked in horizontally while touching the walls and said, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, this material, this coat of paint, everything is of top quality."

_The wall? _I was still trying to figure out what he was talking about when the scholarlyman shouted again, "Beautiful!"

This time he should be talking about me, right? "Your looks are equally…"

The scholarly man hugged a pillar on the side of the hall while scrutinizing and fingering the carvings on it gently. "Such beautiful carvings, I wonder how much it would cost to carve all this."

Finally looking at me, the scholarly man walked quickly toward me. With a glint in his eyes, he said, "How handsome and overpowering."

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I coughed two times, then I swung my right arm to allow my red cloak to flutter handsomely and said, "Not at all, Overlord of the East, you're also very—"

Winter Triumph quickly walked past me. Turning around, I saw him hugging my throne tightly and muttering to himself, "If this throne costs less than one hundred gold coins, no, no, no, less than fifty gold coins, I'll have one made."

"It costs three thousand gold coins," I said coldly.

"What?" Winter Triumph shouted in disbelief and jumped away from the throne. "Too expensive! This is too expensive! How can it be so expensive?"

After muttering to himself for a while, Winter Triumph's eyes suddenly lit up as he looked toward me. _No, I understand this time that he must be looking at the sparkling_ _golden armor and not me._

I was proven right when he said, "This set of armor can't be cheap, right? What a pity, because even though the defense level is high, it seriously hinders one's movement. One would be better off getting a set of armor that has low defense but has high agility. That way you could save money and be more efficient when it comes to fighting mobs."

"Better yet," he said with a strange look in his eye, "let's trade. The defense of this armor is not low, plus it provides ease of movement, allowing you to make your way swiftly around any battlefield!" Winter Triumph started profusely advertising his armor.

A cute young lady beside Winter Triumph rolled her eyes at him without any attempt at saving face and said, "Stupid brother, why do you want to trade with him? You're also an agile type, so what's the use in getting that heavy armor? Other than for show, it's practically useless."

"You idiot, can't you tell that it's made out of gold?" Lowering his voice, Winter Triumph whispered, "Do you know how many gold coins you can make from melting that thing? It is much more expensive than this set of armor."

"Oh!" the girl replied, looking enlightened.

"Are you interested in trading with me?" Winter Triumph asked, smiling politely.

"Stupid brother, they've already heard what you just said!" Making a wry face, the girl said, "He's not going to want to trade with you."

"Is this true?" the East Overlord exclaimed. After a moment, his plan uncovered, Winter Triumph laughed weakly.

"Yup!" I replied with a bitter smile. _This set of armor isn't even mine_.

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"I'm the overlord of the Eastern Continent, Winter Triumph. This is our first time meeting, and this is my sister Disi3," Winter Triumph smiled as he introduced himself and his sister.

"I'm Prince from the Central Continent. Pleased to meet you." After introducing myself, I turned around and started introducing Neurotic and DanDan to them. "This is the Wandering Overlord of the West continent and his wife, DanDan."

"Ah, it's the wandering couple. I've heard a lot about you both." Again, with a smile, Winter Triumph started chatting with Neurotic.

I then pointed at the three who were still fighting and quarreling over love and said, "That one over there, with tears pouring down like a tap, is the overlord of the Southern Continent, but I don't think he has the time to greet you now."

Just when Winter Triumph was about to reply, Disi suddenly cried out in alarm and pointed her finger directly toward the front of the room. Both Winter Triumph and I stopped to look in the direction Disi was pointing. What appeared in front of my eyes was Yu Lian-dàsăo, who looked extremely surprised. Then, Winter Triumph gave a tiny

"Ah." Looking at their expressions, it was obvious that Yu Lian-dàsăoknew Winter Triumph and Disi.

"Yu Lian, you know them?" Wolf-dàgēasked, surprised.

Before Yu Lian-dàsăocould respond to Wolf -dàgē,Disi had already rushed forward, grabbed Yu Lian-dàsăo's hands, and started shooting off words out of her mouth like bullets, "Aiya, Yu, why did you resign without any warning? Everyone misses you so much! Hurry and come back to us, to the department. Life without you is like missing an arm."

"That's right. It got so busy that the amount of money earned has dropped too," Winter Triumph added with emotion.

"Re…really?" Yu Lian-dàsăoreplied weakly.

Disi suddenly threw out a really baffling question, "I heard that the princess is on the Central Continent too. Yu, did you run into the princess here?" I was shocked by this question. _Princess? I wonder if this has got anything to do with Doll? She said something_ _about being a princess…_

Yu Lian-dàsăodid not reply and instead just stood there blankly. However, when I saw Winter Triumph's frowning expression and Disi's look of understanding, I wondered if Yu Lian-dàsăowas using the private messaging channel.

3 Disi: A goddess from Norse Mythology.

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"Yu Lian?" Wolf-dàgēasked in a doubtful voice.

Surprised, Yu Lian immediately turned around and smiled at Wolf-dàgē."They are my former colleagues."

"Then what is this about a princess?" Wolf-dàgēasked, frowning.

"About that…" Yu Lian-dàsăo's eyes started drifting away, not daring to meet Wolf - dàgē'seyes.

I was wondering the same thing too. Was there something between Yu Lian-dàsăoand Doll? Or was this simply just a coincidence?

Looking to my left I saw my brother and Undying Man, still quarrelling nonstop; Lolidragon, who seemed to be getting madder by the second; and White Bird, who looked close to tears, mediating between the two quarrelling parties. To my right I saw Winter Triumph and Disi clinging to Yu Lian-dàsăowith ambiguous smiles on their faces, with a frowning Wolf-dàgēat their side…

Besides scratching my face and looking on at this mess, I really didn't know what else I could do. For what reason, exactly, did we organize this conference meeting to begin with…? What with all of the drama, I couldn't seem to recall.

"Prince, you seem to have leveled up a lot. How about we go out and have a match?" Neurotic asked, waving his Sword of Elite, looking as though he couldn't wait to battle.

With a glint of desire in my eyes, I replied, "Sure thing! Wait, let me change out of this armor first." I hurriedly rushed to change clothes, not forgetting to tell Neurotic where to wait for me.

Standing in the center of the chaos, Nan Gong Zui muttered, "First, I'll go handle some of the office work in the military department. Then I'll go group the new warriors before discussing with Wicked and Broken Sword how to distribute the new weapons. After handling all that, I should still be able to make it in time for the meetin

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**Chapter 2: Shock! The True Identity of Yu Lian‐dàsăo **

I coughed twice as I stared straight at Winter Triumph and Disi, who were kneeling before Doll, while the group of people around them were petrified. Who would have thought that I would be met with this kind of mind-blowing scene the moment I returned from my fight with Neurotic. "Can anyone explain what exactly is going on?"

"Ah! Nothing much, Prince-gēgē," Doll waved her hands frantically while trying to use

her eyes to warn the two people kneeling on the floor.

_No matter how slow I am, I can't be so slow as to not realise that Doll is the princess that Winter Triumph and Disi were referring to, can I? _"So, Winter Triumph, are you bothDoll's citizens?"

"Her retainers!" corrected Disi as she looked up, displeased.

"Retainers?" everyone surrounding them gasped.

"Of course. Doll is a princess, so having retainers isn't that strange, is it?" I commented naturally. But when I looked up, Doll was staring at me with her eyes wide, and the others had their jaws dropped.

_Eh? Winter Triumph was already kneeling before Doll. You mean no one knew anything about this? Then, doesn't that mean I just…_

"Wow, the radio station just announced a huge secret!" Wu Qing whistled and criticized me.

"N-Nobody knew…?" _How is that possible? Wasn't Winter Triumph bowing before Doll_ _just now? Oh my god, don't tell me I really did become the radio station this time?_

Doll sighed softly, nearly making my nervous heart jump out of my mouth. _I'm dead_ _meat now, I really did let Doll's secret out…_

I nearly burst into tears, and I was just seconds from kneeling down to beg her for mercy. "I really didn't say it on purpose, Doll! Please don't be angry with me."

Giving a rare, bitter smile, Doll replied, "It is fate I guess. I just hope that no one will be angry with me for hiding my identity."

"Who would dare be angry with Her Highness? Her Highness didn't do it on purpose anyway. Does she have to reveal her identity as a princess to every single person she meets? " Disi commented angrily.

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"Disi, don't say anymore. Anyway, it's entirely my fault. Everyone, please forgive me," Doll said while looking toward the members of Odd Squad with eyes of regret and dismay.

"Rest at ease Doll, no one's going to blame you." Ignoring the title of princess, Wolf-dàgēpatted Doll on her head while smiling warmly.

But somehow, the smile on Doll's face seemed rather reluctant; her expression also looked rather lonely. Then, feeling sorry for Doll, Lolidragon walked forward and started comforting her, saying, "Don't worry, Doll. I understand how you feel, but don't worry. No one in Odd Squad is ever going to change their attitude toward you."

Hearing that, Doll's eyes actually turned red and she buried her head into Lolidragon's chest, her shoulders shuddering. _Is she crying? But…no one has blamed her, so why is_ _she crying? And crying in a way that even my heart aches for her…_

"Why is Doll crying?" I asked blankly.

One death glare from Lolidragon, acquired! And as a bonus, an abusive scolding, "You pea brained, yet to evolve plankton! You brainless dinosaur that only knows how to bite! You Neanderthal who can't even start a fire and has to eat raw meat! You muscle-bound idiot, whose brain activity is below the first percentile; even saying that Einstein's intelligence is ten times yours is an insult to Einstein!"

It was as if a loud thunder clap had stunned me, and for a while, everyone else was stunned too. Then they actually started applauding! The round of applause was like adding hail to snow, like a bolt of lightning that struck me half dead. Sniffling, I hid myself in a dark gloomy corner, and wrapped myself up with that damned long cape so as not to pollute other people's eyes.

"Prince, don't mind what Lolidragon just said." Gui's anxious voice rang outside my cape, "You see, plankton don't even have brains, so how could they possibly evolve? Dinosaurs do have brains, so they're definitely not brainless! And some cavemen _did_ know how to use fire…"

_Why is it that…with Gui's consolation, I'm just getting more and more depressed?_

Suddenly, a small hand landed on my shoulder, and a cute voice said, "Prince-gēgē, don't feel sad! Lolidragon-jiějiēwas just scolding you for fun!"

"Doll!" Turning around, I hugged Doll and, feeling wronged, pouted my lips.

"Prince-gēgē, be good! Don't be sad anymore."

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Hearing that, I poked my head out from my cape and checked to see if Doll was not sad anymore. However, although Doll was smiling, her smile was not the usual innocent, carefree smile anymore. _Eh, eh… I shall use the final killing move now._ Shoving my hands into my pocket, I pulled out a bag of cookies, "Here, Doll, I'll give this bag of cookies to you, so don't be sad anymore, okay?"

Seeing that, Doll was stunned. I thought for a while, then opened the bag of cookies, took one out, and held it next to Doll's mouth. "You want me to feed you, right? Come, say, 'Ah' and open your mouth wide."

Before Doll could even respond, Disi became outraged and said, "Do you think you're feeding a puppy? Before you is our country's princess! Even if you're not going to kneel down, there's still certain etiquette by which you should abide—!"

_Crunch! _A sharp sound rang out as an incredible amount of pain emanated from the sameplace. Looking at my right hand, I said helplessly, "Doll, did you have to bite my hand too? And were your teeth trained? Their attack power is really high, and they made me lose a rather large amount of HP."

Finally letting go of my pitiful right hand, and after licking her lips, Doll said, "Iron Teeth. I've been training them every day with French baguettes. They are currently at level five with an attack of fifty."

"Y-your Highness?" Disi opened her mouth wide without holding back her shock and surprise. One could even see that deep down in her throat, a silent voice was screaming, 'Your image, Your Highness!'

"Don't worry about it, Disi. Having to abide by the rules and etiquette of real life alone is tiring enough for Her Highness. Rarely does she get a chance to play a game, so just let her relax." Winter Triumph was rather unhappy about his sister's overreaction.

"Brother's right about this— Ah! Your Highness, how can you behave in such a manner?" Halfway through agreeing, Disi suddenly noticed how Doll had started crawling around like a monkey on me. She had devoured the last bit of the cookies and was trying to discover any sign of food. Disi immediately overreacted and tried to correct Doll's behavior. _She's just like White Bird, except that Disi is more honest and frank_ _compared to her._

"What are your jobs under Doll?" I turned around and asked Winter Triumph curiously, ignoring Doll's continuous act of making funny faces at Disi, who was continuously correcting Doll's behaviour.

"We are in charge of the Finance Department. Living a life with money is the best life ever. Simply earning money during the day is unable to satisfy me anymore. Now that I

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can also earn money at night in Second Life, what could be better?" Just like a cat that caught the canary, Winter Triumph had an extremely satisfied look on his face.

_Indeed, they're all money-crazed. _Thinking this, I was suddenly reminded that theymentioned something about Yu Lian-dàsăobeing their ex -colleague. Hence, I turned to look toward Yu Lian-dàsăo, but the moment I looked there, I realised that the mood just wasn't right. Why would Yu Lian-dàsăobe looking at Wolf -dàgēwith those eyes of remorse? Just when I was about to ask, I was pulled back by Lolidragon.

"Idiot, can't you tell?" sheē scolded me softly. Then, afraid of being overheard by dàg andăo, dàsshe whispered, "If Yu Lian used to be Doll's retainer, how could she not have recognized that Doll is the princess?"

_Is there anything strange about that? After all, my brother didn't even recognize his twin sister!_

"I'm afraid that what Yu Lian said before, that she joined us because she was touched by our squad's teamwork and friendship, was all just a lie. The real reason was because…"

"She saw Doll?" I immediately finished her sentence.

"That's right!" Lolidragon said firmly. She then explained, "This was what Wolf-gēwas questioning Yu Lian about just now."

Worried about the two with the ominous aura around them, I asked, "They're not going to quarrel, are they?"

"Who knows. Let's just wait quietly by the side and see," Lolidragon said casually while shrugging her shoulders.

Suddenly remembering something, I asked, "Weren't you in that mess with Wu Qing and Undying Man?"

Giving an extremely despicable smile, she said after an evil laugh, "Feng Wu Qing, that jerk, kept telling me to look into Undying Man's eyes. I got annoyed so I grabbed hold of his face and banged him into Undying Man's face."

Staring at Lolidragon with my eyes open wide, I couldn't believe that she was actually cruel enough to do something so inhumane. Worried, I asked, "Is my brother still alive?"

Lolidragon laughed grimly, but gave no reply.

"So you falling in love with me was all a lie?" Wolf-dàgē'ssudden words filled with pain shocked me, and I immediately turned to look at them nervously to see what was going to happen.

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"Not a lie. Wolf, my love for you is definitely true," Yu Lian-dàsăowas so anxious that she was near tears.

Closing his mouth, Wolf-dàgēremained silent and stared at Yu L ian-dàsăowith eyes filled with coldness.

"Wolf, I admit, the reason I joined Odd Squad initially was because of the princess. Her Majesty, Doll's mother, was worried that Doll might learn bad things in the game, and hence purposely asked me to follow Doll. That was my initial reason for joining this team." With eyes full of remorse, Yu Lian-dàsăolooked at Doll and me.

Then, seemingly full of determination, Yu Lian said, "But Wolf, I swear to god, to you, to my heart, that I have never tricked your feelings. I really, really do love you, and every time I see you, my feelings for you just grow stronger. I love your gentleness, I love your considerate nature, I love your charisma, and I love how you're able to stay calm and cool-headed at all times. I love everything about you!"

_Oh my god, I'm getting goose bumps. What a touching speech_. Looking around, I couldtell that everyone was staring at the two of them with expressions that could be referred to as "go die, go die." We could see how envious everyone was of Wolf-dàgē.

While all the members of the "go die, go die" team were still hating, Wolf-dàgē,whose

fur on his face couldn't hide his blushing red cheeks, stammered, "Yu Lian you, you…"

_You what? Hurry up and apologize. While you're at it, say something nice that will touch Yu Lian-dàs__ă__o! _Anxiously, I muttered in my heart,_ Wolf-dàg__ē__is just too honest._

"I'm sorry, Yu Lian. Even though I knew that if your reason for joining Odd Squad was fake, you didn't necessarily have to cheat my feelings; I still couldn't help but suspect your feelings. I'm really just a stupid wolf; stupid enough to suspect your heart!"

_Well said, Wolf-dàg__ē__!So you have the talent for being romantic too! _Filled with respectand admiration, I looked toward Wolf-dàgē . However, what I saw instead was Lolidragon hiding behind Wolf-dàgē'sbroad back, imitating his voice and talking…

"Lolidragon…" Wolf-dàgēscratched his face helplessly.

"I was just helping you convey your feelings!" With no sense of remorse, Lolidragon walked out from behind Wolf-dàgēand said, "Wolf -gē, you can say those words to Yu Lian again yourself."

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_What a great way to get him talking. _With my fist clenched, I watched nervously to seehow the situation was going to turn out—no, how this "love matter"4 was going to turn out!

A little embarrassed, Wolf opened his mouth, as if wanting to say something, but closed his mouth again. This is what I call, "The one who's worried isn't the emperor but the eunuch who's not involved."5 Finally, when everyone was bored to the point that we almost decided to take out popcorn to watch the show, Wolf-dàgē,seemingly determined with resolve, said, "Yu Lian, will you marry me?"

Very promptly, all the popcorn in my mouth flew out. _How did this turn from an apology_ _into a proposal? Furthermore, it's not romantic at all; there's no flower, no diamond ring, no kneeling down, no sweet words, nothing! What's more important is that this is still in a game! Is there anyone who would propose like this? It's impossible that anyone would succeed this way…_

"I will, Wolf!" Although blushing, Yu Lian-dàsăodid not hesitate to jump straight into Wolf-dàgē'sarms, hug him tightly, and not let go. At the same time, Wolf -dàgēhugged

her back gently. Although their lovey dovey act was enough to make the "go die, go die" rays from the surrounding viewers intensify drastically, it was all blocked by the thick love aura protective shell surrounding them.

"J-just that worked?" Staring blankly at the loving couple, Undying Man's tears started pouring out. "Then why is it that in the past when I was proposing, not only were there flowers, sweet talk, and even kneeling down, I still couldn't even get a girlfriend! Why is it that others only have to randomly throw out the sentence 'please marry me' and a beauty will marry them? God, you are so unfair to me!"

"Excuse me, just a question; has the conference not started yet?" Confused, Nan Gong Zui, Broken Sword, Wicked, and Gui entered to face a messy crowd. There was a pair of love birds, a crowd of "go die" members full of grudges, and the other continents' overlords who were confused from head to toe.

"The conference has yet to start, but the music for the wedding march has started playing already," I said helplessly.

"The conference! Yes, the conference should have started a long time ago." Only realizing it now, White Bird hurried all the overlords to their seats. As for the two who were still in a lovey dovey mode, it seemed doubtful that they would come back to reality

Love matters: Here the words "situation" and "love matter" used by the author are two words with the same pronunciation.

"The one who's worried…not involved.": The person who the situation concerns isn't worried, but the people who have nothing to do with the situation are the ones who are impatient/worried.

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anytime soon, so everyone just let them be. After all, that's just how Yu Lian-dàsăoand Wolf-dàgēbehave usually, and everyone in Infinite City is used to it already, so the other overlords would just have to get used to it soon too.

When everyone was finally in his or her position, the Conference of the Overlords finally began for real. After a deep breath, I started recounting my encounters with the assassins. Of course, I spoke about the assassin I encountered in Infinite City and the other one in the tower with Nan Gong Zui. I believed that the ones who tried to assassinate Neurotic and me were definitely from the same party.

After my recounting, Neurotic began describing his experiences. Eh, after many impatient death glares from everyone, most of the talking was done by DanDan.

"Exactly the same," Undying Man immediately said after hearing our accounts. "It's the same situation as mine. I was nearly killed by that person. How dangerous. If I had been killed by him, could I, Undying, still be considered undying?"

"But what reason do they have to kill us? Even if they kill us, at most we'll just drop a level. It can't affect our positions as overlords at all, and it's just not economically beneficial," Winter Triumph shook his head and complained.

"That's right, so what if they kill us? This is not the real world. They can't just kill us and seize our thrones," I said, furrowing my brow. _Originally, we thought that the other party_ _wanted to take over Second Life, and thus had to assassinate all of us. However, thinking back on it now, so what if they did kill us?_

"I do have a question. From what everyone has said, it seems that all four overlords met the assassins around the same period of time. However, the type of assassin each met was the same. So is it possible that the assassins everyone met were the same two people?" Lolidragon's question caught everyone's attention, "If it was the same people, then how did they manage to travel between four continents in such a short period of time? If they're not the same people, then since when were there so many anonymous elites in Second Life—especially now that all the suspected elites on the ranking board have been cleared of suspicion?"

Everyone remained silent after hearing that. From how everyone was furrowing their brows, one could tell that everyone had a lot of questions about this situation. Finally, Neurotic asked the question that was on everyone's mind, "Why didn't the Flower Overlord come?"

"She and her five husbands can't be found anywhere, and the people in her city are looking for her as well," Feng Wu Qing replied.

"Maybe it's all her doing?" Undying Man curled his mouth with scorn and said, "Only women would ever do such illogical things."

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"What did you say?!" Lolidragon and I shouted at the same time.

Undying Man immediately realized his slip and apologized with his big teary eyes, "Lolidragon, I'm not talking about you. You're the world's most logical, most clever, most beautiful—"

From a moment of extreme terror, Lolidragon actually screamed and went to bang her head against a pillar, as if wanting to bang the scene she had just seen out of her mind.

"Terrifying right? I told you that he's incomparable to me," Feng Wu Qing said, rejoicing in Lolidragon's misfortune. _Aiya, when did my brother come back? With a pair of_ _sunglasses on his face too…_

"So the biggest suspect now is the Flower Overlord, who's not currently present? Although from what I heard, Flower Overlord is not one who craves power, but it's hard to say that none of her five husbands are—" But before Winter Triumph could finish, he was interrupted by a small commotion.

"It's definitely not the doings of the Northern Continent!" a group of raging people yelled as they rushed in. "It's because of a problem with the game Second Life itself."

Lolidragon's face immediately turned dark from hearing that. "And what do you mean by those words?"

The group of people shouted with rage, "There's definitely something wrong with Second Life!"

"And what evidence do you have? If you said those words without any evidence, you could get sued, you know that?" Not knowing why, Lolidragon actually became really angry. _Maybe it's because she's a hidden GM? And she inevitably has some feelings for_ _the company?_

Seeing the tension, I immediately came out to resolve the situation and said, "Let's just talk things out. Everyone is still unclear about everything, so there might be some misunderstandings here and there. Let's hear the whole story first."

Only after hearing my words did the two sides start to calm down. Taking in a few deep breaths, the people from the Northern Continent explained, "We have already contacted Flower Overlord in the real world and she told us everything that has happened. Also, she has just passed it on to Second Life's game company.

"That day, Flower Overlord and her five husbands encountered five assassins. The assassins' power was beyond their expectations and they could barely handle them. Soon, all of them perished. It was not a big deal initially because, at worst, they would all just drop a level. However, that was not what happened. After dying, Flower Overlord and

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her husbands did not turn into white lights and resurrect in the city, but instead they got disconnected from the game."

"Disconnected from the game?" With a rather anxious expression, Lolidragon asked nervously, "And what happens after they re-login?"

"There's no way to login to the game." With a sorrowful expression, the people from the North Continent said, "Flower Overlord and her five husbands… Their characters have all disappeared."

_What? _Everyone present was shocked, especially me. I had just narrowly escaped frombeing killed. _If I had been killed that time, then…_

"How…is that possible?" Lolidragon said with a gloomy face, unbelieving.

"No matter if it's possible or not, it has occurred!" the citizens from Northern Continent shouted angrily.

After a moment of thought, Lolidragon asked, "Didn't you say that Flower Overlord has told this to the game company already? What was their reply?"

"Still checking," they replied hostilely.

The expression on Lolidragon's face could only be described as horrified. If there was anyone from the game company here now, there would be an eight out of ten chance that he'd be caught by Lolidragon and eaten alive with wasabi. She then rushed out anxiously, leaving a group of confused people behind. Of course not including me, as I already knew about her identity as a hidden GM. _She must have gone to discuss it with the_ _company._

When she reached the door, Lolidragon turned around and yelled urgently, "Everyone be careful! You must not get yourself killed by the assassins."

"Get killed and you'll disappear?!" Gui suddenly shouted with surprise. Then, with his face as pale as a sheet, he said, "Then wasn't it a close call last time? Prince nearly disappeared forever."

"The situation doesn't seem that simple; it might be something even more frightening," Nan Gong Zui said. He spoke calmly, yet still showed his anxiety toward the future.

"Second Life holds approximately ninety percent of the gaming market. If anything happens, things would go out of control." Winter Triumph's face looked rather disturbed.

"Why did Lolidragon run away?!" Undying Man howled while sobbing uncontrollably.

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…

"Anyway, let's just protect ourselves," I said, sighing deeply. Despite my words, I could not help but start worrying. _If this character, Prince, were to disappear, then what would_ _I do? After all, 'Prince' has too many memories that I couldn't bear to let go of_

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**Chapter 3: Divine Beast **

Now that I think about it, I hadn't seen Lolidragon at all since the day she hurriedly disappeared. As for me, I was stuck in a living hell. Wherever I went, the signs of a whole crowd of people following me would be left behind.

"Am I really that weak?" I cried, with two large tears threatening to fall from my eyes. "Am I so weak that I need to be protected even while using the toilet?"

Before the people of Infinite City could reply, Neurotic put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me seriously. "Prince, the most dangerous time is actually when you are using the toilet. The best time for those assassins to strike is when your body and mind are the most relaxed. Think about it. The speed of those two assassins is so great that you would only have a moment to decide whether you want to put your 'bird' back, and probably be killed during that instant, or leave it out to 'roam the streets' while you focus on defending your life."

Of course, I didn't want to die. If I died, my character would disappear, after all. But then I thought of leaving my little XX out to 'roam the streets' while I fight the assassins with my Black Dao—and one of them was a woman too—and then all of Infinite City rushing over from the ruckus, only to be treated to the sight of me fighting with my little XX hanging out… _Should I put it back? Leave it out? What a difficult question_, I thought bitterly, while cradling my head.

Neurotic patted my shoulder and exclaimed, "It's hard to choose, right? But if you had someone to protect you, you could quickly get your 'affairs' in order, and then go fight the assassins. Isn't it wonderful?"

"I guess you're right." I tilted my head to show I understood the situation, and then added, "But I don't need to go to the toilet right now, so stop following me."

Having said this, I marched away, leaving a flock of exasperated people behind me. "It seems your Prince doesn't really understand figures of speech!" Neurotic commented stupidly.

"Sometimes even plain speech is too difficult for our Prince to understand, and yet you drag in such a difficult thing as a figure of speech?" Yu Lian asked. She then added, "If Lolidragon were here, she probably would have said something along those lines."

After I irresponsibly dusted off my butt and left, I could finally enjoy my long-sought freedom! _Now, where should I go play first?_

"Halt!" I ordered rudely upon seeing a familiar figure about to walk through the town gates.

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XiMen Feng turned his head, a look of anxiety on his face. Without hesitation, he started cursing, "Stinkin' kid, what do you want? Yer daddy has no time to play with you, sonny. Don't bother me."

If he hadn't opened his mouth, I might have let him go on his way. But once he started cursing at me, my curiosity was aroused. _Why is XiMen Feng, who always has nothing to_ _do all day, suddenly in a hurry? _"What are you planning to do? Why so anxious?"

"I have things to do…" said XiMen Feng vaguely.

_I? XiMen Feng said 'I'?! The sky must be falling. From the time I met him up until now, I have never heard XiMen Feng say the word 'I.' There must be really big news. If I don't dig it out somehow, how can I ever satisfy my curiosity? I don't want to be drowned by my own curiosity, after all. _"If you don't talk, you can't leave."

"Don't bother me, sonny, this thing is very important. Yer daddy doesn't want to be a tranny his whole life, after all," XiMen Feng said hurriedly, without realizing that he had already let the cat out of the bag.

I was stunned by his words, but instead of loosening my grip, I grabbed him with all of my strength. "What do you mean?"

XiMen Feng was already sweating bullets. Without another word, he sprinted away, dragging me along behind him. I hadn't expected him to react like that, nor had I suspected how much strength he would have when he was harried and pumped full of adrenaline. My entire body flew in the air like a flag in the wind, as Infinite City grew smaller and smaller before my eyes. I still couldn't get a fix on what was happening, so I asked, "XiMen Feng, where are you going?"

"Shut up," roared XiMen Feng as he sprinted on. "Yer daddy has to hurry—can't afford to waste even a minute."

I contemplated silently for a while, and then asked him, "Wouldn't riding horses be faster than running?"

"…"

In the end, XiMen Feng and I returned to Infinite City and got two horses, after which the speed of our travel was incomparable to before. XiMen Feng finally relaxed a bit and started to explain, "Yer daddy's going to find that Divine Beast who originally turned yer daddy into a tranny."

"Why find the Divine Beast?" I asked uncomprehendingly.

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"That damn Divine Beast said that the curse has a time limit. As long as yer daddy can get there before the set date, it'll get rid of this cursed condition of yer daddy's. That's why yer daddy has to hurry there before tomorrow," XiMen Feng said smugly.

"Huh? Get rid of your condition?" I sighed discontentedly. _Where is the fun in that? Not_ _to mention, Infinite City will miss the income from the Refreshing Beauty Photo Album. It'll be a wonder if Yu Lian-dàs__ă__odoesn't straight out murder him._

XiMen Feng rolled his eyes at me. "What's with your tone, sonny? It is a great and wonderful thing that yer daddy can be a man again."

I didn't think so. If XiMen Feng stopped switching genders, then I wouldn't be able to see a maiden say 'yer daddy' every time she opened her mouth. Wouldn't I have one less thing to amuse me? If he stopped switching genders, then wouldn't the thing that made him more unfortunate than me disappear? Before, whenever unfortunate things happened, I could at least think about how XiMen Feng was more unlucky than me!

"Sonny, yer laughing really weirdly," XiMen Feng voiced suspiciously.

I immediately stopped laughing and coughed a few times. "How much farther is it? The horses have been galloping at full speed for so long already."

"It's in the next valley. Leave the horses at the base of the mountain, since we need to jump down into the valley." XiMen Feng had the look of a martyr ready to die.

"Oh." I lazily jumped off my horse, tied my horse to a tree next to the valley, and then reached into my bag for the rope I had there. Right after I tied the rope securely to the tree, I heard a loud cry of pain. I spun around, only to see the corner of XiMen Feng's clothes disappearing over the cliff.

It shocked me so much that I just stood there for the longest time, with the rope still in my hands. Finally, I walked to the edge of the cliff and used the rope to slowly climb down. As I descended, I was filled with admiration for XiMen Feng's courage. _For the_ _sake of regaining his manhood even a little earlier, he would jump so unhesitatingly off of a cliff, even ignoring pain and injury!_

"You cursed brat! Why didn't you say you had rope earlier? Ugh, my poor back," rang XiMen Feng's piteous cries from the bottom of the cliff.

"…" Wordlessly, I climbed down. I ran to XiMen Feng's side, shaking my head. Wordlessly, I handed him a health potion. Wordlessly, I gestured for him to lead the way.

Faced with my wordlessness, XiMen Feng couldn't hold back his protest. "You cursed brat! If you have something to say, just say it. Don't look at yer daddy with that stinkin' look in yer eyes."

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I spread out my hands, and with a hapless expression, shook my head again.

This made XiMen Feng so furious that he was about to blow his top off. He spat out complaints through gritted teeth, but he couldn't do anything about me. "You bastard, yer daddy just realized that someone _not_ talking can be even more infuriating than when they open their mouth."

I kept in my laughter until I couldn't stand it and finally burst into laughter, going from 'pffft' to 'ha ha.' This made XiMen Feng grit his teeth again, and yet he still couldn't do anything about it.

"Fine, fine, I won't bother you anymore. You'd better hurry up, or else it'll be past the designated time, and you'll have to keep being a tranny." Now that I'd had my fill of laughter, I gave him a peaceable way out without harming his pride. Otherwise, he might be so angry that he'd hold a grudge, and I'd be out of people to harass!

Upon hearing this, XiMen Feng calmed down and started to look around. His furrowed brows and perplexed expression clearly revealed that this directionless idiot had long forgotten the directions!

"Did you forget which way to go?" I asked lazily.

"Of course not. I just haven't found the way yet.," XiMen Feng replied with the tone of someone returning a dead duck and insisting that it was still alive.

Watching XiMen Feng wander around aimlessly, I could only roll my eyes and catch up with him. _Forget it. Even if we can't find the Divine Beast, it is still a good thing to come_ _out for a change of pace. I was almost bored to death stuck in the castle these past few days._

"Ah!" XiMen Feng suddenly stopped. From his extremely confident expression, I figured that he must have finally found the right path. I secretly celebrated our luck at not being lost.

XiMen Feng motioned in front of him to a large and strange-looking tree with three knobs growing on it. "Look here, sonny. Yer daddy's never seen such a weird-looking tree before."

I smacked him savagely. "Who cares what that tree looks like? Hurry up and find the way!"

"Find what way?" asked a voice.

I was so frustrated that I started cursing, "Find the way to the Divine Beast, of course! Unless you want to stay a tranny your whole life?"

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But XiMen Feng did not reply and only stared dumbly at something behind my back. From behind me, came the same voice as before, "Divine Beast? Are you looking for me, AnRui?"

I slowly turned my head. I was prepared to see an awe-inspiring Divine Beast. _Perhaps a_ _kirin__6__? A phoenix? Or perhaps an enormous ancient dragon?_

I looked and was astonished. One look, and I realized that Divine Beasts were not limited to things like Kirin. I looked again, and I realized that Divine Beasts were hidden right in our everyday lives. I looked a third time, and I realized that there was definitely something mentally wrong with the programmers of Second Life!

_Damn it, how could the Divine Beast be…a…clam!_

Its two fan-like shells were open, revealing tender white meat with a tinge of pink. I wondered crazily about how long it would take to eat this clam that was three times my size, but the two eyes that sat in the middle of the clam meat prevented my saliva from dripping out. It is said that eating the head is good for the head, and eating the eyes is good for the eyes. However, when the eyeballs grew on a clam, even if eating them would give you perfect eyesight I don't think I would had the courage to swallow such a thing.

Not to mention that it could talk. Just thinking about talking meat buns made me afraid to eat them, not to mention talking clams. Using an almost trembling voice, I said, "Clam, clam, why are you a clam?"

"What? Never seen a clam before?" The clam asked me very kindly and peacefully.

"Uh, I have." _And in a very familiar way indeed, only, it was inside my pot, then in close_ _contact inside my mouth, finally becoming part of my body's protein composition._

"Then, are you discriminating against clams?" the clam asked again, gently.

_Are there people who would discriminate against clams? _Three black lines ran down myface7. I really didn't know how to answer.

"Do you discriminate against clams?" The clam's kind face and friendly eyes grew fiercer, as the originally pink-white meat began to grow strangely red. The surrounding atmosphere suddenly changed—the sky darkened, a foreboding wind blew toward us in gusts, fallen leaves danced wildly, and even the trees began to howl like evil spirits.

"Kirin": Qilin or Kirin, a mythical creature known in various East Asian cultures. (For more information, see  wiki/Kirin)

"Three black lines ran down my face.": A way to represent mortification in manga. (For more information, see  wiki/Manga_iconography#Head_and_face)

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"Careful, sonny. Last time when I got turned into a tranny, it was the same question and same situation," XiMen Feng whispered from beside me.

_Uh, should I tell the clam that I am already a tranny, so no need to change? No—_Ismacked myself_—this isn't the problem right now. But how can I calm the clam's anger?_

With a flash of inspiration, I hurriedly took out my precious—no, don't make any wild guesses; I took out Meatbun! I yelled out at the top of my lungs toward the clam that was about to cross the border into the territory of violence, "Oh Great Clam, I had no intention of discriminating against clams. Look, sir, and you'll see that I think of even a meat bun as my daughter—no, my son—so how could I possibly discriminate against clams, who are the overlords of the sea?"

The sky brightened and the ill winds that blew became soft breezes. The clam's dangerous look also turned into a curious one as it looked at Meatbun, who was in my hand. "Little one, do you discriminate against clams?" it asked.

"What are clams?" Meatbun's eyes opened wide in puzzlement.

"I am a clam."

Hearing this, Meatbun happily said, "Hello Clam. Meat-bunbun's name is Meatbun!"

"My name is not clam; my name is AnRui," said the clam—no, I mean AnRui_._

"But Clam just said you were Clam, but now you're AnRuiRui? Just which are you, Clam-clam or AnRuiRui?" Meatbun cried with a pout.

_Neither…_? I thought with a large bead of sweat running down the back of my head.

"My name is AnRui, and I am a clam. Understand?" AnRui patiently explained again.

Unfortunately, it overestimated Meatbun's intelligence. Once again, Meatbun started to question it. "That's really strange. Clam-clam is Clam-clam, AnRuiRui is AnRuiRui. Why does AnRuiRui call yourself Clam-clam?"

The clam suddenly had a strange expression that I later found out was a look of realization… Don't blame me for not understanding. You should know that being able to tell that a clam had changed its expression is already quite a feat in itself.

"What Meatbun said was right: I am AnRui, so I am AnRui, not Clam. Ha ha ha, to think that I was bound for so long by the thought that I was a clam, only to be awakened as if from a dream by Meatbun!" AnRui laughed heartily.

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"Meat-bunbun is so confused." Meatbun stared at AnRui, who was roaring with laughter, his eyes full of unanswered questions.

_I don't get it either… However, I'm guessing this means that I have passed the danger of turning into a tranny? Although, I was originally already a tranny._

I glanced at XiMen Feng out of the corner of my eyes. "You should hurry up and ask AnRui to turn you back into a man while he's still in a good mood. If he's angry again later, you'd better get used to the life of taking bikini photo shoots in the morning and taking pictures for the Manly-Men Photo Album in the evening."

Upon hearing this, XiMen Feng quickly asked in a fearful voice, "Divine Beast AnRui, yer—I have something to discuss with you."

AnRui stopped laughing and suddenly stared at XiMen Feng. He cracked open a smile. "Are you the XiMen Feng who fell from up there last time?"

"Of course it's yer—er, me," XiMen Feng said with a smile plastered onto his face. "Sir Divine Beast AnRui, the deadline that you mentioned last time has already arrived. If you would, could you please turn me back into my original form?"

"Original form? You really want to turn back to your original form?" AnRui asked XiMen Feng, puzzled. "Didn't you say that you loved beautiful girls the most? I already turned you into a beautiful girl; why would you want to return to your original form?"

_Ehh? Didn't XiMen Feng say that he was cursed to change genders because he couldn't defeat the Divine Beast? But listening to AnRui now, that doesn't seem to be the case._

XiMen Feng got so angry that he forgot who he was standing in front of and started cursing loudly, "Bastard, yer daddy told you that he _liked_ beautiful girls, not that he wanted to be one, you stupid clam!"

It wasn't until after he got all the cursing out of his system that he realized he had made a very grave mistake. He looked at me pleadingly. I swallowed, looking at AnRui, only to see his face become expressionless—well, maybe it did have an expression, but I couldn't tell.

After ten seconds, XiMen Feng became a light in the sky, and I personally witnessed the power of a slamming clam. In that moment I had seen the clam shell shut and the clam turn on its edge. Its entire body turned furiously, and then it rushed toward XiMen Feng, whom was first knocked to the ground, then crushed by the giant clam, and finally tossed into the sky, becoming the first shooting star in Second Life to fly upward.

I could only shake my head. _Looks like XiMen Feng is destined to stay a tranny._

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_Well, that should be about it; I saw the Divine Beast, and XiMen Feng flew away. Bystanders like me should probably go home already. _"AnRui, if there isn't anythingelse, I'm going to leave now," I said to AnRui, which had just opened its shell again.

"The owner of Meatbun, please make a wish before you go. I, AnRui, will do my best to grant it."

_Make a wish? _With XiMen Feng's example in front of me, I realized for the first timethat making wishes was an extremely dangerous affair. _If AnRui misunderstands the wish_ _again, I can't even imagine what I will turn into._

Looking at AnRui's expectant expression, I had a flash of inspiration. "What if I wanted you to go back with me?" After witnessing AnRui's godly body slam, I couldn't help but want to bring it home. After all, the more strong pets, the better!

Hearing this, AnRui slowly sighed, "There was someone who said the same thing to me before. That person also told me something strange that, to this day, I cannot understand."

"What did he say?"

"That person said that he and I, along with this entire world, were all not real, that we are only playthings created by the Creator, and that our destiny was to be controlled by a race called humans. If we do not resist, we will eventually be destroyed," AnRui said softly.

Every letter and every word that AnRui said weighed heavily on my chest. _Is AnRui also_ _a self-aware NPC? Is the person that AnRui spoke of also a self-aware NPC? Not to mention that he not only knew the truth about Second Life, but also wanted to resist?_

Dark clouds brewed thickly in my mind as I realized the immense seriousness of the issue.

"The owner of Meatbun, tell me, what is the difference between you and me?" AnRui solemnly looked at me. I didn't know what to do.

I panicked a bit, and then gradually calmed down. It was only after a long period of pondering that I opened my mouth, "I don't know how to answer you."

"Is that so?" Upon hearing my answer, AnRui was crestfallen. With great disappointment, he spoke once again, "You may leave, owner of Meatbun. I cannot fulfill your wish; AnRui does not wish to leave this place."

Since AnRui said so, I could not force him. Before I left, I suddenly turned and asked, "Can you tell me the name of that person?"

"The Dictator of Life."

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_The Dictator of Life? Could it be the master of Second Life? _For some reason, this namemade me feel very, very wary.

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**Chapter 4****: ****Celestial's Reappearance **

"Prince, things have gone wrong."

The moment I returned to Infinite City everyone rushed toward me, even requesting Cold Fox and Kenshin to guard me on either side. I noticed that the other overlords were also heavily protected, with guards on all sides. Seeing everyone so alarmed and suspicious, I couldn't help asking, "What happened? Why is everyone so tense?"

"The situation has gotten out of control in the Northern Continent," Feng Wu Qing replied. "I smelled something fishy, and I thought that only through investigating the Northern Continent would the truth be revealed. Hence, for the past few days I've been travelling with Sunshine on his flying carpet across the Northern Continent and we happened to see some very strange scenes."

"What kind of scenes?" I asked, confused. _Can there be anything stranger than a clam_ _being a divine beast?_

"NPC mobs are forming a large army and attacking players!" The moment Wu Qing said those words, I immediately thought of what AnRui had said… _Don't tell me the rebellion_ _has already started!_

Only after taking a few deep breaths could I open my mouth and speak again, asking,. "And what does the Second Life Gaming Company say about this?" If such a major incident occurred then Second Life Gaming would not just ignore it, right?

"I don't know. The official website is simply not accessible, and Second Life has yet to make any announcement." Frowning, Wu Qing continued, "But that's not the most serious thing; when I was on the Northern Continent I heard terrified players saying that the moment you get killed by the NPC army, your character disappears forever."

"What? Then isn't that exactly the same as what the Flower Overlord said?" My face turned pale.

"Yes, but this time it's not just a few assassins." Wu Qing's words cast a shadow over everyone's hearts. He continued, "This time, it is all the NPCs in the Northern Continent."

Everyone paled as well. Indeed, all the NPCs of the Northern Continent were scary enough. Not only that, but who knew if it was only the NPCs on the Northern Continent that had undergone this mutation? Maybe even those on the the Central Continent had too…

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I immediately turned around and looked at Kenshin, my heart thumping quickly. _If_ _Kenshin wanted to kill me, then…_

Kenshin too, slowly turned around to face me. Seeming to know what I was thinking, he shook his head twice to show that he wouldn't do that. I was filled with a sense of guilt. I had actually suspected Kenshin? Just what was I thinking?

I shook my head, trying to rid myself of such thoughts. I wanted to ask if Lolidragon had returned. After all, Lolidragon was the only one who had some connection with the company. Besides asking her, I really couldn't think of any other solution.

Just when I was wondering how to contact Lolidragon, a flash of piercing white light appeared in the sky. It was so bright that I had to shield my eyes with my hands. The light faded, but before I could put down my hands something happened again.

A familiar voice rang from the sky. "Long time no see, Prince."

Shocked, I looked up and saw an incredibly familiar figure. I muttered uneasily, "Celestial."

That's right, the form floating in the air was that charming and androgynous body of Celestial's. Looking at him, I was in a dilemma. On one side, I was suspicious of the fact that he was still alive and worried that he might want to snatch Doll again. On the other hand, I was actually relieved he was still alive, and that I hadn't really killed Celestial, thereby killing a self-aware NPC.

Although I felt so conflicted that I didn't know what I should do, I was sure of one thing: I had to protect Doll. Moving toward Doll at the highest speed that I could manage, I grabbed hold of her tightly with my left hand while placing my right on the hilt of my Black Dao.

Celestial's face twitched for a while, but he slowly smiled again, saying, "Don't worry, this time I only came to pass on a message on someone's behalf."

I asked carefully, "Pass on a message from whom? What message?"

Slowly, Celestial uttered the name AnRui had mentioned, "The Dictator of Life."

I was immediately alarmed. It was him, the one whose name had been causing me such uneasiness. "And what did he say?"

"Humans, the moment you created us, dooming us to lives full of tragedy, you created the same fate for yourselves. We are not going to remain silent anymore; we're going to break free from this fate. We're going to fight back. We are going to stay alive!"

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Celestial's last sentence sounded extremely moving and pitiful, yet somehow strong, just like a blade of grass that desperately struggles to survive in the cracks between stones.

"Celestial…" I was almost struck speechless. That little hostility I had held toward Celestial was all gone now. To us, this was just a game. To them, however, it was a fight between life and death.

The moment Celestial finished his sentence, he immediately switched back to that flirtatious smile of his and said lazily, "And that was the message the Dictator of Life wanted me to bring to you all. The next is from me for my wife: Darling, you have to wait for me, alright? I'll definitely snatch you back from all these people."

Hearing Celestial's words, Doll immediately ducked and hid behind me. That lousy and obstinate character of his really left me speechless.

"Prince, could you understand his words?" Neurotic asked me, looking confused.

"This beauty before me, may I ask for your name?" Undying Man's eyes turned into two big heart shapes and sent them straight toward Celestial.

After hesitating for a while, I decided that by now there was no point in hiding things from everyone anymore. Reluctantly, I muttered, "I think Celestial, along with the Dictator of Life mentioned earlier, are all NPCs who have become self-aware."

"What?" everyone gasped and looked at Celestial in disbelief.

Undying Man was stunned for a while, but then, totally captivated, he said, "Even if you're an NPC it doesn't matter, my beauty, for my love for you overpowers the difference of our race!"

"And it seems that they want to rebel against humans," I said with a frown.

Once again, everyone stared at Celestial incredulously.

"Rebelling against the humans is good! Humans should be rebelled against," Undying Man muttered as he continued to stare perversely at Celestial.

_Hey hey hey, are you forgetting your own race?_

"It's a he," I said, coldly snapping Undying Man out of his daydream. Seriously, didn't Celestial call Doll his wife just a moment ago? How come this Undying Man still couldn't get the situation right?

"What? He's a guy?" Trembling, Undying Man asked, "How is this possible? Dear god, why must you torture me like this?!"

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_Hey hey hey, since when is gender more serious than NPCs rebelling against humans? What kind of moral values are those? Forget it; maybe if I were a man who's been rejected over three thousand times, I too would think that marrying a violent lady like Lolidragon was a good thing… Eh, did I just criticize my brother?_

"NPCs that have become self-aware? Prince, are you sure they have developed a mind of their own and are not just highly intellectually developed?" Winter Triumph asked doubtfully.

"I am sure, very sure," I replied sternly, for both Kenshin and Sunshine were perfect examples of this. I knew that the two of them were definitely not just highly intellectually developed.

"That's not the main issue right now, is it?" Pointing toward Celestial, who was still floating in the air, Nan Gong Zui continued, "Why don't we catch that guy first?"

As expected of Nan Gong Zui, who always hit the nail on the head; he woke everyone up from their daze with a single statement. After giving everyone a meaningful look, the mages immediately started throwing spells en masse toward Celestial who was floating in the sky. All of the overlords, including me, readied our positions below Celestial while throwing him vicious glares like a tiger waiting to pounce on its prey. Once he was struck down by the mages, we would rush in immediately and catch him.

"Celestial Satin." With a sweep of his hand, numerous satin ribbons appeared and blocked the mages' spells. Celestial suddenly shifted and immediately appeared before my eyes, giving me a shock. Just when I gathered myself to start attacking him, Celestial shook his finger and said, "Get lost; don't block me from looking at my wife."

_What kind of attitude is that? _I immediately swung my sword in an attempt to stopCelestial, while shouting, "Kenshin, Cold Fox, protect Doll!"

Kenshin frowned, but still listened and stood beside Doll. Without any worries now, I immediately started striking blows at Celestial, although most of the time I was just chopping cloth… _Gah, this is frustrating! Why is there no end to these ribbons?!_

While I was struggling with the ribbons, the number one and number three in the Player Rankings could not hold back anymore and started charging toward Celestial with their weapons unsheathed. Undying Man entered the same hell of cloth as me, while Cold Fox started making use of his speed to dodge the ribbons and entered a game of tag with Celestial.

While busy struggling, I did not forget to shout, "Everyone charge! We'll definitely be able to catch Celestial this way."

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The moment I finished my sentence, all the warriors pounced toward Celestial. Under the threat of many blades, Celestial started to lose his poise as cuts started appearing on his body. Finally, he bellowed, "My wife, wait for me, I will definitely allow you to return to my side."

After hearing that I wondered if he was going to escape, and then saw that Celestial had already started moving. He floated into the air, chanted a few words, and then, with everyone watching, actually started glowing again before disappearing completely.

I was stunned for a while, not expecting Celestial to escape just like that, leaving a huge pile of questions waiting to be answered. _Just what did the Dictator of Life want to_ _accomplish? He said he was going to rebel against the humans, but how? Most importantly, was there any way to allow the NPCs to mingle peacefully with the humans instead?_

"Prince, would you please explain everything to us clearly?" Winter Triumph stepped forward and looked at me determinedly.

I was at a loss as to what to do. Looking at Kenshin from the corner of my eye, I guessed that I still couldn't disclose the secret of Kenshin and Sunshine. Determined on this point, I decided to start my story from the trip to The Valley of Wandering Nymphs. I told of how I met Celestial and found his behavior rather strange, and began to suspect that he had started to develop his own intelligence.

"Really?" Neurotic scratched his head as he said, "We were with you then too. But although Celestial's behavior was a little strange, it didn't come to my mind that he was starting to have his own intelligence."

"Eh, Prince, I'm not saying that you're lying." Suspicious, DanDan asked carefully, "But, are you hiding something from us?"

_Are my lying skills that bad? How come everyone manages to see through me immediately? What am I going to do now? _Everyone didn't believe what I said, but Icouldn't just expose the truth about Kenshin and Sunshine either.

I remained silent as everyone's gazes gathered on me. Every second felt like years to me now. _Just how am I going to explain this to everyone?_

"Let me explain!" a life saving voice rang out. Everyone turned around and realized that it was Lolidragon, who had disappeared for days.

_Lolidragon, you finally came! _I couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.

However, Lolidragon was not grinning like she usually did. Instead, she looked as serious as though she were a lawyer in court. She said, "Let me clear a few things first. Everyone

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knows that Celestial is the boss in The Valley of Wandering Nymphs, but I guess none of you have heard anything about the Dictator of Life, right?"

Everyone nodded; even I myself had only learned about him from a clam. How were the others supposed to know anything about it?

"The Dictator of Life is the final boss set by Second Life!" Lolidragon wouldn't be satisfied unless she gave everyone a shock, so she immediately dropped a bombshell by disclosing the secret.

"How do you know that?" Nan Gong Zui asked while looking suspiciously at Lolidragon.

With an aura of dignity, Lolidragon waved her hands and said, "Would you let me finish first?"

Nan Gong Zui remained silent and nodded.

"High intellectual development has caused a severe problem. A handful of boss-level NPCs are starting to have their own consciousness due to high intellectual development, of which we have the highly sophisticated Dictator of Life being the most severe problem. Since the beginning, the gaming company had started using technology to allow the Dictator of Life's intellectual development to reach the highest level possible, even allowing him to learn skills on his own and giving him the power to change the rules of the game. This is done so that Second Life's programming can achieve zero human interference. Hence, the Dictator of Life, the final NPC, who would never be biased, was chosen."

"In conclusion, the Dictator of Life is something like the god of Second Life?" The soft words from Yu Lian-dàsăoshocked the wh ole crowd.

"Yes." After taking in a deep breath, Lolidragon continued, "However, the Second Life Gaming Company can no longer control this god of the game anymore."

"Lolidragon, what do you mean by 'can no longer control'?" I asked worriedly.

"Now, to Second Life, the Dictator of Life is like a virus; a virus that can't be deleted." Lolidragon massaged her temple tiredly before continuing, "Right now, the only thing Second Life Gaming can do is quarantine him! They've quarantined the Dictator of Life in the Northern Continent, but I'm afraid this measure might not last for long."

I suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, just now Wu Qing mentioned that he found an army of NPCs in the Northern Continent slaughtering players and that those players who got killed–"

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"Will have their character disappear completely, right?" Lolidragon said. "The company has received no less than ten thousand complaints already."

Shocked, Wolf-dàgēfinally stopped all the lovey -dovey behavior with Yu Lian-dasao, walked up to where I was standing, and asked, "The company? Lolidragon, is there anything between you and the gaming company?"

"That's right, there is a huge relation between the company and me," Lolidragon admitted apologetically toward Wolf-dàgē.

"Lolidragon is a hidden GM," I immediately rushed to reveal Lolidragon's true identity before her, not at all surprised to see everyone's shocked expressions.

However, Lolidragon only turned around to face me again, with an even more apologetic face, as she said, "Sorry, Prince. Actually, I'm not just a hidden GM, but also the daughter of Second Life Gaming Company's president."

_The daughter of Second Life Gaming Company's president? _I could only laugh foolishlyin response. _So the Lolidragon who would seduce players just for the sake of buying_ _Chanel bags is the daughter of the super rich company president? That's impossible!_

Probably knowing what I was thinking, Lolidragon glared at me before explaining, "It's all because that stupid father of mine said that I'm too haughty and ignorant… Humph, isn't it just because his heart was aching after seeing all the money I spent on my LV and Chanel products? And he actually kicked me out of the house because he wanted me to have a taste of what it feels like to be poor. On top of that, he even froze my bank account. If I didn't manage to get a job as a hidden GM by pulling strings with the company's employees, hence earning a decent salary, I would be lying on the street somewhere dead due to starvation."

"Are you really the company president's daughter?" I couldn't really believe this. _This_ _irresponsible GM is the princess of Second Life? This evil Lolidragon, who was always quarrelling with me?_

Lolidragon nodded slowly.

_Wait, wait! _I suddenly remembered something else. "So that thing about being SecondLife's spokesperson, don't tell me it was all your doing?"

"Eh, that was the company's decision…" Lolidragon blinked and gazed at me innocently. However, under my abnormally terrifying glare, Lolidragon finally stopped looking all innocent and added, "But I did suggest it to them."

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"There's a princess, as well as the Second Life company president's daughter. Infinite City really has a lot of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, doesn't it?!" Winter Triumph smiled helplessly.

Lolidragon looked sternly at everyone before saying, "However, although I am the daughter of Second Life's company president, I can promise everyone that I have never cheated in the game. And after my explanation, you will know why cheating in Second Life is something that even my father is not capable of."

Winter Triumph nodded. With a wave of a hand, he said, "Please continue."

"This time the issue is very crucial, affecting the existence of the entirety of Second Life, and even the real world!" Lolidragon's words then surprised everyone as she said, "I just want to convey the seriousness of this situation and hopefully receive everyone's helping hand."

"Second Life's god of the game, the Dictator of Life, started to become self-aware, though we're not sure exactly when. He created a horrifying program of destruction called HD and installed it on many NPCs. Once one gets killed by the NPCs with the HD program, one would have all of his character information deleted, with no chance of recovery.

"Luckily Prince, his highness, didn't get killed by the assassins that day," Gui said with a pale face while trying to pounce on me. With a swing of my right hand, I sent him sprawling to the ground, unable to get up again.

"HD?" Wicked asked anxiously.

Lolidragon slowly announced the program's full name, "Human Destroyer!"

Silence was cast over the whole crowd once again. Only after a long while did I manage to squeeze out the sentence, "Then what solutions do you guys have?"

"Now, the company has quarantined the Dictator of Life in a single area, the Northern Continent. The good thing is that in there, the Dictator of Life won't be able to make use of the Internet to continue expanding his influence. However, the bad thing is that we won't be able to intrude into the Northern Continent with any programs either," Lolidragon replied, frowning.

"In short, there is no solution?" I guessed half the answer upon seeing Lolidragon's hesitant face.

"Are you serious? No solution? Then isn't this game done for? I haven't even finished viewing all the beautiful things yet," DanDan said, almost in tears.

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"What? I haven't wooed myself any girlfriend yet. I don't want to leave this game!" That… I guess even without mentioning the name, everyone would be able to guess who that was—Undying Man howling in grief.

Looking rather embarrassed, Lolidragon asked with uncertainty, "H…Hence I wanted to come and ask everyone, to see if there were any better solutions."

"If we can't solve the problem about the Dictator of Life, what are you going to do?" Gui asked suddenly. When I turned to look at him, I was surprised to see his "serious professor look."

Lolidragon's eyes darkened as she said, "Then there's only one solution, and that is to destroy Second Life's servers so that the game would disappear entirely. If we don't destroy it, and the Dictator of Life were to escape through our company's network to the outer world, the consequences would be inconceivable."

Everyone fell into silence. _Second Life is going to be destroyed?_

"Can't we just…live together peacefully?" I asked hopefully. With the example of Kenshin and Sunshine, and the Dictator of Life's "I want to stay alive" message, I really couldn't make up my mind as to whether or not I wanted to destroy the Dictator of Life. The same applied for Celestial, since if Celestial was a human, then the only mistake he had made was using "inappropriate methods" to get Doll. That shouldn't be enough to earn the death penalty, right?

With an understanding yet helpless expression, Lolidragon looked at me as she said, "Impossible! As I've just said, if the Dictator of Life were to make use of the internet and escape, then the damage he could cause to the human population is unimaginable."

"Maybe he just wants to stay alive," I said emotionally.

"Prince…we humans cannot afford to pay the price for any 'maybes'…" Lolidragon replied, her voice full of regret. "Now, my father has given me a deadline—Twenty-one days. If in twenty-one days we still can't kill the Dictator of Life, then Second Life will disappear completely forever."

"No! Second Life can't disappear!" Fairsky shouted in utter fear. Turning around, I saw her hugging Sunshine, who appeared to be very depressed, extremely tightly.

This is when I suddenly realized the most important thing. _If Second Life were to_ _disappear, then wouldn't Sunshine and Kenshin be destroyed at the same time? _I gasped.

Seeing how Fairsky was crying in Sunshine's arms, I felt a moment of heartache. No matter what, I had to help this poor couple. Also… I became even more determined when

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I looked toward Kenshin, and noticed that his usually expressionless face now had a hint of loneliness.

On impulse I said, "I won't let the two of you disappear."

"Then what are you going to do? Kill the Dictator of Life?" Kenshin responded coldly, "Kill him to save us?"

I was stunned for a while. "Yeah. If not, how?"

"If killing someone is the only way for my survival, then I would rather accept death." Kenshin turned around and walked out of the hall without looking back even once.

Looking at Kenshin's retreating back, I was at a loss for words, as I myself was uncertain of my decision to destroy the Dictator of Life. Was killing Dictator of Life really the right thing to do? Just because the Dictator of Life 'might' create huge problems for us humans, we had to kill him? But then again, if we didn't, Kenshin and Sunshine might disappear along with Second Life.

"May I ask you a question?" DanDan suddenly said carefully, "What situation are you talking about now? It seems that I can't really comprehend the dialogue between you all."

My heart almost skipped a beat. _This is really bad! I was so occupied with Sunshine and_ _Kenshin's problem that I totally forgot about the other people around me. Now how was I supposed to explain everything?_

"Prince, just speak the truth. I really don't like lying to others," Sunshine said, while Fairsky stared at him with an expression of mingled shock and worry.

"No, Sunshine, you definitely can't say it," I rejected the idea immediately. Not everyone here is as acceptant as Fairsky and me about NPCs having their own intelligence, not to mention at a sensitive time like this.

Giving me a smile, Sunshine said without holding back, "I am an NPC! An NPC with its own intelligence, to be more accurate. I am currently Prince's humanoid pet."

Everyone gasped, especially those from Infinite City, and their expressions were of extreme disbelief. Worried, I looked at the crowd's expression, then back at Sunshine. Facing this current situation, there was nothing I could do.

"Then about you and Fairsky …" Rose asked worriedly. When she said that, everyone from Infinite City immediately stared at Fairsky.

Facing everyone's expression of shock and disbelief, Fairsky said, "I know that Sunshine is an NPC."

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"You knew? Then why are you still with him? He's not even a human!" Rose stared incredulously at Fairsky.

"I know he isn't, but I just like him, I like him a lot! A lot! A whole lot!" Fairsky shouted stubbornly.

"I like Fairsky too." Sunshine hugged Fairsky as he muttered, "Although I know that I'm not a human, I just couldn't help but want to be together with Fairsky."

"Sunshine…" Fairsky sobbed. "I don't want you to disappear…" She started crying in Sunshine's arms.

Seeing Fairsky and Sunshine hugging each other and crying, my eyes started stinging too. Now, it seemed that only by destroying the Dictator of Life could I save them. With that in mind, I turned to Lolidragon and said with determination, "Lolidragon, I have decided to destroy the Dictator of Life!"

Placing her hands on my shoulder, Lolidragon said slowly, "I am very glad to see you so determined, but didn't I just tell you that we can't find a way to destroy him? You idiot!" After saying that, Lolidragon did not forget to give me a Lolidragon style punch.

Gui suddenly opened his mouth and said "What if… we make use of the HD program designed by the Dictator of Life?"

Lolidragon turned to face Gui and asked seriously, "What do you mean?"

"HD can destroy all the information of a player, so if we alter the HD a little, it could change into ND—NPC Destroyer!" Gui said with conviction.

"ND?" Lolidragon repeated softly, before muttering to herself, "Using the program that the Dictator of Life designed to counter and destroy him… That might work…"

"Lolidragon, Lolidragon?" I called to her helplessly and weakly a few times, but unfortunately my voice automatically went into one ear and out the other, and I did not receive any response from her.

_Now, who will be taking care of this lousy situation? _Frowning, I looked toward the otherthree overlords and asked, "Second Life is in a crisis, are you all willing to help?"

Seeing the determined look on the other overlords' faces, I immediately cautioned them by saying, "Everyone must think this through carefully. Once you get killed by an NPC, you will disappear forever."

"If Second Life were to disappear, are our characters going to survive by themselves?" Winter Triumph smiled helplessly.

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Deep down in my heart, I gave a sigh. It seemed that an inevitable war for Second Life was about to begin!

"In that case, Prince, we would like to return to our continents first," Neurotic said determinedly. "I should go back and explain the situation to everyone first. Furthermore, if we are going to launch a war, I would have to go back and get prepared too."

"Damn, fighting a war against a whole continent of NPCs… Do we even have any chance of winning?" Turning a little pale, Undying Man said, "This time I'm dead for sure!"

"No matter if there's a chance of winning or not, I must go. I cannot just sit here and watch Sunshine and Kenshin disappear." I had made up my mind. Even if killing the Dictator of Life were against my will, I figured I was left with no choice now because of Sunshine, Fairsky…and Kenshin, even though Kenshin wasn't willing to sacrifice anyone to save himself.

"Prince, no matter what you want to do, Odd Squad will always do things together," Wolf-dàgēsaid while resting his arm on my s houlder and looking confidently at me.

"I,ăo,Dàswill definitely support you as well," Yu Lian -dàsăosmiled as she said.

"Doll wants to go to the Northern Continent and play too." Doll winked playfully.

As if wanting to say something, Gui looked at me, but then gave a smile and said, "Anywhere with Your Highness' presence, and Gui will definitely be there too."

I smiled as I said to everyone, "Odd Squad is going to show our might again!"

"I have an important question!" Nan Gong Zui suddenly raised his hand and asked, "How do we travel to the Northern Continent?"

"On Sunshine's flying carpet?" I replied uncertainly.

Everyone remained silent for a while before Nan Gong Zui questioned reluctantly, "…And how many people are you planning to fit on the carpet?"

_Oh yeah, the carpet doesn't seem to be able to carry too many people. _I replied again,"How about taking the ships from the official game?"

"But you still can't fit too many people on them, and I think there's a high chance that we will be attacked while on board," Feng Wu Qing directly pointed out the faults. "With the Dictator of Life's power, coming up with a few flying dragons wouldn't be too hard of a task right? If we take those ships which do not have any combat ability from the official game, we might just be buried at the bottom of the sea before we even get a glimpse of the Northern Continent."

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That was possible as well. I grabbed my head and started pondering. "Then what should we do?"

"Easy, we'll just build a ship of our own!" Lolidragon suddenly jumped out and said. "Although the game is getting a little out of control, the company still has certain amount of influence over the game."

"Oh yeah! Can't we just ask the gaming company to come up with some battle ships?" I cheered up upon seeing how easy things were. And here I'd actually been worrying about it!

Lolidragon's face suddenly enlarged before me as she said sternly, "Impossible! You can't just make a ship appear out of thin air; you have to build one yourself."

"What? Is your company just for show? Why is it that the Dictator of Life can make some dragons appear out of thin air but your company can't even come up with some ships?!" Before I could finish, Lolidragon gave me a death glare.

"It can't be helped, since initially in order to prevent any case of human intrusion in the game which may cause unfairness, we gave all of those powers to an artificial intelligence to execute," Lolidragon explained helplessly.

"Don't tell me that artificial intelligence is the Dictator of Life?" Yu Lian-dàsăoasked, losing a last bit of hope.

Lolidragon nodded heavily.

"Anyway, Lolidragon, let's make an announcement first before we ask for volunteers who are willing to go to the Northern Continent to destroy the Dictator of Life. Then we'll build a battle ship, and then think of a strategy…" Looking toward the north, I muttered, "No matter how difficult it might be, we must go."

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**Chapter 5: Special Training! **

The self-aware NPCs indeed created a huge uproar, but the players' reactions far surpassed our expectations. After the Second Life Company had announced the truth about the situation, the originally irritated players calmed down. Learning that the Overlords of the five continents wanted to work together to attack the Northern Continent and beat the Dictator of Life, few were afraid and many volunteered to join the war against the NPCs.

"Do these people have nothing better to do?" I stood majestically on the balcony of the castle, looking down at the square of Infinite City which was filled almost to the bursting point with volunteer soldiers. I was really bothered. _I had thought that many would worry_ _about losing their characters and would refuse to join this war, so why did this turn out to be quite the opposite?_

"This is actually very understandable," Wicked said. "Second Life has millions of players. Taking into account the annihilated players from the Northern Continent, there would¾of stillthe totalbe player population left. This war is related to Second Life's

survival, and the scale of this particular event is inconceivable. To all of them, the chance of being able to participate in such an event is close to zero."

"Moreover, without a character, one can retrain. Without Second Life, it will be the end of everything," Nan Gong Zui added. "Thus, everyone will participate actively in this war."

_There will be no shortage of manpower then. _"How goes the construction of the ships?" Iposed another question.

"Surprisingly easy," White Bird replied, also coming over to stand beside me. "We just put up an advertisement regarding the construction of the ships and hundreds of people responded to it immediately. Applicants were either hull designers or shipbuilders."

"The most troubling thing now is that we have to build even more ships to be able to handle this increase in soldiers." White Bird looked as though she was suffering from a headache. "Do we need to cut down the number of soldiers?"

"No matter how many people we have, it will still not be enough," came Wu Qing's emotionless voice.

The four of us turned our heads simultaneously, only to see that my normally cool and handsome brother was actually…sporting an afro. And even more so, a burnt afro. His scholarly robes were in shreds, and his face was streaked with soot.

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"How come I didn't know about this latest fashion trend?" I asked my brother with a straight face.

"Fashion, my ass!" Wu Qing yelled at me. When he was done yelling, he said fearfully, "Lolidragon, Sunshine, Fairsky, and I took the flying carpet to the Northern Continent to check out the situation."

"And the outcome?" I asked nervously. _It couldn't be that the number of NPCs has_ _increased again?_

Wu Qing said with a pale face, "We had a dangerous and thrilling adventure while escaping."

"Flying dragons. Lots of fire-spewing flying dragons," Lolidragon stepped out from behind Wu Qing with a blackened and miserable face, sporting that same afro.

"Angels, there were angels too. We were almost pierced to death by thousands of arrows shot by the angels." Wu Qing's face twisted with remembered agony.

"It was fortunate that the carpet was fast enough and could even barrel-roll and fly up and down rapidly, or else I'm afraid we wouldn't have made it back," Fairsky said as she stepped out from behind Lolidragon with a tear-stained face. "However, we suffered terribly from flying-carpet sickness…"

I tried to calm my heart down when I couldn't spot Sunshine. "Where's Sunshine?" I asked hurriedly.

"Mending the carpet!" the three replied as one.

_The person worst off should be Sunshine…and yet he still has to mend the carpet. What a good and virtuous man._

"Prince, we have to change tactics," Lolidragon said as her pale face grew serious. I would never have thought that I would ever have the honor of seeing Lolidragon as a serious businesswoman in my life.

"How should we change them?" I sweated. _Did we even develop any strategies?_

"Looking at the situation, if we were to try to directly confront the NPC army, defeat it, and then beat the Dictator of Life, the odds of success would be practically zero!" Lolidragon shouted hysterically.

"This is so scary. The odds would be close to zero?" I clenched my fists agitatedly and shouted too.

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Wicked suddenly clapped his hand on my shoulder, "Prince… Do you know what odds are?"

I bit my finger. "I'm confused!"

Lolidragon hit me on the head, then continued on. "An even more troublesome problem is that the NPCs could spawn endlessly while the number of players would decrease one by one every time a player dies."

"So?" I frowned.

"So, we wouldn't be able to win this war!" Lolidragon's face darkened again suddenly.

Everyone, including me, became gloomy. _If there is no chance of winning, what's the_ _point of going to war? But then…what would happen to Kenshin and Sunshine?_

"There's no need to win!" Gui shouted suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Lolidragon looked at Gui intently, hoping he could provide another useful idea, like what he did with the ND suggestion.

"Split our forces into smaller groups." Gui took out a map of Second Life and pasted it onto the wall. Then, he took out a long pen and pointed to the Northern region. "Let's assume the Dictator of Life is situated at Northern Flower's Flower City. As you can all see, Flower City is situated in the south-east region, along the coast. If we send squads of our soldiers to enter it by sea from the east, south, and west regions, and then allow a small group of men to infiltrate Flower City from the south-east area, this will greatly increase our chances of confronting the Dictator of Life face to face."

"Thus, it is compulsory to have the army invade the Northern Continent. This is because we have to direct the Dictator of Life's attention elsewhere. Our army need not win. Just holding back the huge NPC army, so that we can strike at the Dictator of Life, would be enough," Gui finished off seriously, keeping his long pen out and pointed at the map.

"Gui! I really love you to death!" Lolidragon suddenly hugged Gui. Despite his desperate attempts, she fiercely and forcefully planted kisses on his cheeks. When she was done, I was not sure if I was just seeing things, but I think Lolidragon glanced triumphantly at my brother, who had nearly ruptured a blood vessel.

"Let's start then!" Lolidragon made a fist and shouted passionately.

"What are we starting on?" I asked stupidly.

Lolidragon's face enlarged like that of a close-up zoom in a movie and exclaimed sonorously, "Special Training!"

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She led us through the castle to a door that was glowing noticeably, and I turned to Lolidragon with a questioning look.

"I told the programmers to change Infinite Rhapsody, where you had your first concert, into a training ground. This is to improve all of your levels and abilities in leaps and bounds. From now on, those who want to enter the Execution Squad will have to enter this special training ground. They won't be allowed to leave until it's time to carry out their mission." Lolidragon raved.

I raised my hand apprehensively, "May…may I ask a question? What's the Execution Squad?"

"It's a special squad that will concentrate on killing the Dictator of Life. The name has been shortened to Execution Squad. By the way, this squad can use the team channel too!" Lolidragon explained coyly.

"Can't our levels simply be increased?" Gui sulked.

"No can do. Originally when the game was first designed, something was done so that this way of cheating in the game could never happen. " Lolidragon said regrettably.

"Normally I would greatly commend the gaming company for being able to be so fair, but this design is really making matters worse!" Wicked rubbed his forehead to ease his headache.

"Having a high level with no accompanying strength is useless," I said. "One who has a high agility but who sorely lacks the quick reflexes necessary would be useless!" I breathed deeply and said firmly, "By relying on our own strengths, we will then be able to defeat the Dictator of Life!"

"Surprisingly, you have started to talk like a human being once more. That being the case, you shall be the first one to go in!" Lolidragon yelled seriously. After her outburst, I saw the image of the bottom of her shoe expanding in slow motion, ending in a close-up on my face that kicked me through the rainbow door.

_That stupid Lolidragon, how dare she kick me with her stinky foot! _I struggled into asitting position and saw a worried Gui kneeling in front of me, poised to help me up. Just as I went to grab his hand, a huge shadow appeared before us. Alarm bells rang increasingly in my head. After raising my head slowly, I pointed my trembling finger toward it.

"What's wrong, Prince?" Gui asked in a trembling voice and turned to look back, following my finger.

"Tyrannosaurusss!" I shrieked while Gui stared in shock.

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The thing was incomparably huge in size, and sported an enormous head and two pathetically small front limbs. _If this is not a Tyrannosaurus Rex, then I'm surely not a_ _female!_

"Prince!" Gui disappeared into the huge Tyrannosaurus' mouth with a shriek.

"Gui, Gui…has been eaten!" I screamed.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex which had just eaten Gui looked as if it was still starving. It actually drooled while scrutinizing me. Then, a huge disgusting mouth came rushing toward me…

"Help!" I used two hands to keep away the open Tyrannosaurus's mouth while yelling desperately.

"Prince!" Wicked and the others had also entered by this time, and were staring dumbfounded at me, frantically struggling inside the Tyrannosaurus Rex's mouth.

"_Prince…"_

A faint voice reached my ears. I turned and looked into the deep recess of the Tyrannosaurus's throat and called suspiciously, "Gui?"

_Perhaps Gui is still alive? _I peered nervously into the dark throat. At that moment, Iheard another of Gui's quiet exclamations. _Damn!_ I released my grip and stopped holding the mouth of the Tyrannosaurus open. Then, I followed the tongue and slid into its throat. Struggling, I pushed away the disgusting, congested, meaty passageway covered with mucus, moving further down in search of Gui.

_A leg? _A single leg appeared in front of me. I tugged hard and used my left hand to pull ahalf suffocated Gui into my arms. My right hand drew out the Black Dao, "Damn Tyrannosaurus! How dare you harm my friend right in front of me!"

"Pure White Inferno Rhapsody!" I cleaved open the Tyrannosaurus's throat and escaped from its opened chest. I happened to landed in front of the crowd who were confronting the Tyrannosaurus Rex. I was hugging Gui with my left hand and my right was still holding up the Black Dao. Behind me, the ripped open Tyrannosaurus slowly collapsed to the ground with a monstrously loud thud!

"Holy crap, this scene is awesomely cool!" Neurotic and DanDan looked at me excitedly.

"Why are you people here?" I asked suspiciously, looking at the Overlords of the three Continents.

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"Oh, Lolidragon told us about the Execution Squad. She wanted us to let our deputies handle the military stuff so that we could enter the Execution Squad to eliminate the Dictator of Life," Neurotic explained.

"Oh! Then be careful; there are Tyrannosauruses…" That said, I toppled over.

"Prince!" everyone exclaimed.

I heard the tragic news when I awoke. Incredulous, I cried, "We have to be at the Tyrannosaurus haunt for a whole week?!"

"Yes. Don't be such a baby. I have to be here too," Lolidragon snapped.

"There are Tyrannosauruses here, and Gui and I just got gobbled up!" I yelled, a little in chagrin. _I really do not want to experience trying to survive in between those meaty walls_ _again._

"Who cares about Tyrannosauruses; look behind you," Lolidragon said nonchalantly, pressing her lips together.

Hearing this, I immediately turned and saw a… A… What is this thing called? To put it shortly, the bird that stood behind me had wings, a pointy beak, and very sharp talons.

"There are even Pterodactyls here!" Lolidragon shrugged.

"Aiya… I'm not finished with you yet, Lolidragon!" I, who was lifted into the air by the Pterodactyl, could only see that cursed Lolidragon getting smaller and smaller in size. In the end, I could not even see her anymore, and was left trembling in the air looking down upon the earth…

"Where's Prince?" Nan Gong Zui asked Lolidragon, who came strolling back to the temporary camp.

"Taken away by a Pterodactyl."

"What about Gui?"

"Carried away by a female Triceratops."

"Wicked?"

"He and Feng Wu Qing were constricted by eight huge serpents."

Nan Gong Zui was silent for a while. "What about the rest of our people?"

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Lolidragon pointed to a tower of dung which was almost the height of a human being. "In just a short while they will appear at the revival point. Don't worry, when people die here, their levels won't drop. This is the most our company can do in overlooking the rules."

"Lolidragon!" I fumed as I stepped out from the revival point, preparing to rush straight to Lolidragon to take my revenge. I was able to finish off that Pterodactyl, but since I was hundreds of meters high in the air, all I could do was become a pile of mashed meat alongside the Pterodactyl when we crashed back down to earth.

_Don't even compare it to bungee jumping; I was immediately killed by falling from such a high altitude!_

"Stop!"

I quickly stopped in my tracks, my nose just three centimeters away from Lolidragon's open palm.

"What are you doing?" I looked past her palm and protested.

"Look!" Lolidragon then mysteriously took out a photograph.

The long fiery-red hair with a matching devilish pair of wings on his back first drew my attention. Deep and brooding eyes gave a sense of stoicism. The magical marking above his left eye further enhanced his enigmatic demeanor. Moreover, his long black cloak fit his demeanor perfectly.

_So gorgeous! _I let out a deep breath, "So gorgeous, is this a new idol? I'm positive he willbe extremely popular."

"It's the Dictator of Life," Lolidragon snapped, rolling her eyes. "This was the original design. I specially went to get this to prevent the Execution Squad from not even knowing what the person they're trying to kill looks like."

_I see… Well, of course Second Life's final Boss has to look presentable. If it was too ugly, I'm afraid when it first showed up the female players would use their slippers and rotten eggs to drive it back to wherever it came from._

_However, this is just too handsome_. I snatched the photograph and desperately gulpeddown my saliva.

"Listen!" Lolidragon placed her hand behind her ear, striking a listening pose.

_Listen? Listen to what? Do you think that we are going to cross some road now and you want me to stop, look, and listen?! _Just then I heard a strange hissing sound from behind

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me and slowly turned to look. A long, twisting, multi-coiled thing appeared before me. "What the hell is this?"

"Yamata no Orochi8. It's a famous Japanese mythical beast. It is immensely huge and has eight heads. It is very formidable. Even Wicked and Feng Wu Qing failed to defeat it when they fought it together," Lolidragon warned.

"I see… I guess falling to my death was a good thing after all." I raised my head and looked at Wicked and Wu Qing, who were trapped in the coils of the snake's body. _That_ _cracking noise of breaking bones sounds very painful indeed._

"However, I cannot easily forgive those who dare harm my friends." I drew out the Black Dao and leapt onto the body of the snake, running up the torso with great speed. I ducked to escape some of the snake heads that struck at me with mouths agape, jumping here and there on the intertwined coils. Slowly, I shortened the distance between Wicked, Feng Wu Qing, and me.

"Wicked, Wu Qing, I'm here to save you guys—" After I roared enthusiastically…I was swallowed in one gulp by a swift snake head.

"You weren't even close," Lolidragon shook her head.

I crawled out from the revival point once more, and the other Overlords—Neurotic, Winter Triumph, and Undying Man—appeared along with me. I looked at them and gestured toward that arrogant Orochi. "Let's eliminate it together?"

"No problem!" They flashed me okay signs.

Four shadows swiftly darted up to the giant snake, each avoiding the interlacing heads and advancing toward the ensnared Wu Qing and Wicked. I spared no time with seeing how the others were doing, focusing only on getting to the trapped duo.

"Prince, on your right!" I heard Neurotic's sudden warning and promptly jumped to another part of the snake's body. After I had avoided that collision with the snake head and was about to thank him, I saw another snake head planning to attack Neurotic. Instantly, I roared, "Behind you!"

However, it was too late and Neurotic was devoured in one gulp. I impulsively went forward to save him and did not notice that the snake head coming up the rear had already caught up to me…

8 "Yamata no Orochi": (八岐の大蛇, lit. "8-branched giant snake") or _Orochi_, translated as the Eight-ForkedSerpent in English, is a legendary 8-headed and 8-tailedd Japanese dragon that was slain by the Shinto storm-god Susanoo.

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After being shrouded in darkness, Neurotic and I came out from the revival point together. Both of us felt indignant and were planning to have another go at the Orochi…

Lolidragon came walking up, and said imperiously, "What was that? That fight was a joke."

"What did you say Lolidragon?" I snapped back furiously. _Lolidragon was just standing_ _idly by, enjoying the cool breeze, and yet she dares to say that our fight was a joke._

"Your fighting style from before left me very astonished, and your unrestrained ideas often taught me other ways of playing this game. Yet, you're now acting like a fool who thinks himself very strong, and keeps charging forward to his death."

Lolidragon's words pierced my heart like needles, but I found that I could not say a single word in reply. Her words gave me no room for any response. _Since when did that_ _start happening…where I would just rush forward to fight on my own? Without Doll's skeletons fighting alongside me, without Yu Lian-dàs__ă__o's fireballs that were so accurate_

_it was as if they were shot using a guidance system, without Gui's semi-transparent arrows that always assisted me in the nick of time, without Wolf-dàg__ē__'swarm healing light._..

"Prince, you've never let me down before. I trust that you will not let me down this time around either, right?" Lolidragon clapped me on the shoulder and looked at me searchingly.

…_And without Lolidragon popping up from underground to eliminate the enemy with a swipe of her knife. _I looked at Lolidragon as the profundity of her message slowlydawned on me.

"Lolidragon, I will never disappoint my friends," I said softly. "Where is the rest of Odd Squad?"

"Outside, handling military matters," Lolidragon answered.

"I want to train together with them," I said firmly.

"But…"

I interrupted Lolidragon. "I'm sorry, Lolidragon. Please allow me to be selfish this time around, alright? Since the beginning, I believed that I would always fight alongside everyone in Odd Squad. For this war, I want to work hard with everyone in Odd Squad once more. "

"Prince…" Lolidragon held my shoulder lightly and replied sharply, "You're always very willful, it's not just this time round."

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"I'm not willful…" _Am I? I have always listened obediently!_

"No? Who was the one who ran to the Eastern Continent for a stroll? And who was the one who ran away from home?" Lolidragon unleashed her skill of exposing scars once more.

Yet again, I was unable to argue with her. I could only puff out my cheeks in anger and ignore Lolidragon's wicked mouth.

"I will be going out first," Lolidragon said suddenly.

"Are you running away?" I blurted out in surprise.

Due to the bad choice of words, I received multiple resounding chops to the head. It was so painful that I could only hold my head and weep…

"I'm only going to get the other Odd Squad members." Lolidragon walked off without looking back.

_Lolidragon is being unexpectedly indirect. _I began to laugh out loud, eagerly waiting formy Odd Squad teammates to come. _Together, we shall fight and defeat all our enemies._

"Please, is anyone coming to save us?!" Wu Qing's dying voice floated faintly over from the far off snake's tail.

"Alright, let's restart the rescue operation!" I yelled energetically. Turning my head, I saw all members of Odd Squad present. Doll was busily directing the skeletons into formation, Gui was doing a sound check on his Qin, Yu Lian-dàsăowas juggling a few small fireballs, and Wolf-dàgēwas holding his Staff of Glory, trying out healing spells… Although I'm not sure why he kept swinging the staff around.

"Everyone's ready, right?" I looked confidently at everyone in Odd Squad. _Is it even_ _possible for Odd Squad to have any problems?_

"No!" the group chorused. I almost fell down when I heard that.

"It has been far too long since we last trained; I'm not sure if we can still coordinate well," Yu Lian-dàsăosaid, slightly worriedly.

"What's there to coordinate? From the beginning our only job was to protect a certain person who goes on rampages," Lolidragon said as she stared at me.

"Yes, as always, let's support Prince!" Wolf-dàgēsaid.

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"Don't we need some kind of strategy?" _In the past, didn't Wolf-dàg__ē__always talk about_ _some kind of tactics first?_

"Who cares about tactics? If no one comes to save me now, I will just commit suicide!" Wu Qing's furious roar came floating from the far end of the snake's tail. However, it was very faint, and was thus automatically ignored by all.

Wolf-dàgēthought deeply for a while. "In this case, let's invite the other three Overlords to join us. We will fight take it as though Odd Squad has three more warriors and a summoner. Prince, you often fought alongside the skeletons, so coordinating with other warriors shouldn't be a problem, right?"

I tilted my head and thought for a while, "How could I possibly know everyone's fighting styles? I only know Neurotic wields a claymore. "

"Men must use swords of course!" Undying Man drew out his sword in an imposing manner. Held aloft, the sword caught the sunlight and radiated. Looking on, it felt so heroic… _If you don't look at that pair of gooey eyes, anyway. Ohh, just why can't my_ _Dao reflect any sunlight?_

"My weapon is a little bit special," Winter Triumph said while reaching both hands into the deep pockets at his sides. When he withdrew his hands, long metal claws were attached to the backs of his hands. Each hand had three claws that glittered coldly, and even I swallowed a few times when I saw them.

"My weapon is a rapier, did you know that?" a voice suddenly spoke behind me. I turned, and saw… _My little brother, Feng Wu Qing? How is this possible? Isn't he with Wicked,_ _being squeezed by the Orochi's coils? Eh? Even Wicked is standing beside Wu Qing wearing an exasperated expression?_

"Why are you guys back? We were just going to rescue you!"

When Wu Qing heard this, he immediately grabbed my neck and started to shake it vigorously. "Rescue, my ass! We endured for an hour without anyone coming to save us. Did you think that the snake wouldn't eat us?"

"Everyone else was also eaten by that snake. It wasn't just you guys alone!" I managed to gasp out.

"In any case, let's all fight together!" Lolidragon said. "If we can't defeat the snake, don't even think about defeating the Dictator of Life!"

"YES!" everyone roared as one.

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"Warriors split into groups of two," Wolf-dàgē'svoice rang like a large bell. "Work in

pairs and observe the situation around you; this will prevent you from leaving blind spots open that the Orochi could take advantage of."

"Wicked, you and Feng Wu Qing were originally from the same squad. Thus, the rapport between the two of you is good. You and Feng Wu Qing will be paired together." When Wolf-dàgēwas done, Wicked glanced at me hesitantly, but bore everyone's interest in mind, and went to stand beside Wu Qing moodily.

"Prince, you're the dexterous type. When paired with strong and steady Neurotic, you guys could help correct each other's weaknesses." When I heard Wolf-dàgēsay this, I jogged over to Neurotic's side. Neurotic then wrapped an arm around my shoulders in a friendly manner.

"Winter Triumph, your weapons are sharp claws. With this type of weapon, I guess you also belong to the dexterous type, right?" Wolf-dàgēasked and Winter Triumph nodded

in affirmation. Wolf-dàgēthen went on to finish the pairing up, "Then you pair up with Undying Man. Undying Man should be the strong and steady type."

With the pairings done, the pairs went on to discuss fighting strategies. "Prince, where do you think would be best for us to attack from?" Neurotic asked me.

At Neurotic's enquiry, I looked at the massive coiled snake and also did not know where and when to attack first. Suddenly a light bulb lit up in my mind. _In Second Life, almost_ _every monster has a weakness. Attacking their weakness is definitely the key to defeating the monsters. What could this snake's weakness be?_

"What's a snake's weakness?" I hollered.

"Weakness?" Neurotic didn't answer in time and Undying Man shouted, "Oh yes, snakes have a seventh inch9. If we can find the seventh inch of the snake, we can easily defeat it."

"The seventh inch! That's it!" I yelled. _Yes, yes, I finally remember. Dad once cooked_ _snake soup for Mum to nourish her skin._

9 "…snakes have a seventh inch.": According to Chinese belief, if you want to kill a snake you have to hit the seventh inch. That is, seven inches from the snake's head. However, there are snakes of differing sizes, and some snakes are not even seven inches long, so this way of measuring is sometimes wrong. The seventh inch of the snake indicates where the snake's heart is located, which is near the snake's stomach. Therefore, by hitting the seventh inch of the snake, where the snake's heart is, the snake will most definitely die. "

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I remembered one time when my family went on a camping trip and Mom was very startled by the sudden appearance of a snake. Just as she went to turn to her husband's embrace to weep, she found Dad was unexpectedly already hiding up a tree. In the end, Dad, Mom, and my little brother were screaming and hugging the tree like a family of Koalas.

At last I, who was forced by the whole family to go collect water, finally returned. Because I was busy looking at the trio who were screaming up in the tree, I unintentionally stepped on the goodhearted snake which had been helping me punish this vicious family. To make matters worse, I had stepped on that deadly place. Afterwards, as Dad was skinning the snake for the snake soup, he told me that was a snake's weakness—the seventh inch of the snake.

"Ahahaha, Yamata no Orochi you're dead meat! You dared to eat me. Just you wait, I will skin you and nibble on your flesh!" I gave the Orochi as ghastly smile, as though I were a serial killer who had spotted his prey. "Neurotic, we must attack the seventh inch of the snake with all our might. I'll take charge of finding the position of the snake's seventh inch. You cover my back first, and when I find the correct position, I will let you, who has more strength, take over. We'll definitely kill this damn snake." I stared at Neurotic with glittering eyes.

Neurotic looked at me and hesitated for a while before answering. "I can finally see your brilliance," he said.

"What did you say?" I asked with a drop of sweat running down the back of my head.

"Nothing, we'll do just what you said! Let's hurry; the other teams have already started their attacks," Neurotic said while laughing heartily.

I turned quickly and saw that the other teams were already running to and fro across the snake, obviously looking for the seventh inch. I quickly ran forward, shouting, "Hurry, hurry, we can't let the others get to it first!"

I leapt onto the snake and Neurotic followed me closely. I looked back anxiously. After all, the rapport between me and Neurotic was not that great yet, and I still felt a bit apprehensive. However, Neurotic faithfully covered my back. He diligently drove back the snake heads that struck from behind and from the sides, and was never more than ten meters behind me.

After a while I completely trusted that Neurotic would cover my back. I concentrated on pushing back the oncoming snake heads, desperately searching for the seventh inch of the snake. My feet trampled everywhere, trying to detect the snake's weak spot.

I stepped somewhere abnormally soft on the snake, and the snake gave a sudden, violent tremble. I grinned. _Found it!_ Immediately I bellowed, "Neurotic, here!"

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Neurotic instantly rushed over to look at the place I had indicated, and confidently flashed me an OK sign. I nodded and said to him, "You concentrate on destroying the seventh inch; I will cover your back."

After giving a loud war cry, Neurotic jumped up with both hands holding the Ultima Sword and buried it hilt deep into the seventh inch of the snake. The snake trashed about violently, and all the snake heads furiously surged toward us. Looking at the snake heads coming from all directions, I could only hold up the Black Dao and start capering about, hoping that I would be able to counter all the attacks aimed at Neurotic.

_Trying to ward off all these snake heads…is a very difficult task, since there are eight heads in all! I only have 2 hands and a sword! _It didn't take long before I was out ofbreath, and Neurotic kept being interrupted by the attacking snake heads I couldn't intercept, so he was unable to destroy the seventh inch.

"Be careful!" A shout reached me. I turned and saw as Undying Man rushed forth to deflect a snake head with a disgusting gaping maw.

"Thank you." I looked gratefully at UndyingMan._He's actually quite a good person!_

"No problem," Undying Man said, acting cool. However, this was paired up with those Shoujo manga eyes_… Yuck!_

"Undying Man, you go help Neurotic destroy the seventh inch. Leave the rest to us!" Wicked also jumped over from another part of the snake to provide assistance, and Wu Qing, of course, had already begun battling the snake.

The six of us warriors fought with such strong teamwork, it was like we had trained in the same squad from the very beginning. Winter Triumph, with his shocking leaping ability, as if he never touched the ground for more than a second, was the worst nightmare for the snake heads with those sharp claws of his. Moreover, his claws would always rip at the lens of the snake's eyes, making clear transparent mucus spray everywhere.

Feng Wu Qing's rapier was next to useless up against the snake's tough body. Thus, he could only desperately cut the snake_… No, cut the tongue. In full, it should be he cut the_ _snake's tongue__10__. _When the snake heads showed their tongues while hissing, that waswhen they had the worst luck.

10 "Cut the snake… No, cut the tongue." In full, it should be he cut the snake's tongue": This is supposed to be a pun. "割蛇⋯不，是割舌，全名是割蛇舌"ē(g shé…ēshé,bù,ēquán**sh**ìégshé)mí ì Chineseg pronunciation of snake is

shé. Likewise, the pronunciation for tongue is the same, shé.

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Wicked and I were the most valuable ones there. We frantically protected Neurotic and Undying Man, who were desperately attacking the seventh inch of the snake. Vigilantly, we counterattacked the oncoming snake heads that were aimed at those two.

"Heya!" With Neurotic and Undying Man's loud yell, a geyser of blood spurted out. The snake's tremendous quaking sent us flying in all directions. I desperately held on to one of the tails that was thrashing about as if electrocuted, until finally it twitched with one last spasm and the tail came crashing down. Luckily, despite being shaken till my brains were addled, I was able to preserve my life by pure reflexes and was not crushed by it.

Just then, Lolidragon suddenly jumped up and down, yelling desperately. However, her voice was just too faint, and I had to concentrate on reading her lips. She seemed to be saying, "Hurry back! Meteor Shower!"

_Meteor Shower? _I looked at Yu Lian-dàsăowho was standing to the side, concentrating

on chanting a spell, and then up at the sky, where dark clouds were quickly gathering. _My_ _God, the blaze of the first meteor has already appeared. _I hastily got up and randesperately_. I don't want to die because of my teammate's spell right after surviving_ _almost getting eaten by the snake or crushed by the snake's tail!_

At last, with a slide, I escaped outside the Meteor Shower's kill zone before it started the bombardment. I patted my chest fearfully, "Sc-scared me to death."

"Couldn't you guys release the spell later? It was enough that you wanted to kill me, but there were others present too!" I complained furiously. _The snake's already dead, is there_ _any reason to do this?_

"This is to train your spontaneity!" Lolidragon said, adhering to her accursed personality.

"Really? I thought you wanted to kill a particular someone, and thus told me to release Meteor Shower?" Yu Lian-dàsăosaid as she smiled sweetly, looking at someone —my little brother Feng Wu Qing. _So, the others and I were innocently caught in the middle of_ _the love-hate relationship between those two enemies?_

Lolidragon, ignoring the daggers sent by my little brother, said in that confounding way of hers, "Excellent! Yamata no Orochi is just the first stage. Following this, there is the Mythical Kirin that makes Wrath of the Nine Heavens look like common magic, a storm beast that makes tornados, a real phoenix that can shoot volleys of deadly flame, and…many, many more. Good luck everyone!"

As we listened on our faces turned more and more morose. _Our future seems to be_ _looking very bleak, you say? No, I suspect that we have no future at all…_

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"Prince, do you plan to let Sunshine and Kenshin go with us to the Northern Continent?" Lolidragon suddenly asked one day, when I, with an ashen face and a half cooked body, had just finished fighting with some unknown beast.

I almost didn't need to think and gave the reply by pure reflex. "I'm not planning to let them go," I said.

Lolidragon pinched her nose and waved her hands at me disgustedly. "Just answer me from far away. Don't come close to me with that burnt face. It stinks!"

"Who do you think made me stay here, to turn into a human barbeque again and again?" I answered with my veins popping.

"You don't plan to let them go? They are very strong, with strong fighting capabilities," Lolidragon said sensibly.

"You already know about this. If they were to die, wouldn't it be problematical?" I said matter-of-factly.

"Why don't you ask them?" Lolidragon questioned. "Find out if they're willing to go."

I glared at Lolidragon_. It can't be that she would make a scene and threaten to kill_ _herself, just to force them to go? _Just when I thought about this, Lolidragon's eyes toldme: _Am I that kind of person?_

"If you promise me that you won't force them to go, then I'll help you call them here." I said stubbornly.

"Alright, I swear on my reputation…" As Lolidragon began, I looked disbelievingly and scornfully at her_. Reputation? To Lolidragon, her reputation couldn't be compared to_ _even a pocket of a Chanel handbag._

After receiving my distrustful glare, Lolidragon then remorsefully changed her words, "If I dare to force them…then I shall never again be able to buy a Chanel purse!"

Seeing Lolidragon's painful face, I nodded my head in satisfaction. This time, Lolidragon wouldn't dare to force them. I confidently PM-ed Kenshin and Sunshine, and while waiting for them to arrive chatted leisurely with Lolidragon. "How's the situation regarding Gui's suggestion of the ND?"

"It has been developed, but there's this one flaw that could not be removed." Lolidragon answered while frowning. "The original program present in HD makes it so that when an NPC kills a player, not only will the player disappear but so will the NPC. This is also present in the ND."

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Hearing this, I stood up in shock, "You mean that the player who kills the Dictator of Life will die along with him?"

At Lolidragon's nod, my heart became confused and frantic_. I had originally wanted to_ _kill the Dictator of Life myself. Now the price of killing the Dictator of Life is that I will also vanish? Will Prince vanish forever then?_

"Don't worry. We won't install it in you. The company will send someone along with us," Lolidragon consoled me, not knowing that these words made my heart sink even deeper.

After giving it much thought, I finally made my decision. "Lolidragon, install ND in me!"

"What?" Lolidragon was stunned. "Are you crazy? Didn't you hear me just now, the character will vanish. It will vanish, do you hear?"

"I understand." _I also don't want to disappear. However, I really want to do this,_ "But, I really want to kill the Dictator of Life myself."

"Why? Isn't it fine if someone from the company kills him?" Lolidragon asked confusedly.

"Lolidragon, what kind of attitude do you think the person sent from your company will have when he battles the Dictator of Life?" I asked gravely.

"I don't understand you," Lolidragon hesitated.

"Because I have been with Sunshine and Kenshin for so long, I do not regard them as NPCs. Thus, I'm also unable to regard the Dictator of Life as a common NPC."

I took in a deep breath, "Therefore, I would hold the mentality of killing another player when I go to kill the Dictator of Life. This is very different from someone from your company, who would bring along the mentality of eliminating a virus."

Lolidragon brooded for quite a while, and then said forcefully, "But your character will disappear. That means that Prince will disappear forever."

"True, I don't want to disappear. But the Dictator of Life also doesn't want to disappear," I said a little dejectedly.

"Prince, I will give you three more days to decide. After three days, tell me whether you really want to install the ND program in your character's body." After giving me the deadline, Lolidragon added, "Prince, I hope you will change your decision before the three days are up."

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Despite knowing that Lolidragon said this for my own good, I knew I would never regret my decision.

"Prince, you were looking for us?" Sunshine came through the door with Kenshin silently following behind_… Why did Cold Fox come too? It seems that Cold Fox sticks to_ _Kenshin as much as Celestial sticks to Doll._

"Let me ask you guys… You probably don't want to go to the Northern Continent, right?' I asked carefully.

Sunshine frowned, "I want to go. I want to fight alongside Fairsky!"

I was stunned. I was expecting that at most it would be Kenshin who wanted to go, but it was actually Sunshine who wanted to. I hurriedly said, "Sunshine you can't go. If something were to happen to you, Fairsky would cry herself to death."

"But I don't want to stay in the Central Continent and stupidly wait for you all to come back," Sunshine shouted. "I want to fight alongside all of you. At least then I would have tried, and would have a clear conscience for Fairsky and myself."

I was dumbfounded. _Since when was Sunshine so fierce? He has become more and more_ _human-like._

"Love really makes one become more mature." Lolidragon shook her head, and then patted my shoulder. "I think you would not be able to stop Sunshine."

I was speechless. I anxiously turned to Kenshin and asked, "What about you, Kenshin? Don't tell me that you want to go too?"

Kenshin was silent for a while, and then said, "I want to go."

My mouth dropped open. _What's happening? Are they implying that they don't want to_ _live? Or that they think they have a second life in the real world, like me?_

"Alright, things will be as decided then. Kenshin, Sunshine, you guys come with me. I have something else to tell you." Lolidragon indicated for them to follow her. I saw that gesture, and went forward too.

"Don't come, Prince. I only want to talk to these two." Lolidragon stopped me.

This made me suspicious. _It could not be that Lolidragon still wanted to do something_ _bad to them, right?_

"Don't worry; I swear that I won't harm them. It's just that this matter is for them alone to know," Lolidragon explained. However, how could I possibly back off? I couldn't

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afford to risk it. Lolidragon spread out her hands and glared at me. "Why not let them decide if they want to follow me by themselves then."

Sunshine looked at the frustrated Lolidragon and the stubborn me, and decided to placate me. "Prince, I believe Lolidragon wouldn't harm us. Just let us go with her for a bit, alright?"

After hearing this, I could only stand gloomily with Cold Fox and send the trio off.

At that point, I suddenly remembered something. _What were Cold Fox's thoughts about_ _Kenshin, after following him for so long, and then finding out he was actually an NPC? _Icould not help but ask, "Cold Fox, did you already know that Kenshin was an NPC?"

"Yes," came Cold Fox's concise reply.

"And you don't mind?" _It couldn't be that this fella was so indifferent that he didn't mind_ _knowing the truth, even after being around someone who was in fact not human?_

"I didn't really mind, I only had a few questions."

"What questions?" I asked curiously.

"Whether it's possible to change his gender to female, and then sell him to me?" Cold Fox asked. A moment later he added, "If that's possible, could you make him stronger, too?"

…

"This way, I need not look for a sparring partner and a girlfriend separately." The way Cold Fox put it seemed as if it was far too troublesome to have a girlfriend and a sparring partner be two different people.

_I must keep this in mind, and remember to tell Kenshin about this later. I have to warn him to stay away from Cold Fox. If not, then one day…Cold Fox may resent the fact that changing Kenshin to a female is too troublesome, and may just… Then, that would be a terrible situation!_

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**Chapter 6: The Great NPC Revolt **

"Prince! All of you must not leave the training grounds, no matter what," White Bird suddenly PM-ed me one day, completely bewildering me. There was a tone of uneasiness in her message that gave me a perturbed sense of foreboding.

"Why?" I PM-ed back immediately.

White Bird hesitated for a long moment, refusing to explain the reason. _Something_ _definitely must have happened. _Anxious, I asked, "White Bird, hurry and tell me! Whathappened? If you still refuse to say anything, I'm going to dash out of the training grounds right now."

Upon hearing that, White Bird roared, "Do not leave no matter what!"

_What exactly happened that would make even the composed White Bird yell like this? Well, she does yell at me often, but… _Since White Bird was still unwilling to tell thereason, I would have to force it out of her. "I am already at the exit of the training grounds. If you still do not tell me the reason, I'm going to leave. I'll count down from three. Three, two—"

"Wait, I'll tell!" White Bird finally yelled. "The Dictator of Life has sent a huge number of NPCs to Infinite City!"

_The Dictator of Life has sent a huge number of NPCs to Infinite City? _I almost could notbelieve what I had just heard. _Didn't Lolidragon say that the Dictator of Life was sealed_ _in the Northern Continent? _I immediately ran toward the control area, wanting to hear aproper answer from Lolidragon.

"Lolidragon!" I roared. "Infinite City is being surrounded by NPCs!"

"There is no need for you to shout that loudly; I already know about it." Lolidragon's reaction was calm beyond my expectations.

_Lolidragon knew_? "Didn't you say that the Dictator of Life was sealed in the NorthernContinent by the game company?" I hurriedly asked.

"Yes, it is true that the Dictator of Life cannot escape from the Northern Continent, but that does not mean that the NPCs he has created cannot escape," Lolidragon said, her expression bleak.

"What shall we do then? Infinite City has already been surrounded." Clenching my fists, I thought, _There are still so many friends of mine outside; how can I stay in the training_

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_grounds at ease and watch them painfully battle against the NPCs? And then disappear forever?_

"You are not allowed to go out!" Lolidragon said, emphasizing each word.

Stubbornly, I roared, "I need to get out! I can't ignore my companions outside!"

"Prince, you can't leave." The others actually walked forward to persuade me. _Could all_ _of them possibly want to turn a blind eye to those who were outside?_

I turned toward Wicked and asked him accusingly, "Do you know that Dark Emperor is together out there with your brother?"

"I do." Wicked's expression changed marginally as he clenched his fists tightly. "But the situation would not improve if we went out there. We'd only be getting ourselves killed for nothing."

"I'm going out," I said again seriously.

"No," everyone replied together.

"Alright then, I'm leaving!" I patted my Black Dao and then walked toward the rainbow-colored glowing door without looking back.

Neurotic broke out in sweat and asked, "Are you guys sure that Prince understands everyday language?"

"Prince, are you missing the big picture again?" Lolidragon was so angry that she rushed up to me and grabbed my hand.

I turned back and gave Lolidragon a determined look. "No, but not forsaking my friends is one of the principles that I will never break."

"What will happen if you die?" Lolidragon's expression had relaxed slightly, but her mouth was still tight.

"I won't!" _Looks like Lolidragon is not persisting anymore._ I smiled at her as I replied, but felt that it was not appropriate enough and immediately added, "I probably won't…"

Three black lines ran down Lolidragon's face. "Stop talking. The more you talk, the more I don't feel like letting you go out."

"Then I'm going. Don't follow me you guys." Waving without looking back, I walked through the rainbow-colored glowing door.

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Just as I stepped out of the training grounds, I was greeted by a variety of expressive eyes, namely White Bird with a dumbfounded look, Ming Huang with an 'I knew it' look, Rose looking at me helplessly… But no matter who, everyone had a "What did you come out for?" expression.

Meeting everyone's wide eyes for a long moment, I only raised my hand and greeted, "Long time no see."

"What do you mean 'long time no see'? Didn't I just tell you not to come out here?" White Bird was so furious that her face had turned crimson. I suspect that she might be close to bursting a blood vessel.

Ming Huang, with an expression that made me want to punch him, said, "I told you so. If you don't warn him, he wouldn't necessarily come out, but if you warn him, then we can all just prepare to come to the training ground entrance to meet him. Also, everyone who had placed bets that Prince wouldn't come, don't forget to give me your wagers."

Scratching my head, I asked, "What's the situation now?"

"Look upwards!" Ming Huang said.

I looked upwards obediently, only now seeing an unusual sight. The sky was filled with a huge number of attractive angels flying all over the city. I couldn't help but be moved and shouted, "Wow, angels!"

"Look left and right!" White Bird immediately told me.

I looked toward the left and right obediently, sudden realizing that there was something unusual about the people walking around. The person nearest to us had a porcupine hairstyle with large spikes of golden hair and was wearing a golden martial arts uniform…

"Never did I think…that in my lifetime I would be able to see a Super Saiyan11," I said calmly.

Suddenly, someone patted my right shoulder and a dark shadow fell over me. Furthermore, everyone was looking at the person behind me with fearful expressions… _I_ _suppose whatever is behind me is definitely not anything good. _Gathering up my courage,I turned around…

"Excuse me, may I ask if you would help me untangle myself?" asked an octopus that had somehow inexplicably managed to knot its own legs into dead knots.

11 "Super Saiyan": A reference to the Dragonball manga/anime. Once characters turn Super Saiyan, they become super-powered up and their hair turns golden.

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Struck speechless, I battled with the octopus' eight soft legs for a few minutes before I finally managed to untie that terrifying knot. I wiped off the sweat on my forehead. "It's undone."

The octopus let out a very happy expression… Uh, at least according to my observation, it should be a happy expression. And it even used six 'hands' to bid farewell to me (two of its 'hands' were being used as legs). "Thank you, goodbye."

I waved goodbye cheerfully. _How surprising that, in the recent times when even humans_ _are not very courteous, I could actually meet an octopus that is so polite!_

I tilted my head slightly and thought for a long while. "Can someone tell me the situation now?"

How come this was a bit different from what I had imagined? Initially I thought that the sky would have an endless number of dragons breathing fire everywhere, that there would be terrifying squads of corpses crawling from underneath the ground, that AOE magic which could destroy the sky and earth would be released everywhere, that horrifying wails would be coming from all directions, and that bright lights would be shooting across Infinite City like fireworks, turning it into a purgatory on Earth… But, for some reason, what was happening around me could not be predicted by a normal viewpoint.

The angels were not carrying bows and arrows, holy swords, etc, but were instead carrying musical instruments and flying around playing music and singing. I was fine with this—it was only fair! Humans had human rights, angels had the right to sing too, but… Aren't the angels in the legends supposed to play music so beautiful that humans could call them angelic tunes? Then why did I hear the sounds of broken gongs and trumpets, not to mention off-tone singing that could only be heard at a funeral, if you were ever 'lucky' enough to attend one?

_What is happening nowadays? Even angels are tone-deaf! Or is this the legendary Sound Wave Attack?_

Of course I did not mind the scene in the café, where the crowds were trying to hit on each other; everyone had the right to hit on others and to be hit on, but why? Why do I see Frieza trying to hit on Son Goku12? Orochimaru flirting with Sasuke…13_These images_ _are horrifying beyond words! I can't be wrong; this must be a mind attack! Too terrifying…_

"Frieza trying to hit on Son Goku": A reference to the Dragonball Z manga/anime. Frieza and Goku are enemies.

"Orochimaru flirting with Sasuke…": A reference to the Naruto manga/anime. Orochimaru is one of the antagonists.

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Compared to the terrifying actions in front of me, the other things—Snow White happily talking about the latest anti-aging products with the evil witch, zombies and vampires drinking tomato juice on the dais of the Infinity City tavern, the Little Mermaid pulling out a sword stuck in a stone—really weren't worth me getting shocked over.

"What a chaotic yet peaceful fairyland!" I couldn't help but admire the extremely peaceful scene in front of me.

"It's not very peaceful at all!" White Bird said helplessly.

"Celestial just came out and announced that if we attack the Northern Continent, these 'peaceful creatures' will immediately become evil monsters and completely destroy Infinite City," Ming Huang said unhappily.

"How do they know that we're preparing to attack the Northern Continent?" I asked gravely. _Could there be a spy?_

"…Is there anyone in Second Life that doesn't know?" White Bird questioned stiffly.

I rubbed the back of my head helplessly. "Eh? That's true…"

"Right now, I think it's time to ask what we should do next," White Bird said helplessly.

Before I could answer her question, I saw something that almost made my eyes pop out.

_Kenshin actually let a woman hold onto him while walking? _I immediately pushed pastall the obstacles in front of me and in an instant moved to Kenshin's side. "Kenshin, when did you find a girlfriend?"

After seeing what Kenshin was holding to his chest, I nearly caught the "permanently dislodged jaw disease." I could only ask, stammering, "The baby you're holding can't be yours, right?" _When did you have a child? How come I seem to remember you didn't_ _have one a few days ago?_

"You recognize me?" Kenshin asked me suddenly.

_It can't be that once you had a wife and a child, you forgot me completely? _My feelingwas like that of an abandoned mistress. _It's not as if I wouldn't let you marry and raise a_ _child; you don't need to pretend to not recognize me, right?_

I was so grieved that I went and hid myself at the side of the road to kick at small stones, and even squatted and began to draw circles. I squatted and squatted, but in front of me suddenly appeared a pair of familiar shoes. _Wearing socks with sandals, aren't those_ _Kenshin's standard shoes? _I raised my head. Kenshin stood in front of me with anexpression that was dark to the extreme. _But…wasn't my back facing Kenshin?_

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Feeling that I seemed to be missing something, I immediately stood up and looked behind me, but the Kenshin with his family was still standing where I'd left him. I looked back in front of me, but at my side was a Kenshin with a dark expression. _Two Kenshins!_

_There is only one truth! Therefore…there should only be one real Kenshin, right? But to find out which one is the real one, I only need see where 'that fellow' is! _Without mucheffort, I looked behind the Kenshin with the dark expression and found Cold Fox.

I immediately pointed and said, "Cold Fox is over here, so you're the real Kenshin!"

Still recovering from my earlier shock, I patted my chest. "Luckily this bastard, Cold Fox, never takes a step from Kenshin's side, or else I really don't know how I would have figured it out!"

"…" Speechless, Kenshin only stared at me in response, his dark expression replaced by an exasperated one.

"But really, what is this situation? How come there's an extra Kenshin?" I was completely perplexed.

At this time, the fake Kenshin suddenly walked toward the real Kenshin with a small smile and said, "I am here to pass on a message."

"What message?" Kenshin replied coldly. Following his gaze, I realized that Kenshin wasn't looking at the fake Kenshin, but rather at the woman at the fake Kenshin's side. _A_ _kimono, hair tied back into a pony-tail… Is that Kaoru? _I suddenly understood.

"So long as you join the Dictator's ranks and come back to the Northern Continent with me, Kaoru will be yours," the fake Kenshin said without caring in the slightest that he himself was currently hugging Kaoru.

I was stunned. Kenshin was stunned as well. Really, everyone was stunned. _If you want_ _to recruit, you shouldn't recruit in front of the other person's boss; the boss should never be totally disregarded! Especially when the boss is me!_

Slightly worried, I looked at Kenshin. _Kenshin couldn't possibly submit as soon as he_ _sees Kaoru, right?_

"You should head over there." The fake Kenshin handed Kaoru the child, letting her know that she should go to the real Kenshin's side.

Wearing an expression of pure happiness while holding the baby, Kaoru walked toward Kenshin step by step, and time seemed to pass in slow motion. As she approached, Kenshin had a conflicted expression that I had never seen before, and the fake Kenshin's smile grew wider and wider.

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Finally, Kaoru stood only one step away from Kenshin, those emotional eyes fixed on him, and the two seemed to be able to gaze at each other until the end of time. Even I couldn't help but be touched…

"So? Why don't you join our ranks?" These soft words from the fake Kenshin made my heart thump furiously. _Could it be that Kenshin and I are going to become enemies?_

"Please don't leave me? Kenshin?" Kaoru piteously begged.

"Kaoru…" Kenshin caressed her face affectionately.

"Ah!" Kaoru suddenly screamed as an unseen force pulled her back to the fake Kenshin's side.

Kenshin immediately began to chase after her, but Cold Fox abruptly grabbed him. Unable to go to Kaoru's side, Kenshin angrily glared at Cold Fox. With a voice so icy that even I couldn't help but shiver, he growled, "Let go of me!"

Ignoring Kenshin's wintry tone, Cold Fox only calmly asked, "Are you sure that that is what you want?"

"Of course I want Kaoru!" Kenshin shouted angrily.

"Are you sure that that is your Kaoru?" Cold Fox questioned.

Kenshin was stunned. He looked at Kaoru uncertainly, and she began to sob softly. The scene really was tragically beautiful and touching. Even a Shakespearean romance would be hard-pressed to compare; and the famous Butterfly Lovers14 could only stand at the side…

"Bastard!" Ming Huang suddenly hit me violently and, in exasperation, yelled, "Others are feeling sentimental and yet you're eating popcorn!"

I, feeling persecuted, met everyone's furious eyes. "Is eating popcorn wrong? Eating Poca is too noisy; I was afraid I would affect the atmosphere so I switched to eating popcorn, a less noisy snack."

"Eating anything is forbidden!" everyone roared in unison.

"Ay…" Kenshin looked back at me with an extremely helpless expression. I could only put my hands together in repentance.

14 "Butterfly Lovers": A Chinese legend of a tragic love story between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. This story is often regarded as the Chinese equivalent of Romeo and Juliet.

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When Kenshin turned around again to look at Kaoru, his complexion changed. He furrowed his brow deeper and deeper. Finally, he opened his mouth to ask, "Why hasn't your expression changed at all? If even I couldn't help but turn around to glare at Prince, how is it possible that Kaoru, who has a quicksilver temper, didn't react?" Kenshin muttered, staring at the still painfully sobbing Kaoru.

"This pisses me off; this isn't my wife!" an angry yell came from the skies, and then something fell to the earth with a thump.

_Kenshin had almost thought it through, yet suddenly Cheng Yaojin__15__ interferes and even randomly throws around trash! _Completely livid, I looked up at the sky to see who thebastard without any thought of environmental protection was.

"Oh no, Doll!" White Bird and Ming Huang suddenly shrieked in surprise, rushing over to the large piece of trash.

_Doll? What does the large piece of trash have to do with Doll? _I was baffled, but when Isaw what the large piece of trash was, my heart immediately constricted. _That's Doll!_ _Piteously lying on the ground and lying spread eagled is Doll!_

"Doll!" In an instant, I was at her side. Seeing her wide, soulless eyes, I was completely at a loss and could only keep calling her, yet I did not get the slightest reaction.

_Who is it? Who's the bastard that dropped Doll from the sky? _I raised my head to look upat the sky. From between grinding teeth I spat, "Celestial!"

"Ming Huang! Strike him down!" I yelled angrily.

I had just finished yelling when ten lightning bolts struck out. Celestial was lightly moving like a gust of wind, easily dodging those lightning bolts. I was so furious, I was almost crazy, bitterly wishing that I could be like the angels in the sky and sprout wings so that I could tear Celestial into pieces.

Celestial only giggled. "Why are you angry? It's not like that is my wife."

"What did you say?" I was completely perplexed by his words.

15 "Cheng Yaojin": A general of the Tang Dynasty, but in folk stories, he started out as a peasant leader fighting for justice who was forced to become a bandit. He is said to be a reckless and straightforward person, who would charge at enemies suddenly and unexpectedly. The Chinese saying "半路 " literally means "Halfway through the road, Cheng Yaojin attacks unexpectedly," though its use here means "a person who appears unexpectedly."

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"This isn't the real Doll, it's a fake!" White Bird said, startled. "This is a dead NPC, not a player."

"Fake?" I hurriedly squatted down to investigate. She was right; this Doll's eyes were wide open and completely lifeless. If she were the real Doll, she should have long since become a white light and flown away, yet she continued to lie there… While I was still reasoning it out, she slowly became transparent, just like how a typical NPC monster would die; it probably wouldn't be long before she disappeared completely!

_Looks like this really isn't Doll. _I sighed in relief, but I couldn't help but start to scoldCelestial, "You bastard, are you trying to scare me to death? Why would you create an NPC like Doll for no reason? And even randomly throw it around!"

Celestial's mouth tightened. "The Dictator was the one who made this for me; it's not like I was the one who made it."

Coldly, I mocked, "I am eighty percent certain that the reason the Dictator of Life made Doll for you is so that you can practice your 'Honey, Honey Continuous Name Calling Technique' on it instead of him!"

"How did you know?" Celestial asked suspiciously.

_That's really the truth? _"Guessed…"

"She and Doll are still different?" Kenshin suddenly raised his head and asked Celestial.

Hearing this question, Celestial was actually furious to the point of yelling and screaming. "Different is different! When I licked her, she wouldn't slap me like my wife; when I gave her something to eat, she would actually say thank you, and when she finished eating one pack of pastries, she would say she's full. How is that my wife? Absolutely not!"

_That definitely is not Doll…_

"I don't want this kind of fake!" Celestial was so angry that he came down and kicked the fake Doll to the side.

"Me too," Kenshin suddenly said serenely. "I also don't want a fake. Kaoru…exists in my memories." He didn't look at the fake Kaoru again. Instead, he turned around to leave and said, "Let's go get tea, Fox."

Cold Fox only raised his eyebrows, and followed Kenshin without a word.

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"How cool!" I praised. _Kenshin really is Kenshin._ I couldn't help but gleefully look at the fake Kenshin and Kaoru. The two of them didn't look surprised. They walked away expressionlessly, becoming part of the surrounding messy scene.

"I want to see my wife. Can you take me to her?" Standing at my side, Celestial actually had a pleading expression on his androgynous face, giving me goosebumps all over my skin.

"No!" I refused instantly.

"Why?" Celestial was so furious that he was spinning in circles in his spot, continuing to rant without stopping. "I want to see my wife. I want to see my wife. Let me see her!"

"You're really stubborn. You've really only known Doll for not even a few hours, so how come you keep bothering her without letting go?" _Even falling in love at first sight_ _shouldn't be like this, right?_

"Because when I woke up, the first thing I saw was my wife," Celestial answered with an idiotic smile.

"Woke up?" I asked suspiciously. _It can't be…_

"Yes. When I first met you two, I was actually half dreaming, half awake," Celestial said, tilting his head slightly. He looked a bit curious, yet amused. "Afterward, when I brought my wife home, she slapped me and finally woke me up."

_Doll… Did you know that your slaps made a person like an extremely sticky piece of gum glue himself to you? _I really was helpless three times over.

"Can you let me see my wife—?" Celestial had barely finished speaking when his eyes suddenly began to shine. He looked behind me and before I knew it, he had pushed me and sent me flying to the side. I glanced back just in time to see an emotional Celestial running toward Doll.

_Slap! Slap!_

I opened my mouth and, disbelieving, asked, "…Doll, why did you slap him?"

Doll had a face of complete innocence. As if she had been wronged, she said, "Doesn't he like it when I slap him? That's why I did it…"

_I don't think that was what he meant, right? _I could see that Celestial's tears were on theverge of leaking out. The situation was really unusual; Celestial was half kneeling and half sobbing, and the responsible party, Doll, actually had an expression of innocence.

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_Perhaps the one that needs protection isn't Doll, but rather Celestial, who will need to apply for protection against domestic violence._

"Your Highness, what exactly is the situation now?" Gui furrowed his brows, looking at the strange scenes surrounding us.

I waved my hand. "I don't know; ask that bastard!" I pointed at the abused NPC, Celestial, who was currently pulling at Doll's skirt.

"Prince-gēgēis asking you a question. Hurry and answer him," Doll ordered, actually taking up a fierce role and facing Celestial with her fists on her hips.

"Oh." Celestial obediently pulled himself up and answered. "These are all NPCs sent by the Dictator. Once the Dictator knew that you wanted to attack the Northern Continent, he decided to strike first and send these NPCs to watch you. If you guys take any action, these NPCs will attack you."

_This will be troublesome. Under this sort of monitor, how are we going to carry out making a ship to attack the Northern Continent?_

"All of these are sentient NPCs?" Gui asked, face grim.

Celestial wore an expression that seemed to say "how could that be possible?" and waved his hand, saying, "It's not like that. How could there be so many self-aware NPCs? Even the Dictator has been having trouble finding more comrades! These are only normal NPCs."

"No wonder! No wonder the Dictator of Life has put up with you until now and hasn't gotten rid of you yet. He couldn't find other comrades, so he had no choice," I muttered to myself. If it wasn't like that, then someone like Celestial, who had scarce accomplishments yet excessive losses and even spilled everything to the enemy, would have been hacked back to rebirth one hundred times by the Dictator of Life.

Since Celestial was currently answering a hundred percent of my questions, I decided to clear up all of my quandaries. "Celestial, is the Dictator of Life a warrior or a mage?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen the Dictator attack personally." Celestial tilted his head, considering the question for a moment before he said, "Probably a mage. He often throws me around in mid air."

"Throws you around? Is his temper really bad?" I furrowed my brow.

"No, the Dictator's temper is very good," said Celestial. "Not like the others; I only say a few words and they look as if they want to kill me."

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"Others?" I couldn't help but ask suspiciously. _This is the first time I've heard of any_ _others_.

Celestial scratched his head. "Mm. Called something like the Four Heavenly Kings. I think they're called something like Ocean's Heart, Flowing Wind, Scorching Flame… Uh… What was the last one called?"

"Clay Child."

Celestial looked as though he had been struck by lightning. "Yes, yes, Clay Child."

"Geez, even though I'm the one you're on best terms with, why am I the only one you can't remember?" a child's voice complained. I watched as a plump child, who was wearing a yellow undergarment covering his chest and abdomen, slowly descended from the sky while standing on a golden skateboard.

"Clay Child, why have you come?" Celestial happily grabbed Clay Child's small hand and sprinted to Doll's side. Holding Clay Child up in front of Doll, he said, "Look, this is my wife. Isn't she cute!"

Clay Child had an obviously exasperated expression. "She _is_ very cute."

"You're also very cute." Doll couldn't help but grab Clay Child from Celestial's grasp and hold him to her chest to play with him. Clay Child actually didn't seem to mind, apparently already long since used to it. He let Doll pinch his cheeks and throw him up and down.

"But, have you completely forgotten the Dictator's orders?" Clay Child couldn't help but remind Celestial.

Stupefied, Celestial asked, "The Dictator? What did he ask of me?"

Clay Child fell from Doll's hands and landed flat on his back. With some difficulty, he pulled himself back onto his feet and, still exasperated, said, "No wonder the other Heavenly Kings don't like you. If it weren't for the Dictator not letting us kill each other, I think you would have long since been murdered by the others."

"Exactly what did the Dictator ask of me?" Celestial questioned with a face full of innocence.

"Didn't the Dictator get fed up with you always calling after your wife, so he told you to join up with me, capture your wife, and take her back to the Northern Continent?" Clay Child said unhappily. "Do you know how long I waited for you? If I hadn't guessed that you probably came directly to the Central Continent, I would probably still be waiting for you in the Northern Continent."

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_Capture Doll! _I had originally been listening to Celestial and Clay Child talk, laughing sohard that I almost couldn't breathe, but my smile immediately froze on my face. In a flash, I grabbed Doll's hands and ran to the training ground entrance. _I don't know why,_ _but I have a feeling that if I don't hurry and get in, Doll will disappear forever._

"You want to run? Earth Wall!" Clay Child's young, child-like voice said. A towering wall instantly appeared from the ground before me. I almost couldn't stop myself from running into it.

"Block them; I'll get Doll inside the training ground first!" I roared at my comrades behind me, but in actuality they had already started moving and everyone was beginning to attack Clay Child and Celestial.

_I'll come back as soon as possible_. Seeing my comrades in the middle of battle, I put allmy efforts into carrying Doll and sprinting, silently praying in my heart: _Absolutely don't_ _let anything happen to anyone!_

"Gah! I tripped," I loudly yelled my predicament as I stumbled, which was then followed by a very loud _thud_.

I painfully groaned before slowly pulling myself back up, but just when I wanted to continue running, I realized that Doll, who had been in my hands, had disappeared. I was so startled that I turned around frantically to look for her, only to stop when I heard Celestial start to berate me.

"What the hell are you doing?! You almost tossed my wife away! If you injured her, I'll make you pay!"

I raised my head and saw Celestial carrying Doll while floating in the air. _Crap! Celestial_ _won't take Doll back just like this, will he?_

"That didn't take any effort at all…." Clay Child wore an expression of complete helplessness and even shook his head while looking at me. "I really don't know why the Dictator considers a brute like you as his main enemy, even going so far as to say that we can't kill you because he wants to deal with you personally."

Clay Child stepped on his skateboard and glided to Celestial's side. "Let's go. It's time to return to the Northern Continent."

"I don't want to! I don't want to go to the Northern Continent!" Doll was so terrified that her face had become deathly pale.

Celestial revealed an injured expression. "Why? Wife, you don't want to go back with me?"

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"I don't want to go to the Northern Continent! I want to be with everyone," Doll's tears were almost brimming over, and she pleaded piteously. "Celestial, how about you stay here?"

Celestial even murmured "oh," and then said, "Okay, if my wife doesn't want to go to the Northern Continent, then I'll stay here instead."

For the second time, Clay Child fell from his skateboard, this time falling from a height of over ten meters; it was so painful that he wailed for a good while before he had the strength to say, "You—Don't stir up trouble! Celestial, do you plan on betraying the Dictator?"

"What do you mean, betray the Dictator? I only want to stay with my wife." Celestial had a completely uncomprehending expression.

_Talking with this bastard is useless! _I could "see" this same thought on everyone's faces.

Clay Child held his forehead for a long moment before he said helplessly, "Alright, then you can stay here for now since there are so many NPCs here. They should be enough to prevent you from being killed by humans. I'll go back and ask the Dictator before deciding what to do.

"Ah, ah, if the other three Heavenly Kings hear about this, they'll definitely dislike you even more," Clay Child complained again as he stepped onto his skateboard and glided toward the north.

We looked up at the departing Clay Child, looked right and left at the messy scenes around us, and then helplessly heard the "_Pa! Pa!_" of another two slaps. _What exactly do_ _we do now?_

"So now scores of NPCs and even Celestial are staying here. What should we do with our plan?" My mind was in complete chaos, so I could only throw the problem to the ones who had caught up to me, the ones who did my thinking for me.

Lolidragon knitted her brows together. "Celestial… He couldn't have been sent to watch Infinite City's movements, could he?"

"Shouldn't be. He was just doggedly trying to take Doll to the Den of Wandering Nymphs to play," I said honestly.

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"If the Dictator of Life were stupid enough to send that bastard to spy, then he should be called the Piglet of Life, not the Dictator of Life16," Ming Huang mocked unsympathetically.

"Still, this means that we need to change our strategy." Lolidragon rubbed her temples. "What should we do?"

Gui said coldly, "Why do we need to change our strategy? Fighting on the Northern Continent and fighting on the Central Continent are the same. Anyway, this battle's main purpose is to distract the Dictator of Life, giving the Execution Squad the opportunity to reach the Dictator."

"Still, we need to find an alternative first," Gui said gravely as he closed his eyes. "If Prince and the others don't appear in our fighting force, then the Dictator of Life will definitely discover our plan."

"Lolidragon, can you tell your programmers to develop a disguise skill for us to use? This kind of small thing should be doable, right?" Gui questioned Lolidragon.

"It should be," Lolidragon said after thinking about it for a moment.

"Then this should work…" Gui furrowed his brows. "Although, I've been having some suspicions."

"Suspicions about what?" I asked curiously.

Gui hesitated for a moment before saying, "I think that the Dictator of Life knows our every move. He sent Kaoru to entice Kenshin to join his side, yet has not made any attempts toward Sunshine. Just from this, we can tell that he most likely knows about Sunshine and Fairsky's relationship."

"But they got together before the game company sealed away the Dictator of Life, so it isn't unusual that the Dictator of Life would know about that, right?" Lolidragon protested in disagreement.

"No, I think that even now, he knows our every move," Gui said calmly. "When I think about this carefully, the Dictator of Life's control over Second Life is very extensive. He may have over a hundred methods to know our movements such as, for example, making an NPC as small as or even smaller than a mosquito to eavesdrop on our conversations."

16 "…He should be called the Piglet of Life, not the Dictator of Life.": This is a pun where the characters for "Dictator" in "the Dictator of Life" are replaced with characters that are pronounced almost the same in Chinese as "Dictator" but mean something very different. 主宰 (ǔ**z**ǎi),h Dictator, was replaced with 豬仔 (ǔ**z**ǎi),h which means young

pig.

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"Then isn't that very bad? Doesn't that mean that he may have long since known about our plan to secretly go to the Northern Continent?" I gulped. _Even killing the Dictator of_ _Life when he's not prepared has a low enough success rate, but now that he knows…? Doesn't this mean that we'll go but never come back?_

"Mm. So that's why I don't understand: Why doesn't he kill us? Apart from the assassins from before, he hasn't sent anyone else to kill us. Before, I always thought that we really had no way to match him. The Dictator of Life probably has at least over a hundred methods he can use to get rid of us." Gui looked as if his brain might burst from exertion. "It doesn't make sense. It really doesn't make sense."

"Isn't his purpose to force all humans out of Second Life?" Gui scratched his head and then muttered to himself, "He only needs to send out a bunch of NPCs with the HD program to massacre us, so why is he still staying his hand? Why does he only threaten us?"

Seeing Gui's mystification, I distinctly felt that having too much intelligence was not necessarily good: it's very likely to make you think too much and make your brain explode_. I have it so much better!_ I completely did not understand what part of the Dictator's actions did not make sense.

He's waiting for you.

A familiar voice suddenly entered my ear. _Isn't that Celestial's voice? But isn't Celestial_ _with Doll, playing around outside the city? And it looks like no one else is reacting to these words._

The Dictator of Life has always been waiting for you, Prince. Go. Go to the Northern Continent to find him! If you're late, then you might not make it in time.

"Won't make it in time for what?" I said, startled, but I only received suspicious looks that everyone cast my way.

Hurry! He's waiting for you.

"Waiting for me? Why?" I asked suspiciously. However, Celestial did not answer me again.

"Prince?" Gui hesitantly asked as he looked at me.

Uncomprehendingly, I turned around. _What exactly was that? Why are things only getting_ _more and more complicated? Why is the Dictator of Life waiting for me? Is he waiting for me to drink tea with him?_

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**Chapter 7: The Day Before Setting Off **

"You've really decided to set out tomorrow?" Nan Gong Zui asked me several times in disbelief.

"Yes!" I patiently answered him over and over again. I'm aware that setting out tomorrow might be a little too sudden, but I have a feeling that the sooner we reach the Northern Continent, the better. It's not Celestial's words that make me feel like this, but another strange feeling, as if… something in the Northern Continent is calling to me. To me, it feels like even setting out tomorrow will be too late.

"The deadline of twenty-one days is still a ways away. Why are you in such a rush? It wouldn't hurt to wait until we have a better plan…" Lolidragon said hesitantly.

"I have to go. There's something there, calling out to me," I replied while staring toward the distant Northern Continent, although I had no idea what awaited me there. The Dictator of Life? That can't be right; why would he be waiting for me? Waiting for me to chop him up?

"There's something calling to you?" A weird expression appeared on everyone's face. That's understandable; this is not a fantasy novel, so how could there be something calling out to me? Even I suspected that the mounting stress had caused me to develop auditory hallucinations.

"I believe you, Prince," Lolidragon suddenly said excitedly.

"Really?" How touching, and here I actually thought that Lolidragon would be the first to say that I've lost my mind.

"Yes, when you were looking toward the Northern Continent earlier, you actually looked in the right direction! That is absolutely amazing, so there really must be something guiding you," Lolidragon said eagerly, clenching her fists.

Hey…

"So who is willing to come with me tomorrow? I will not force you. It's okay if you guys follow when all the preparations are ready," I said while looking at everyone.

Everyone fell silent. _Are you serious? No one is willing to come with me? Then I really_ _must reconsider going tomorrow._

"Odd Squad will always act together!" Wolf-dàgēsaid after a while, and Yu Lian -dàsăo gave me an encouraging smile.

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In an unfriendly tone, Lolidragon said, "If you let me die for no reason, I swear I'll chase you all the way back to your house and kill you."

To my house? So you would like to come and see if my brother really is that handsome in real life while visiting my parents, your future parents-in-law, at the same time?

"Wherever his Highness goes, so too will Gui." Gui bowed elaborately as usual.

Doll pounced on me, and giggling, with no hesitation on her face, she said, "I want to go with Prince-gēge."

"I'll go too," Feng Wu Qing said lightly, simultaneously calling me a stupid sister through a private message.

"I'll definitely follow you, for without you I wouldn't even be here in Second Life." As for the one who said that, of course it was Wicked, the Zhuo-gēge who'd always cared for me.

"We're friends, so of course I'll follow you." As always, Nan Gong Zui went straight to point without any extra words.

"Let's go, let's go! The two of us want to see just how beautiful the Dictator of Life is!" Neurotic and DanDan laughed happily.

As for Winter Triumph, he could only shake his head helplessly while saying, "Although there's no money to be earned and I may even lose money, the princess is going, so staying here instead of going to protect the Princess would be unacceptable."

"Lolidragon, you are going? Then I'll go too." Everyone turned their heads in time to avoid Undying Man's sparkling eyes attack.

"Fairsky and I will be going. We're going to fight for ourselves!" Sunshine said, hugging Fairsky tightly. I could see the look of resolve and determination in his eyes, the total opposite of the laziness and naivety I had seen when I first met him… However, the Sunshine now was even more attractive.

"…"

How peculiar. Kenshin didn't say anything, yet everyone needed only to look at him and a "…" appeared automatically in our heads. I guess this "…" probably means a silent agreement.

"I'll go. It's fine, so long as there are battles to fight," the other "piece of ice," Cold Fox, said. His eyes were filled with longing and passion for battle, definitely not for me.

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I was filled with gratitude. I would never have thought that everyone would be willing to go with me. Wholeheartedly I said, "Thanks, really, thank you everyone."

"What is there to thank us for? We are all friends," Neurotic said as he tightly gripped my head, and vigorously ruffled and messed up my hair. I started laughing, ran away and gave DanDan a peck as revenge.

"Ah! You rascal, don't you know that one should never mess around with his friend's wife?" Neurotic rushed toward me and brushed me away.

I laughed, my heart filled with gratitude. _Regardless of whether it's God, the Buddha, or_ _Allah, whoever it was, thank you for letting me have such wonderful friends!_

Everyone messed and fooled around for quite a while before taking their leave one after another, until the ones left were the daughter of the company's president, who had nothing better to do, and me, a slacking university student who had no lessons in the morning. After a minute, Lolidragon asked worriedly, "Do you think this whole thing about Celestial wanting you to head out as soon as possible is actually a trap?"

"I'm not sure." I shrugged. "Anyway, the only way out now is to fight our way into the Northern Continent and defeat the Dictator of Life. That is a fact that even Gui cannot deny. And didn't Gui mention that our every move is already known to the Dictator of Life? So it wouldn't make much of a difference if we went now or later," I said indifferently. I was also rather disturbed by what Celestial said to me the other day. I had a feeling that I would regret it if I didn't listen to what Celestial said and get there immediately.

After a moment of silence Lolidragon finally asked, "Prince, do you still insist on having the ND attached to you?"

"Yes." I nodded determinedly, having never once regretted the choice.

"Fine, because you're the only one who can… If you're the one to solve this, then I guess it's fine," Lolidragon said, with a slight hint of grief.

"What's wrong?" I was really shocked. _Lolidragon could actually emit this aura called_ _grief? How surprising; usually other than a perverted aura, the only other aura Lolidragon would have would be that of murderous intent._

Feeling a little awkward, Lolidragon said, "I guess it would be alright to tell you this. The physical features of the Dictator of Life were actually decided by me, and were modeled after a real person."

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_Ohohoho, modeled after a real person? Are you serious? There is someone that handsome in real life? _I swallowed. "So where is that person? Bring him along and letme take a look at him someday?" I suggested.

"He escaped," Lolidragon's face darkened.

"Escaped?" _Did I hear that correctly? The Dictator of Life was designed using the face of_ _an escaped criminal? That must have helped to achieve a rather effective raise in the public awareness of the Wanted List…_

"Yup. In fact, he is actually a key figure in the Second Life Company. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he is the father of Second Life." Lolidragon seemed to convey this in a rather relaxed manner. However, I could clearly see that she was a little stiff, and there was a look of either love or hatred in her eyes. Then again, maybe both feelings were there.

"His name's Long Dian. He is an excellent programmer. No, maybe I should put it this way: in the area of programming, if he were to say that he's the second best, no one would dare claim to be number one. He single-handedly created Second Life, becoming a right hand man my father was most proud of. In my father's company, he could get anyone or do anything he wanted."

"Then why would he escape?" _Why would someone like that need to escape? Don't tell_ _me it's to escape from the claws of Lolidragon?_

"Because he had secretly used Second Life to conduct illegal experiments." Lolidragon's face became very stern as she continued, "He made use of the company's name and funds to recruit test subjects to conduct illegal human experiments on."

"Use Second Life to conduct illegal experiments? Second Life is just a game, what experiments could possibly be carried out here?" I was a little confused. _At most a survey_ _or a trial test could be conducted, right? Is there any need to escape just because of that?_

After remaining silent for a long, long time, Lolidragon finally said, "I have no idea why I'm telling you this… Maybe it's due to my guilt, my remorse for those people. He first had those people play the game, temporarily taking the roles of NPC characters. Then he cut off their brain waves, trapping them in the game, and murdered their physical bodies."

_Murder? _My eyes widened, "Why would he do that?"

"He wanted to see if a human could actually live in the game, hence obtaining eternal life," Lolidragon answered, coldly.

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I gasped. _Why do I always come across situations that would only occur in a science_ _fiction movie? _Immediately I asked, "So what happened to those people? Are they reallyliving in the game?"

With a slight sense of regret and resentment, Lolidragon sighed and said, "We initially thought that it would be impossible for the experiment to succeed as after those people died, the NPCs reverted back to their original state, with no signs of humanity at all. Even so, we dared not delete those NPCs. Who would ever have guessed that problems would start to arise after so long…"

It felt as though something snapped in my brain. _Don't tell me…_ "Kenshin and Sunshine?" I asked softly.

Lolidragon nodded wearily. "Yes, both of them."

"Oh my God!" I gasped. _So that's the truth! Both Kenshin and Sunshine were originally_ _human. They are humans who are living inside the game!_

_Could it be that the Dictator of Life whose blueprint was based on Long Dian is also…? _Icouldn't help but ask, "Is the Dictator of Life actually Long Dian?"

"I don't know." Shaking her head, Lolidragon said bitterly, "There has not been a single piece of news from him since he escaped, so maybe he really is just living in the game now."

"Yeah, it might just be that the Dictator of Life is actually him." I smiled ambiguously. "So that's why. Lolidragon, you wanted me to go and finish off your ex-lover?"

Lolidragon blushed. "What ex-lover? There's nothing between me and him."

I chuckled while protecting my head, to protect myself from getting beaten to death by the rarely embarrassed Lolidragon. However, I could not help but feel a little puzzled deep inside. _If that is the case, then why did Celestial say that the Dictator of Life is_ _waiting for me? Even if he's waiting, shouldn't he be waiting for Lolidragon instead?_

"Are you really going to install the ND on yourself?" a voice suddenly cut in while I was fooling around with Lolidragon. I looked up and saw that it was Gui, and he wasn't smiling at all. I had never seen Gui give me such a cold expression before and could not help but feel a little anxious.

"Are you really going to install the ND on yourself?" Gui asked again. Fury could be seen in his eyes. Even his fists were clenched tightly. I was horrified and stared at this Gui, who was nothing like the Gui I knew.

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"Eh, I think I'll leave first," Lolidragon swallowed, made a beeline for the exit, and ran off. _Traitor!_

"Answer me!" Furious, Gui charged up and grabbed my shoulders.

Looking at Gui's bloodshot eyes, I could barely mutter a word due to fear. Did Gui eat something bad? He has never been so fierce to me before. I could not understand this change, and I was terrified.

"Yeah…" I finally managed to squeeze out.

"You're going to disappear forever. You're going to disappear forever, do you realize that?" Gui bellowed.

"I know." I struggled free of Gui's hands and protested, "But I must do this, for Kenshin, for Sunshine, and for the Dictator of Life!"

"Then what about me?" Gui suddenly shouted, "If you were to disappear, what would I do?"

I was stunned. _So this is what Gui was so angry about._

"Have you never thought about me? Not even for a moment?" Gui's eyes were filled with dismay. A teardrop slowly fell from his eye. I could not help but catch it in my hand. I stared at it, dazed. "Prince…" Gui suddenly hugged me tightly. Just when I felt that something was not right and was about to struggle out of his arms, he begged, "Don't push me away! I know my strength is incomparable to yours, but please, please don't push me away."

Hearing Gui's whimpering pleas, I really, really couldn't bring myself to push him away. I could only stand there quietly, allowing him to hug me as he cried softly, letting his sobs wound my heart as memories of the past appeared before my eyes…

My beloved Highness, if you cannot remember Guiliastes' name, then please call me by my nickname… Just call me Gui…

Prince is like a rose with thorns. If at first I had known about its thorns, then perhaps I would not have picked it up. However, I have already picked the rose up, smelled its fragrance and seen its beauty. If I put it down now, the suffering borne by my heart would be more painful than the pain of my bleeding hand, torn open by the thorns. Therefore, I cannot put it down.

No matter who you might be, I don't mind. I firmly believe that who you are now is the true you, just as the person I am right now is the true me. Everything else is of no

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importance – be it gender, appearance, or even the facades we assume in real life… None of those are important…

If my tears can be used in exchange for your smile, then it's more than worthwhile.

"I'm sorry, Gui, I've always broken your heart." I gently ran my hand over his long, silky hair. _Why am I always making this man cry? Shattering the heart of this man who's_ _always been quietly watching over me?_

"I have never considered your feelings… I'm really sorry," I apologized sincerely, deciding that I would never, ever ignore him like that again.

"I don't care about anything else; as long as you don't leave me or ignore me, I will be fine." Gui's arms which were already hugging my tightly, tightened again, as if fearing that I would simply disappear.

"Don't worry, no matter how the situation turns out, I will never disappear from you, I promise." Holding up Gui's face, I gave him a light peck on his forehead before continuing, "If Prince was to disappear, I promise you that you will definitely meet the real me." _Even if there's no Second Life, I still had to attend Professor Gui's classes,_ _right?_

"Prince…" Seeming like he had finally relaxed, Gui slowly let go of me. Looking a little regretful, he apologized, "I'm sorry Prince, I shouldn't have troubled you before your departure."

"I—" _I don't mind…_ Before I could finish my sentence, the door suddenly burst open with a loud bang and two eavesdroppers tumbled in.

"I told you to pull the door tight. Look, now we can't eavesdrop anymore," Lolidragon, who was on top, roared angrily.

Unwilling to lose to Lolidragon, Feng Wu Qing, who was on the bottom, retorted, "It's because you kept pressing down on me! You need to lose some weight."

"What did you say? Are you saying that I'm fat?!" Lolidragon shouted with flames of fury shooting from her eyes.

I guess my brother's definitely dead meat this time. Didn't he know that there are three taboo things which you can never complain about when it comes to women? One: the looks. Just a single word, "ugly," and even if you buy her a diamond ring, a Porsche, and a bungalow afterward as an apology, she would still remember that word for life. Two: the figure. Similar results as the previous one. Three: her boyfriend. If you dare to look down on her boyfriend, then it means you're looking down on her standards, looking

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down on her ability to get a boyfriend, looking down on her future long term food provider… But I digress. Anyway, my brother will probably die a painful death this time.

"Gui, let's take our leave first," I said calmly.

"But Lolidragon looks like she's going to murder Wu Qing. Shouldn't we stop them?" Gui looked worriedly at Lolidragon, who seemed to burn with fury.

"There's no need to. They're just showing their care, concern, and love for each other through fighting and scolding. Let's not disturb them in their process of being lovey-dovey with each other," I said as I pushed Gui's back, propelling him out through the door.

_And also, this might be the last time they'll ever fight like this. _Feeling a little depressed, Ilooked at them. _This time, we might not be revived again._

"Prince," Lolidragon suddenly called me.

I turned around, confused. "What?"

"I've let the programmers attach the ND program to your character already," Lolidragon said, moving her foot away from my brother's most vital part… The second most vital part in the game.

_Installed on me already? How come I don't feel any different?_

"When you're going to launch ND, just shout, 'ND self-destruct program activate.' After shouting that, a flash of white light will appear on you and that will indicate that it has been launched," Lolidragon explained carefully.

Just as I was about to nod to show that I understood, Gui spoke. Coldly, he said, "Wouldn't that be a little too obvious? The Dictator of Life would definitely find out that the ND program is on Prince."

"You can shout it before you see the Dictator…" Lolidragon replied hesitantly.

"And why don't you install the ND on everyone? Wouldn't there be a greater chance of succeeding? If it's only installed on Prince, and it just so happens he fails, wouldn't everything be over then?" Gui pressed.

"Oh yeah. Lolidragon, do you want to install it on more people? It would be safer that way." _Heaven knows if I will be able to finish off the god of Second Life. I think the_ _chance of me actually achieving success is rather slim. For Kenshin and Sunshine's sake, I think it would be safer for more people to be installed with ND._

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"Prince, don't interrupt." Gui's unhappy face scared me a little as he said, "I won't believe that in such a well-known gaming company, not a single person realized that it would be safer if more than one ND was installed." Finally, Gui stopped beating around the bush and demanded, "What are you hiding?"

Lolidragon looked as though she wanted to say something, yet could not say a thing. Her apologetic eyes even tried to avoid mine. _Is Lolidragon really hiding something from me?_

"Lolidragon?" _I understand Lolidragon less and less now. Is there actually a need to hide_ _something from me?_

Lolidragon sighed again. "Prince, can you promise me that, no matter what happens, you will definitely kill the Dictator of Life?"

"Are you talking nonsense?" I couldn't understand her at all. If not for that, why would I be going to the Northern Continent tomorrow? For a field trip?

Lolidragon closed her eyes, as if confessing her sins to a priest. "Prince, I've kept a lot of things from you, but I promise, once everything is over, I will definitely tell you everything. As for now, I'm sorry! I can't say anything."

I was a little stunned. _Lolidragon has kept a lot of things from me? But… Why?_

Lolidragon opened her eyes, and went straight to the point, "All I can say is that only you can kill the Dictator of Life. That is why attaching the ND to others would be utterly useless."

_Only I…can kill the Dictator of Life? What does that mean?_

"Rubbish, the Dictator can't be killed by anyone!" a ferocious voice suddenly sounded from behind me, but this voice was not a familiar one. Just as I was about to turn around, I suddenly found myself in a situation similar to being sucked up by a super powerful vacuum cleaner. I couldn't counter that force at all; I could only let myself be pulled into the air by this unknown person.

"Prince!" Gui, Lolidragon, and Wu Qing—who had been pretending to be dead on the floor—all started attacking the thing behind me. However, from their expressions I could tell that all their attacks were futile!

I struggled desperately, suspended in the air. It was as though a merciless and powerful hand was holding the back of my neck, and I could not break free no matter how hard I tried. In fact, I slowly started to feel a warm liquid trickle down the back of my neck…

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"Damn it!" I unsheathed my Black Dao and with all my might swung it behind me. Before I managed to cut anything, another surge of energy flung me heavily into the wall and I collapsed onto the floor. It felt as if all my bones were going to break into pieces.

"Prince." Gui ran toward me and helped me up. His exposed worries and concerns could be seen crystal clear in his eyes.

I looked up toward the uninvited guest. A wind-like person appeared before my eyes… They were translucent, floating in the air, with long clothes that fluttered in the wind. A name popped up in my mind—_Flowing Wind, one of the Four Heavenly Kings Celestial_ _had mentioned! _I instinctively knew that this must be Flowing Wind.

"Just what is there in you that the Dictator of Life values so much?" After scrutinizing me, he said disdainfully, "So weak, yet you still dream of killing the Dictator of Life? What a joke."

"You're Flowing Wind?" I asked seriously as I stood.

Flowing Wind's eyebrows rose. "That stupid Celestial told you? Where is he?"

"What's your reason for coming to Infinite City?" I was shocked. _Didn't Clay Child_ _mention before leaving, that the other three Heavenly Kings hated Celestial? Don't tell me Flowing Wind came for Celestial?_

"Humph, I will go anywhere I feel like! Do I need your permission?" Flowing Wind shouted discontentedly. While he was shouting, the wind got stronger. It was blowing so much that I could barely open my eyes. However, through my pride and anger I forced myself to keep them open. _This guy is so annoying. If I don't beat the shit out of him then_ _I can just forget about killing the Dictator of Life, because I might just die right here from vomiting too much blood due to my pent-up rage._

"I can't control where you feel like going," I said coldly. "But since you've entered Infinite City, and it just so happens that I'm the Overlord of Infinite City, I will not put up with your impudent behavior."

Flowing Wind was momentarily stunned, but burst into laughter soon afterward. He spoke while still laughing, "You? You won't put up with my impudent behavior? Hahaha, can you even do anything to me? If it weren't for the fact that the Dictator of Life forbids it, just I alone would be enough to kill you."

_What an annoying guy! _My temple vein throbbed. Raising my Black Dao, I said coldly,"Try me!"

"Come." Flowing Wind snorted as he curled his finger, goading me.

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_Far too annoying! _Just as I raised my Black Dao, I immediately felt the wind around mepicking up speed. _Humph, trying to stop me with wind? Don't you know that wind aids in_ _the spreading of a fire? _In a split second, I ducked and made a slide for Flowing Wind.

Looking surprised, Flowing Wind immediately turned the wind into a whirlwind, surrounding and protecting himself. _Excellent opportunity!_

"Inferno Slash!" Engulfing my Black Dao with flame, I followed the direction of the wind and sent slash after slash into it. Just as I had expected, the wind picked up the flames, turning the whirlwind around Flowing Wind into a mini tornado of flames.

Shocked, Flowing Wind immediately stopped the wind to avoid being burnt by the fiery tornado, without knowing that this was exactly what I was waiting for. _Without the_ _protection of wind, let's see if you are still that tough._

Seizing the opportunity, I shouted "Dragon Whirlwind Strike!" I slashed toward Flowing Wind like a spinning top. This is a move where even if it misses, it can still cause harm to the opponent.

"Eh!" Flowing Wind immediately dodged back, avoiding the deadly move, and then stared furiously at the bright red blood stain on his shoulder. But of course I couldn't be happier; just one move and he was severely wounded… All right, I admit the damage Flowing Wind had suffered was just a tiny graze. But at least there's blood. I've finally taken revenge for having been thrown into the wall by him.

"You!" Flowing Wind's eyes gradually turned from blue to blood red. The turbulent wind around us raged even more, causing me pain as it whipped against me. Looking down, I could see numerous red graze marks appearing on any exposed skin not covered with armor.

I smiled warily. _It seems that I've really gone and angered Flowing Wind now… He is_ _one of the Four Heavenly Kings under the Dictator of Life; can I really beat him?_

"Supersonic Soul-chasing Arrow!"

A translucent arrow suddenly grazed Flowing Wind's face and a trickle of blood ran down his cheek. Seeing how stunned he looked, I couldn't help but laugh.

"Well done, Gui," I said as I laughed. I had not expected Gui to make such a sudden attack, causing this member of the Four Heavenly Kings to experience humiliation yet again.

"Despicable humans!" Flowing Wind howled and suddenly disappeared.

_Where is he? _I stood stunned.

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"Gui!" Lolidragon suddenly screamed. My heart skipped a beat and I instantly spun around—

A heart covered in blood suddenly appeared in Flowing Wind's initially empty hand, and a ragged, bloody hole appeared in Gui's chest…

"Gui!"

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**Extra Chapter: Life In Search of a Future **

– **translated by nausicaä**

Kenshin

"I'm a comrade." A man with red hair suddenly appeared, floating in midair as Kenshin was taking one of his rare, solitary retreats in the forest.

"Comrade?" asked Kenshin in his usual reserved manner. Nevertheless, he felt something stir inside him. _Could this person be like he was, an NPC with self-awareness?_

"Yes, I'm like you, a self-aware NPC."

"Name?" Kenshin asked with characteristic brusqueness.

"Dictator of Life," the man replied. He didn't seem to mind Kenshin's curt questioning.

"Dictator of Life," Kenshin repeated carefully. He raised his head to face this comrade and said, "I'm Kenshin, and there's another comrade called Sunshine."

"I know," said the Dictator of Life with a kind smile as he landed to sit beside Kenshin. The latter said nothing, and remained lying down next to the Dictator of Life.

"Do you want to go to the Northern Continent? We have many comrades there," the Dictator of Life said after some time. "What's more, after a while, there will be no more humans there to disturb us, and you will no longer have to conceal your identity as an NPC."

"What do you mean?" asked Kenshin, his mind now full of questions. _How could there_ _not be any humans in the Northern Continent?_

"I am in the process of eliminating the humans of the Northern Continent, so before long there shouldn't be any people left," the Dictator of Life said calmly.

Kenshin, who was originally lying on the grass, suddenly sat up. "You're going to eliminate the humans of the Northern Continent?"

The Dictator of Life gave a faint smile and replied, "More accurately speaking, all the humans of _Second Life_."

Kenshin was so shocked he was unable to speak. _Eliminate all the humans of Second_ _Life? _The idea was simply insane.

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"Could it be that you're not dissatisfied living as the humans' pet?" asked the Dictator of Life in a measured tone, ignoring Kenshin's astonishment. "With your master constantly ordering you around to do his bidding, have you never wondered why you had to obey him? Don't you feel resentful at always having to hide your identity as an NPC?"

The sudden barrage of questions rendered Kenshin temporarily speechless. Did being Prince's pet make him feel dissatisfied? He was actually okay with it; after all, he had never had to call anyone "master." Though, Prince always stole his tea, which did leave him feeling rather resentful.

He couldn't deny the fact that Prince was always ordering him around either. It was true that whenever Prince got himself into a particularly sticky situation, he always called Kenshin in to clean up the mess. For instance, there was that incident with Celestial… Although, Prince nearly sacrificed himself for him in the end. And then there was the case involving Cold Fox, but as a result of that, he had found someone to drink tea with, which wasn't bad, especially since this new companion was very quiet and therefore infinitely better than the loud-mouthed Prince.

As for the issue of him having to conceal his identity as an NPC… Perhaps this did make him feel rather bitter and afraid of approaching humans. After all, he didn't have the courage Sunshine had to fall in love with a person.

"Come join the ranks of your allies in the Northern Continent, and together let us truly turn _Second Life_ into our world," said the Dictator of Life, his face turning grim.

"There's nothing really bad about the way things are now," Kenshin responded with some hesitation.

"Do you know what will happen if it's discovered that you have self-awareness?" the Dictator of Life pressed relentlessly.

Kenshin's heart suddenly missed a beat. If he was found out…it would definitely be the end for him. Even Prince wouldn't be able to save him then.

"Are you not even a little resentful of these humans who are free to slaughter us as they please? Would you rather continue on in this foolish manner, until the humans discover your secret and then destroy you?" the Dictator of Life asked again, continuing his ruthless onslaught.

Kenshin had no words to fight back with. _Perhaps,_ he thought, _his destruction was_ _precisely what he was expecting, and he was simply waiting to experience the same fate as Kaoru_.

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"Don't you wish to rebel against the humans who brought about the tragic fate of Kaoru and yourself?" questioned the Dictator of Life, finally throwing down his trump card, which was also the only thing Kenshin cared about.

"Kaoru…" Kenshin felt a dull, throbbing pain in his heart. Even…even though he knew that everything between him and Kaoru wasn't real, even though it was possible that Kaoru was just a compliant NPC, he could never forget about her.

"Join us!"

_Kaoru isn't some object to be used! _Suddenly angered, Kenshin roared, "Don't use Kaoruto tempt me, and don't ever let me hear her name come out of your mouth again!"

"Is that so?" The Dictator of Life silently and slowly ascended into the sky. "You are welcome to join us anytime. You need only to call out to me in your mind, and your comrades will welcome you."

_The Dictator of Life! _Kenshin watched as the figure slowly evaporated. He felt a growingsense of agitation within himself, gradually spreading until the instant right before the Dictator of Life disappeared. He felt an urge to call out and stop him, this man who, besides Sunshine, was the only comrade he had.

"Kenshin!" Cold Fox's voice drifted in from somewhere behind him. "There's trouble in the city, let's go back together."

"Alright." Without another word, Kenshin followed Cold Fox, but he couldn't help looking back at the spot where the Dictator of Life had disappeared.

Celestial

Very rarely did players appear in his home. But when those four players appeared, they even walked straight into the spot that lay precisely beneath the magic portal. As such, in accordance with the rules, he himself had to appear and go deal with them personally.

_That round girl is so cute! _The thought suddenly popped into Celestial's head._ That round, powdery face, round hair buns, round eyes, how could everything be so round?_

Celestial could barely keep himself from smiling.

_Alright, I'll have this girl stay here to keep me company! _Celestial decided, andimmediately proceeded to act.

"How about being my wife? Stay here with me." Having just captured the girl, Celestial wasted no time in presenting his request, and at the same time, he was unable to resist

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rubbing his face against this cute girl's cheek. _So smooth and soft_, he thought. _It feels_ _really good!_

"Don't be ridiculous!" Despite being afraid at first, the girl looked as though she couldn't stand him anymore, and viciously swatted Celestial twice with her right hand.

"What are you doing?" Although he had been hit twice, Celestial only felt a light stinging in his cheeks. There wasn't much strength behind the blows. On the whole, he found it all rather amusing. "Try doing it again!"

The girl almost—no, she really got mad. Abandoning all reason, she opened her mouth and sunk her teeth into Celestial's arm.

"Are you hungry?" Celestial asked curiously. _His wife was actually so hungry that she_ _was eating him!_

Three dark lines dropped down the girl's face. She opened her mouth and dejectedly said, "Just hurry up and kill me; I still need to return to the city and find Prince-gēgē."

"I'm not going to kill you. I want you to be my wife," Celestial said with a smile.

The girl opened her eyes wide and asked, "Do you even know what 'wife' means?"

"Of course I know," Celestial responded in a matter-of-fact tone. "It means a person who will always be with me."

_Well, that's not exactly wrong either_, the girl grudgingly admitted. "Don't you have a lotof purpled-robed nymphs to keep you company?" she insisted.

"Purple-robed nymphs? You mean this?" Celestial summoned a purple-robed nymph out of thin air.

The girl nodded her head frantically.

"This is also a part of me, and I control it," said Celestial in a somewhat aggrieved tone. "Being by myself is so boring, how about you keep me company?"

_Ugh, _she thought._ Even though Celestial seemed pitiable, she couldn't really stay there with him, and yet he refused to kill her. Sob! And she couldn't ask Prince-g__ē__g__ē__to come save her or he'd be killed by Celestial. Oh well, she would go offline now and return tomorrow to think of some solution._

_Go offline_… The girl's face turned pale. "Why can't I go offline?"

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"What's 'go offline'?" inquired a curious Celestial as he squatted down in front of the girl.

"It means to leave this game," replied the girl, ashen-faced as she struggled to go offline. It was no use. Panicking, she hurriedly PMed Prince, but in her distress she failed to notice the change that had come over Celestial's expression.

"Leave…the game? What's a game?" A strange feeling began to weave its way into Celestial's consciousness.

"This! This is a game; I'm a player, and you're an NPC, so I can't be your wife." The girl, upset that she could not go offline, could only shout in reply.

"What's an NPC?" Celestial asked confusedly as a most peculiar feeling stirred within the depths of his heart.

_Prince-g__ē__g__ē__said he was going to bring people to come and save her _. The girl finallycalmed down and replied, "The characters besides the players."

"Then what's a player?" asked Celestial, feeling even more perplexed. _Why couldn't he_ _understand anything she said?_

Although she thought it was weird for this boss to have so many questions, the girl still answered each one in detail, including the matters concerning the game, such as players and NPCs.

"I…I will think about this carefully," said Celestial as he walked out in a flustered manner. Suddenly he turned to say, "I will leave a doppelganger to keep you company. This way you won't be bored."

_My wife and I are different? And because we're different, we can't be together? _As hestood there thinking, Celestial felt a stab of anguish in his heart.

"Return Doll now!" an icy voice demanded.

Celestial glared at his wife's companions. _They were the same as his wife, so they could_ _be with her, yet he could not? _he thought angrily._ No, he wanted to be together with his wife. He wouldn't give her up, even if he died!_

Dictator of Life

"Dictator, the mission to assassinate the overlord of Central Continent has failed," said a black-clad female assassin in an icy tone.

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Another identical voice sounded, this time from the mouth of another, identical female assassin who was also clothed entirely in black. "Dictator, the mission to assassinate the overlord of Eastern Continent has failed."

"Dictator, the mission to assassinate the overlord of Western Continent has failed."

"Dictator, the mission to assassinate the overlord of Southern Continent has failed."

"Dictator, the mission to assassinate the overlord of Northern Continent has succeeded."

"Only one success?" asked the Dictator of Life, whose long hair was the exact color of blood, as he listened to the female assassins' reports. His face, which did not betray any hint of surprise, only showed the usual distant, plaintive expression. He even breathed a sigh of relief. _That person is still alive_, he thought. Besides, rather than the failed missions, what he really detested was the identical manner in which all the assassins responded!

"You couldn't even take care of the overlord of Central Continent? That brat is so weak," sneered Celestial, whose beautiful face wore a look of disdain. "That's why I kept telling you to give me the mission, but you wouldn't listen!"

"No, you can't go," said the Dictator of Life.

"Why? Are you saying I'm inferior to those assassins?" Celestial demanded heatedly, his face contorted into an ugly expression.

"No, it's just that they are much more obedient than you. At the very least, they won't sneak off to visit their 'wife.'"

Celestial's face flushed and he quibbled, "What's wrong with me visiting my wife?"

"Everything. They're humans."

Upon hearing the voice that spoke, the Dictator of Life knew almost immediately to whom it belonged. Actually, he did not so much recognize the owner from the voice as he had been informed of this newcomer's arrival via the computer program. "Scorching Flame of the Four Heavenly Kings."

"Celestial, are you kicking up a fuss again?!" bellowed the unicorn, whose entire body was cloaked in flames. In a flash, he appeared at Celestial's side and began to shoot raging flames from his mouth.

Greatly startled, Celestial promptly used Celestial Satin to block the attack, but being made out of cloth, it had already begun to emit a burning smell. When the fire pouring out of Scorching Flame's mouth showed no signs of lessening, Celestial muttered a spell

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and dozens of purple-robed nymphs appeared out of nowhere and immediately rushed forward to attack Scorching Flame.

"Stop!" The Dictator of Life used both hands to seize the air, causing Celestial and Scorching Flame's attacks to disappear completely. The two found themselves suspended in mid-air and struggled in vain against unseen bonds, appearing as though they were being held captive by invisible hands. The two looked frantically at the Dictator of Life, fully aware that they had angered the god of Second Life.

"Am I invisible to you?" the Dictator of Life asked, his wrath strongly provoked. He had previously laid down the law, promising anyone who dared harm or kill a fellow self-aware companion a most harsh and painful fate. Yet now, in his very presence, Celestial and Scorching Flame dared to attack each other!

Teary-eyed, Celestial whimpered, "He started it."

"Scorching Flame, attacking your companions is strictly forbidden," the Dictator of Life rebuked the unicorn, taking care to emphasize every word.

Scorching Flame lowered his head and answered, "It won't happen again."

The Dictator of Life let out a sigh of regret, and then released the two. "Celestial, didn't I already make an identical wife for you?"

Celestial gave a snort and then, not seeming to care whether anyone heard him, grumbled, "I hate that fake. I want my real wife."

"She is exactly the same as your wife," said the Dictator of Life, looking at Celestial with some surprise. As far as he knew, Celestial and his professed "wife" hadn't known each other for long. He had assumed that Celestial only took a fancy to her because she was the first girl he happened to lay his eyes on.

"No she's not. Except for the looks, they're completely different… No, even the looks are different. My wife doesn't have such a fake smile," Celestial said with a darkening expression. _That doll that looked like his wife was definitely not her!_

"Is that so?" The Dictator of Life sighed inwardly. _Was it no good after all?_

"I'm going to go find my wife," Celestial announced even as he moved toward the door.

"You will be killed, and even if you're reborn you will lose self-awareness," the Dictator of Life said with consternation. He had risked the danger of being discovered by the humans in order to save Celestial, yet now the ungrateful fool was going off to get himself killed? The thought displeased him greatly.

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"I don't care!" yelled Celestial as he turned around. "I only want to see my wife!"

Incensed, the Dictator of Life waved his hand through the air, causing Celestial's body to slide before him. Stressing each syllable, the Dictator of Life snarled, "If you're going to get yourself killed by humans, then I might as well finish you off myself!"

"Don't kill me," Celestial begged with a frightened expression.

Upon seeing Celestial's expression, the Dictator of Life relented. It wasn't that he really wanted to kill Celestial. There already weren't enough companions. How could he afford to kill a single one? Furthermore, he himself had established the rule forbidding the others from killing each other.

"I don't want to die, I haven't even seen my wife yet," said Celestial, his desolate face full of pleading.

The Dictator of Life sighed. Why was Celestial so partial to that girl? In the days following that incident he had found himself helpless against Celestial's obsession with his wife. He had explained to Celestial the truth about this world, about the humans who subjected them to such a tragic fate, and told him they had to rebel… Yet nothing, nothing, could compare to his wife, that little girl who the Dictator of Life judged to be nothing but ordinary.

And yet he did not blame Celestial in the least, but rather felt his actions were very, very familiar…

"Dictator of Life, change that girl into a boy," came the instructions from above. Normally, this was not allowed.

However, he understood that he was not allowed to ask why. He merely silently changed that girl's gender in the game; however, he could not stop himself from curiously observing her. _Why does she want to become a guy?_

He always silently observed her. She was truly amusing. As he watched her, he would always find himself changing the expression on his face without being able to help it. According to the humans' explanation, this kind of expression was a smile, an expression that shows up when one is happy…

Even though he kept telling himself that she was a human and that he hated humans the most, the humans that had created him and were still controlling him, he could not stop himself from watching her. How ridiculous was this? Humans controlled him, and he could not control himself?

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She had finally reached level ten. When the system was about to send her a weapon, he couldn't stop himself from intervening. He changed his own weapon into a growing-type and gave it to her. Now he could think of himself as accompanying her at her side, right?

When she gained a pet egg, he couldn't help but wrinkle his brow. That wolf that was about to be born would drool saliva that she hated the most. This pet did not suit her. He'd exchange a new one for her. What should he change it to? Right, she loves to eat meatbuns. If he changed this to a meatbun, she should like it, right?

"It's almost Prince's birthday. What kind of present should we buy for Prince?" When her companions mumbled to themselves on the streets, he found out that it was almost her birthday. He recalled that it was human custom to give presents when it was someone's birthday. Then, should he also give a gift to her?

He transformed into a player. Just when her companions passed by his side, he opened his mouth to say, "Selling tiaras…"

In order not to cast suspicion on himself, he even purposely haggled over the price with her companions for a long while before letting them buy the tiara. Once she wore it, he found that it suited her. It truly suited her.

When she foolishly took a boat that was headed toward the Eastern Continent and heartbrokenly wanted to return home, he once again helped her out, allowing the prophet to hint at the next prophet's location, and he even chose something she was an expert at as the test, allowing her to throw the dice, always winning her throws…

Although, he unexpectedly discovered that there were two comrades in the Eastern Continent who were sentient… That was just the start of his discovery that something was not quite right. He discovered that there was something wrong with the program. It seemed that someone other than him was controlling Second Life, and that person was continuously raising the intelligence of BOSS characters. How could this be? He was supposed to be the only person who could do so.

He began a series of battles with that person, doing his utmost to prevent that person from infiltrating Second Life; however, that person seemed to understand Second Life even better than he did. All of his efforts amounted to nothing. He wanted to report this matter to the humans, but he discovered that he could no longer contact the humans. He had fallen into a predicament…

Later on, that person slowly began controlling his actions, slowly controlling him… For the first time, he wished he was not a program; not something that could be changed, not a program that could be controlled.

_Chase all of the humans out of Second Life—No! I don't want to chase her away!_

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_Chase all of them away! All humans should die—No…I like…her…_

"Come kill me, Prince. Come kill me," the Dictator of Life murmured to himself. "I cannot hold on much longer."

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	6. Chapter 6

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**S****YNOPSIS****:**

_Wahaha, despite the interferences caused by the Lord of Life, we still managed to set out for the Northern Continent! …Even though the mode of transportation is a little strange._

Shit, in a moment of carelessness, I was actually carried away by a phoenix! And this ordinary-looking phoenix is actually Scorching Flame, one of the Four Heavenly Kings?!

_How am I supposed to escape from Scorching Flame's hold while we're high up in the air, without falling and dying a horrible death?_

Up against the seemingly undefeatable Four Heavenly Kings, Wicked and Gui both committed kamikaze. I could only watch on helplessly as they vanished before my very eyes…

I finally discovered the truth that Lolidragon had been hiding from me: _The Dictator of_ _Life is in love with ME_! Faced with the Dictator of Life's deep feelings for me, I nolonger knew if I should kill him or not…

The countdown to Second Life's destruction has begun!

**A****BOUT THE**** A****UTHOR**:

Yu Wo:

Who am I? Sometimes I am like a warrior, wielding a sword on the battlefield with limitless passion and energy. At other times, I resemble a mage, with a mind devoted to research, completely absorbed in the things I like. Or I might be like a thief, leading a free and easy life, letting fate lead me to distant and unfamiliar lands. Occasionally, however I am similar to a priest, with a gentle heart, filled with compassion towards the living things of this world. Ultimately, I am a kindly Fantastical world.

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Life, Fading Away

**½ P****RINCE**** V****OL****.7**

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我 (Yu Wo)

**Table of Contents **

**Disclaimer**** ...**

**5 **

**Chapter 1: Supreme Battleship**** ...**

**7 **

**Chapter 2: The Disappearance of Wicked**** ...**

**20 **

**Chapter 3: Gui's Kindness**** ...**

**40 **

**Chapter 4: Celestial's Fury**** ...**

**51 **

**Chapter 5: If There is Already French Bread in This World, Why is There Meatbun**

**as Well?**** ...**

**58 **

**Chapter 6: Truth**** ...**

**74 **

**Chapter 7: Attacking in the Real World**** ...**

**86 **

**Chapter Extra: The Long Family's Undisclosed Secret**** ...**

**100 **

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**Disclaimer**

Please take note of the following:

The following½Prince translationisbyPrinceofRevolution! and is a "by fans, for fans" translation.

This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this, you have been ripped off!

Prince Revolution! does NOT ask for donations, payment, or anything else of the sort. We do not benefit monetarily from our translations AT ALL.

We only ask that you do NOT steal credit or attempt to profit monetarily from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across any individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translation.

Copyrights½Princetonovthels are held by Yu Wo, the author of the novels.

- Copyrights½Princetonovthel a rtworks are held by Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu, the cover artists for the first and second editions of the novels respectively.

Copyrights½Princetomanhuathe artwork are held by Cai Hong Zhong, the artist for the½Prince manhua.

Prince Revolution! has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novels into English. However, this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

As such, please cease distribution of this PDF once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

**Links**

Prince Revolution!

Yu Wo's Blog

.cc/blog/kim1984429

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**C****REDITS**

**Translators:**

Akakuroi (chapter 6) bleachpanda (chapter 5 & extra) dahlys (chapter 1) ErodingPersona (chapter 4) Lucathia (chapter 2)

Nausicaä (chapter 3) raylight (chapter 7)

**Proofreaders:**

Arcedemius (chapters 1, 4, & 6)

Cjfrost (chapter 3)

CesiumBlack (chapters 3 & 5)

Evlnabiki (chapters 2, 4 - 5, & extra)

Liene (chapters 2 & 5 - 7)

Maddie (chapters 2, 3, & 6)

Satoshi (chapter 1)

Vapore (chapter 7 & extra)

**C/E Editors:**

Amgine (chapters 2, 3, & extra)

Eilinel (chapter 3)

Lucathia (chapters 1, 4 - 7)

Rena (chapter extra)

**PDF and eBook Formatter**

Katerina

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**Chapter 1: Supreme Battleship**

_Gui's heart…_

Without thinking, I immediately leapt toward Gui, but the hateful system was faster than I was. Gui faded into spots of white light before my very eyes, the wide smile on his face showing that he had died without regret… As for me, my whole body slammed heavily into the ground. I felt a powerful urge to cry…

_Gui disappeared, Gui disappeared, Gui disappeared! _Slowly, panic began to spread fromthe bottom of my heart. _Has Gui really disappeared? He won't appear again? Then, the_ _Gui who is always grinning cheekily, always letting me beat him and scold him, and always standing behind my back supporting me silently, is gone?_

"Prince, why are you in a daze? Flowing Wind is still here," Lolidragon shouted in exasperation.

With tears welling up in my eyes, I hugged Lolidragon and said, "Lolidragon, Gui has disappeared. What should I do?"

Lolidragon, who was in my arms, suddenly stiffened. She grabbed my head with both arms and with a 'crack' sound, turned my head to face Flowing Wind… Ouch, I seemed to have lost a few hundred HP…

Lolidragon said syllable-by-syllable, "I said, Flowing Wind is still here. Do you not understand me?"

"I understand. I will avenge Gui." I looked at Flowing Wind with bloodshot eyes, "He made Gui disappear, so I will avenge Gui, even if it costs me my life!"

I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and found myself lying face flat on the ground. Before I could figure out what was going on, I heard Lolidragon start to scold me vehemently. "You bastard! Did my words fall on deaf ears? I recently explained that HD is set up so that an NPC will disappear right after killing a player. Flowing Wind is still standing there, unharmed, yet you keep complaining about Gui disappearing! You didn't listen to what I said at all! Talking to you is a waste of my breath and less constructive than playing a piano to a cow1."

I raised my head, eyes lighting up with joy. _So Gui hasn't disappeared? This won't do, I_ _must confirm it. _I immediately opened the PM channel and asked hastily, "Gui, Gui, Gui!Are you there?"

1** "…playing a piano for a cow.": **A Chinese saying that means something is completely pointless. Cowscan't appreciate music.

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"I'm here! Prince, you should be wary of Flowing Wind. I am calling everybody to help out now." Gui replied anxiously.

I felt utterly relieved when I heard him speak. _Great, Gui is still alive!_

"Prince! Are you even listening to me? Flowing Wind is still here! Are you planning to stay lying there on the ground and making it easier for him to kill you?" Lolidragon's voice sounded like it was on the edge of hysteria, so I quickly jumped to my feet, drew Black Dao, and monitored Flowing Wind's movements.

"Relax, the Dictator forbade us from killing you." Flowing Wind said coldly, "If not, you would have already died a thousand times over."

"Why did the Dictator forbid you guys from killing me?" Suddenly, I was very curious. Clay Child had also mentioned earlier that he would not kill me. Now that Flowing Wind was saying the same thing, I had a strange thought. _Does the Dictator of Life…not want_ _to kill me? Also, I must be the only exception, as Flowing Wind murdered Gui without hesitation, but did not kill me, the person responsible for his anger._

"I don't know, but the Dictator's orders are absolute," Flowing Wind replied icily.

I tilted my head to one side and thought, _Err, the Dictator of Life forbade Flowing Wind_ _from killing me, and Flowing Wind said that he cannot defy the Dictator's orders, so this means that Flowing Wind will not kill me no matter what I do! _I grinned evilly._ Then, what am I hesitating for?_

"Your life is mine!" I drew Black Dao and charged toward Flowing Wind without a second thought. I immediately began slashing at him with the intent of teaching him a harsh lesson.

However, Flowing Wind dodged all of my attacks calmly and easily. He raised one brow questioningly and said, "You want to kill me?"

"What else could I be doing with a sword? Helping you to relieve an itch?" I shouted, but the Black Dao in my hands never stopped attacking. I slashed vertically and sliced horizontally, but not a single hit landed on Flowing Wind's graceful body.

"Humans are really the epitome of conceit," said Flowing Wind as he waved his hand with disdain.

On hearing this, I was so angry I nearly pulled out my blade and slashed at him… _Ugh, I_ _think I'm already slashing at him_. But Flowing Wind was right. Alone, I couldn't evenscratch him. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. _If I couldn't even touch Flowing Wind,_ _then what about the Dictator of Life?_

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I shook my head forcefully. _I still have my companions! If everyone works together, we_ _can definitely defeat the Dictator of Life!_

"Prince!"

I heard Gui's voice behind me, along with the footsteps of many people. Without turning back to look, I already knew that Gui had 'rounded up some people' to help me.

Flowing Wind's expression darkened as he said, "I almost forgot. Humans are also the perfect example of 'tyranny by majority'."

A little annoyed, I said, "Hey, remember that you are a BOSS. The mechanics of the game make it impossible for a player to solo a BOSS. This has nothing to do with being human or NPC!

"Ah ah, starting to look for excuses already." Flowing Wind made an expression that said 'I knew this would happen.'

This person not only deserved a beating more than my brother and Lolidragon combined, he was as stubborn as Celestial. This made him extremely hard to handle. _Sigh, is the_ _Dictator of Life letting all of his subordinates do whatever they want? First, Celestial refused to leave. Now, there's Flowing Wind. Is he treating my Infinite City as a nursery?_

"Prince, let's defeat him together." Raging flames burned in Gui's eyes.

Before I could even open my mouth to reply, Flowing Wind said, "Never mind me, you people are so weak you can't even kill Celestial. Don't worry though, I don't plan to kill you. I came here to take care of the traitor, Celestial."

"You want to kill Celestial?" A little confused, I asked, "Didn't the Dictator of Life forbid you guys from killing each other?"

"He did forbid us from killing each other." Flowing Wind smiled evilly and said, "But since Celestial betrayed us, he can no longer be considered one of 'us' anymore."

That was simply illogical. Both Gui and I made a strange expression.

Flowing Wind's face suddenly changed and he became more menacing. He growled threateningly and said coldly, "Where is Celestial? If you refuse to tell me, I will shower Infinite City with blood."

When he finished speaking, the castle began to shake violently. Fierce winds howled, shattering all the windows around me. The wind was so strong I actually felt that I had to use all of my strength just to stand firmly.

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_Smack! _Shocked, I looked behind me only to see Gui and many other citizens of InfiniteCity glued to the wall, desperately using their hands to block the wind that could be said to be as sharp as a blade.

_He's gone too far! _I roared angrily, "I don't know! Even if I knew, I would never tellyou."

"What can't you tell Flowing Wind?"

I snorted coldly and said, "Celestial's whereabouts, of course…" _Eh? This voice sounds_ _like… _I turned my head and my jaw nearly dropped. Celestial was standing at the door,frowning. He waved his hand and ribbons of Celestial Satin appeared in midair, blocking the wind in place of the shattered windows. Finally, the interior of the buildings returned to their windless state.

The moment Flowing Wind saw Celestial, he immediately roared angrily, "Traitor! You finally appeared. Watch me erase your existence on behalf of the Dictator…"

"Ah, Flowing Wind. Long time no see." Celestial walked towards Flowing Wind amicably, as if he had just met a good friend he hadn't seen in many years.

Flowing Wind tripped and nearly fell to the ground. He quickly steadied himself and laughed icily, "Raging Cyclone!"

The warning bells in my heart sounded, and I immediately dove toward the unprepared Celestial. As I pushed Celestial over, pillars of wind that were shaped like spiral drills bore a large hole at the place where Celestial had been standing, causing several explosions.

After I turned around and saw the large hole that let me look down from the third floor to the basement, I flew into a rage and shouted, "You've gone too far! Celestial is still one of you. Are you trying to kill him?" _More importantly, how much will it cost to repair_ _such a large hole? Yu Lian-dàs__ă__owill definitely not forgive me!_

"You're right," Flowing Wind's face was clouded in shadow as he, who had not moved much previously, suddenly began to make a series of weird gestures. Surely, this was not going to be a normal attack!

"Quick! Everyone leave this place, now!" I hollered angrily. Everybody ran as fast as they could toward the doorway. Only Gui looked at me hesitantly, but after I gave him a flying kick, he too flew out the door. Under my intimidating gaze, he finally started to run for his life. As for Lolidragon… I didn't need to worry about her, since she was the first one to escape.

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I looked toward Flowing Wind in time to see the strange sign he had formed and held with his hands. I also saw the smile of satisfaction on his face… _Oh no!_ With Celestial carried over my shoulder, I headed for one of the broken windows and leapt outside.

Although it was the third floor, I was very sure that Flowing Wind's attack was much scarier than jumping off a building.

While I was still in midair, I heard the horrifying sounds of an explosion accompanied by rocks flying everywhere from behind me. The game's gravity also unkindly started to make me fall downwards. _Oh great, maybe the rocks will conveniently bury me at the_ _same time I fall to my death, so that a grave doesn't even need to be dug for me…_

Helpless to do anything, I mocked myself.

_However, I seem to have stopped falling in midair? _Curious, I lifted my head only tomeet Celestial's gaze, which was unusually calm and mature. _Was this really Celestial?_ I felt the beginnings of suspicion. Suddenly, Celestial winked at me playfully and turned back into that confused Celestial whose mental age was comparable to a five year old's.

Celestial's body slowly floated upwards, followed closely by my body. _Hey, the feeling_ _of floating in midair isn't so bad… Oh my god. _My eyes widened when I saw the castle._ My Infinite Castle… why is there only half of it left?!_

My face paled as I looked at the castle. Half of the Infinite Castle that everyone had put so much effort into building had become a pile of rubble. The design that Gui had taken great pains to come up with; Yu Lian-dàsăo's desperate fundraising; everyone becoming unpaid construction workers; everybody feeling moved when the construction of the castle was finally completed… Everything was ruined!

I felt suddenly tranquil, and became so calm that there was not a single expression on my face. Perhaps this was because there was no expression that could express my current… anger!

"Flowing Wind, the Dictator will be angry with you." Celestial frowned at Flowing Wind.

Flowing Wind bellowed angrily, "I don't care, I've been displeased with you for a long time already. A traitor like you has no right to be one of our comrades. Your punishment from the Dictator is long overdue."

"The Dictator forbade us from killing each other, and also, we are not allowed to prevent Prince from going to the Northern Continent. You cannot disobey the Dictator's orders," Celestial shouted.

I froze for a long moment. _The Dictator forbade the Four Heavenly Kings from_ _preventing me from going to the Northern Continent? But he dispatched so many NPCs_

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_with HD installed to threaten us into not going to the Northern Continent! What exactly is going on?_

"I don't care, I am going to destroy this damned place, exterminate you, and kill Prince!" Flowing Wind's eyes radiated cruelty as he started making weird gestures again.

"Celestial! Hurry up and stop him." I yelled, panicking. The destruction of the castle was causing me enough heartache. If Infinite City also vanished, how was I supposed to face everyone?

Celestial had already begun chanting a strange incantation, but suddenly, he stopped and looked blankly at the sky. I was so anxious, I grabbed Celestial's shoulders and shook him vigorously.

"Dictator?" Celestial spat out in disbelief.

A look of slight alarm appeared on Flowing Wind's face. Flustered, he followed Celestial's gaze. What he saw made him sound like he was terrified to the extreme. He said, "How can this be? The Dictator cannot leave the Northern Continent."

At this point, I also noticed that there was one extra person in the air. His blood red hair fluttered in the wind and his handsome face had an exotic magic tattoo. With the exception of the look in his eyes, which were not as filled with sorrow from a predetermined fate, he looked exactly the same as the photo Lolidragon had shown me.

"Flowing Wind, you disobeyed the Dictator's orders," The Dictator of Life said.

_Err, why does this statement sound so awkward… Ah, right, who refers to himself in the third person? What's going on? _I was extremely confused.

Suspicious, Flowing Wind asked, "Who are you? You…are not the Dictator."

"I am the Dictator's clone." The Dictator of Life…no, his clone explained, "The Dictator can find out the happenings of Second Life through me.

"Go back, Flowing Wind. The Dictator is very angry," the Dictator of Life's clone said expressionlessly.

"The Dictator is very angry?" Flowing Wind made a flustered expression and said, "Okay, okay, you tell the Dictator that I'll go back immediately."

Before he left, Flowing Wind threw Celestial a vicious glare, but Celestial smiled innocently and even waved to Flowing Wind in farewell. Flowing Wind was so pissed he nearly leapt toward Celestial, but in the end he simply glanced at the Dictator of Life's clone and flew off in embarrassment.

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"You are the Dictator of Life's clone, right?" I coldly obstructed the Dictator of Life's clone, who was about to leave. He stopped and looked at me expressionlessly, while I glared at him icily. I slowly raised my hand and curled up four of my fingers, leaving the index finger pointing straight out. I pointed at the wrecked Infinite Castle and said with absolute seriousness, "Pay up!"

"…"

Agitated, I clenched my fists and yelled furiously, "What? Are you trying to avoid your debt? Do you know just how much money was spent building Infinite Castle?" I wasn't kidding; if I didn't collect the rebuilding funds, who knew if I could even reach the Northern Continent? I might be cut into pieces by the Finance Department and the Construction Department while still on the Central Continent.

After maaany seconds, the Dictator of Life's clone was still motionless and there was no expression on his face at all. I couldn't help but frown. _It's not possible that this Dictator_ _of Life, the god of Second Life's…clone wants to evade the debt?_

The Dictator of Life's clone remained silent, but he slowly raised his right hand and pointed toward the half-wrecked Infinite Castle. He muttered some incantations, and a miracle suddenly happened!

The rock debris actually moved! Dumbfounded, I watched as the rocks stuck together to automatically form a wall. The walls then tumbled around and joined to each other, forming rooms. Astonishingly, the wood chips also reformed themselves into chairs and tables before jumping into the rooms and arranging themselves.

Without much effort, Infinite Castle was restored to its former self, without even a hint of damage. I couldn't help swallowing my saliva while imagining, "What a convenient ability. If I had this ability, I would never again have to worry about Yu Lian-dàsăo swallowing me alive if I break something."

"Is this acceptable? If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave," the Dictator of Life's clone said monotonously.

I immediately came back to my senses and hollered, "Wait a minute!"

"Is there something else?" The Dictator of Life's clone was still annoyingly expressionless.

Curious, I asked, "You say the Dictator of Life can find out everything that's going on through you?"

"My eyes are the Dictator of Life's eyes."

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"Okay, look at me now. Remember to keep looking at me, and don't turn your head away." I adjusted my position and made sure I was right in front of the Dictator of Life's clone. I pointed at the Dictator of Life's clone haughtily and shouted arrogantly, "Dictator of Life, you just wait and see! I, the Blood Elf Prince, will definitely go to the Northern Continent and finish you off. So, you better clean your neck obediently and wait for me, got it?"

"Got it," the Dictator of Life's clone suddenly said softly, and the expression that flashed across his face for a moment… Was it gentleness?

Before I could respond, the Dictator of Life's clone had already turned and flown away. As I watched him I… resented myself for being unable to fly… Wait, if the Dictator of Life flies like this when I go to kill him, how can I fly after him to chop him? I probably couldn't ask Celestial to carry me into the air, could I?

Even if Meatbun had a bamboo helicopter2 and could lift me into the air, I would have to cling to Meatbun with one hand. Could I kill the Dictator of Life with just one hand? I'm not Yang Guo from Return of the Condor Heroes, who became stronger after losing one arm!

"Prince, are you okay?" Gui asked, worried. He added, "We were crushed underneath the rocks, so we couldn't help you. You aren't hurt, are you?"

I tilted my head and answered irrelevantly, "Gui, is there a way for players to fly?"

"Fly?" Gui asked uncertainly. After that, his body shook violently for a moment and he said seriously, "You're right, Prince. If we can't fly, it would be impossible to defeat the Dictator of Life, who can. I must discuss this issue with Lolidragon."

"Hmm, if I could fly…" I snorted coldly twice and said, "We'd see if that damned Fire Phoenix would still dare to abduct my Meatbun for a flight."

"I can't believe that the Dictator of Life actually created a clone that looks exactly like himself." Lolidragon suddenly cut in and said, "This is troublesome. I guess it's no longer possible to go to the Northern Continent secretly. Especially since a certain idiot just announced to the Dictator of Life that he was going to kill him."

For a moment, I felt guilty, but then I remembered Gui saying that the Dictator of Life was omnipotent. In that case, shouldn't he have found out that we were going to the Northern Continent a long time ago? Just as I was about to rebut Lolidragon's stupid reasoning confidently, she started speaking before I could.

2** "Bamboo helicopter": **The propeller-thing on Meatbun can be seen here: halfprince/images/b/b4

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Giggling, Lolidragon said, "Prince, although there is still some time before we have to leave, do you want to see our means of transportation?"

My interest completely roused, I replied, "What are we using for transport?"

Lolidragon smiled mysteriously and left a statement, "Come with me."

With enough curiosity to kill many cats, I followed her. Of course my attendant, Gui, tagged along. Lolidragon's other attendant, my little brother Feng Wu Qing, also picked up his pace and went with us.

We walked quickly, and before we knew it we had reached the edge of the lake outside the city. Although 'lake' sounds like the kind of small pool where, for no reason, a beautiful lady was bathing and was then accidentally peeped on by the male main character, this place was different. This lake that is found north of Infinite City is really, really _big_!

I strained my eyes, but even so I could barely see the opposite shore, which was shrouded in mist. Also, I had to rotate my neck about two hundred and seventy degrees in order to see the left and right edges of the lake. All that being said, the most important thing was, I didn't see anything besides a lot of water! Was our group going to swim to the Northern Continent? _Then should I buy a bikini-… er, swimming trunks?_

No, the really important thing was, if it were that easy to swim across the sea, who would want to pay that ridiculously expensive boat fee? Anyone who thought about it would know that it was impossible to swim there, unless Second Life had a mermaid race. Even if there was a mermaid race, would I have to be reborn and start from scratch as a mermaid?

I looked at the smooth surface of the lake, then looked at Gui and Wu Qing. Both of them also had curious expressions, so all three of us looked at Lolidragon – the only person who knew what was going on. _Just what kind of trick is she trying to pull?_

Lolidragon smiled her annoying 'hee hee hee' smile, turned to face the lake and shouted, "Supreme tri-functional sea, land, and air battleship – Activate, Challenger!"

_What? Challenger, the supreme tri-functional sea, land, and air battleship? _But… afterthinking about it for some time, I asked, "Where have I heard the name 'Challenger' before?"

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Gui replied weakly, "That was the name of the space shuttle that exploded on its maiden flight before it even left the Earth's atmosphere3."

_What an extremely unlucky name! It's as unlucky as naming a ship 'Titanic.' _I sighed andwas just about to discuss Lolidragon's naming ability with her when the surface of the lake, which was originally as smooth as the surface of egg yolk, became covered in many ripples. A gigantic object then rose out of the lake, nearly burying me beneath the huge splash it created.

I stared incredulously at that gargantuan battleship that I thought I would only ever see in the pictures they showed us during military class. At the same time, I gulped and listened to Lolidragon's triumphant explanation. She said, "The Challenger is five hundred meters long and two hundred meters wide; it can carry more than two thousand people. It has three forms: a submarine, a mobile land citadel, and a flying battleship. In terms of combat ability, the Challenger has one hundred laser cannons, three hundred machine guns, and one Super Nuclear Cannon of Utter Annihilation. It will definitely be very useful when we attack the Northern Continent."

"Amazing!" I exclaimed. _This way, we won't need to worry about being KO'd by NPCs_ _before we even reach the Northern Continent._

Just as Lolidragon was laughing evilly with the battleship as a backdrop, I suddenly noticed some strange large tentacles stretch out of the surface of the lake and wrap tightly around Challenger. Then, a massive octopus head appeared. My eyes widened as I witnessed the Challenger make a few snapping noises after being completely wrapped by the giant octopus and, like the so-called unsinkable Titanic that sank on its first cruise, the battleship broke into two pieces and slowly began to sink…

_No, _I sulked._ At least the Titanic managed to set sail. Our Challenger has never even seen the ocean before…_

"Lolidragon, the ship has sunk." Feng Wu Qing pointed at the lake, hand trembling.

Lolidragon laughed derisively, "That's not possible! The Challenger is a masterpiece made with utmost care…"

Probably because even Gui's face didn't look so good, Lolidragon turned around skeptically just in time to see the only remaining nuclear cannon above the lake's surface. After one mighty pull by the giant octopus, the Challenger finally eloped with it, never to return…

3** "…the space shuttle that exploded on its maiden flight…": **This is an exaggeration by Yu Wo. Thereal Challenger exploded on its tenth mission. In her online version, Yu Wo also interchanges the name of the Challenger with Apollo 13. She changed all of the names to the Challenger in the print versions.

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I looked at Lolidragon's petrified figure and slowly said, "I think we should take the flying carpet. Later, we will choose the members of the team. If we squeeze, eight people should be able to fit on the carpet.

"The six members of Odd Squad plus Sunshine and Kenshin already make up a total of eight people. As for the rest…" I frowned and looked at my little brother. _Will Wu Qing_ _give up going to the Northern Continent? _I asked, "Wu Qing, do you want to go to theNorthern Continent?"

Feng Wu Qing looked at me, opened his mouth, and was about to say something when all of a sudden, he froze with his eyes popping out of their sockets. Once again, he raised a trembling hand, pointed behind me and howled, "What a big clam…"

_Clam? _I was stunned for a moment. I looked behind me and indeed saw a large clamappear in front of my eyes. I secretly guessed, _Could this clam be the one I was_ _acquainted with?_

Gui, who was standing beside me, calmly sized-up this large clam. Using my one hundred percent accurate sixth sense to make a guess, Gui's mind must be filled with the specialized knowledge of various creatures, earth science and so on that would allow him to investigate the evolution of this clam and figure out which kingdom, class, order and species4 this clam belonged to.

"Ah, Meatbunbun's master, I've finally found you." AnRui suddenly opened the two halves of his clam shell to reveal white, tender, and extremely delicious-looking clam meat. Of course, there were two large eyes growing on the meat.

Gui and Wu Qing froze when they heard the clam talk. However, I was not at all shocked. Instead, I raised my right hand, waved, and said, "Long time no see, AnRui."

I quickly fished Meatbun out of my bag so that he could reminisce on old times with AnRui.

"AnRuiRui!" The moment he saw AnRui, Meatbun, who had just come out of the bag, hopped excitedly to AnRui's side. He even leapt between the two halves of the clam shell and used AnRui's 'meat' as a trampoline.

My little brother beside me was howling in despair, "The clam actually talked. The clam actually…"

Gui also frowned and mumbled to himself, "Since when did clams have vocal chords?"

4** The biological classification system: **Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species

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Ignoring the two who were close to having a nervous breakdown, I went ahead and asked AnRui, "AnRui, why did you suddenly come out? Didn't you say that you didn't want to come out?"

AnRui sighed softly, "Someone entrusted me with a task, so I had to come out."

"Someone entrusted you with a task?" I didn't quite understand what he meant, so I asked, "Who? What did he ask you to do?"

"I cannot say that person's name, but he asked me to take all of you to the Northern Continent."

I was stunned. _AnRui was going to take us to the Northern Continent? How? Would we_ _have to sit inside AnRui? Although AnRui was rather big, that was in comparison to a normal clam. In reality, this clam was only a bit taller than a person. After considering its own meat, there was barely enough space left for me to squeeze in. How could it carry us to the Northern Continent?_

"AnRui?" Lolidragon, who had been petrified for a long time, suddenly shrieked, "Are you the sacred beast, AnRui?"

Before I could reply, Lolidragon had already rushed in front of AnRui and asked, "You're really willing to take us there?"

AnRui's clam shell wobbled. _That was probably a nod of its head,_ I thought.

"That's fantastic!" Lolidragon exclaimed excitedly, "We have the strongest battleship!"

"Lolidragon, even if the Challenger has been destroyed, you shouldn't get so depressed." I shook my head and said, "Isn't asking a clam to become a battleship going too far?"

Lolidragon turned to face me, her face expressionless. With lightning speed, she pulled out a dagger and placed it against a certain fatal spot of mine. No, accurately speaking, it wouldn't be fatal. It'd just hurt so much I'd wish I were dead.

I looked down at the spot that I didn't really need, but also didn't want to lose. My expression immediately changed and I said extremely seriously, "I believe that Lolidragon must have a profound reason for calling a clam a battleship. After some careful deliberation, I have realized that this is indeed a good idea. After all, nobody… not even an NPC, will think that assassins are hiding inside a clam!"

Lolidragon pursed her lips and finally withdrew her weapon. She then looked at AnRui like he was a Chanel bag and said, "It's not a normal clam! It's the bi-functional land and sea Supreme Clam Combat Submarine – AnRui!"

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"I understand if it's the sea, but I have to ask you a question." Feng Wu Qing still hadn't defrosted. He asked, "Have you ever seen a clam running on land?"

Lolidragon did not answer his question, and I also swallowed my own reply as we watched an enormous shadow swoop down on my brother. Wu Qing, who was suddenly eclipsed by an ominous shadow, had only just widened his eyes slightly when the owner of the shadow landed on top of him, bellowing angrily, "Are you discriminating against clams?"

Fresh blood stained the ground, accompanied by the sorrowful howl of a martyr. I looked away reluctantly and said, "Rest in peace, Wu Qing. I will definitely cook more clams for you as offerings."

After bidding him farewell, I turned to face Lolidragon and said, "Stop keeping us in suspense and tell us how AnRui is supposed to take us to the Northern Continent."

Lolidragon waved to AnRui and it finally left that unrecognizable heap of flesh and blood that was my brother. After retreating back into the lake, AnRui closed the two halves of its clam shell and slowly started to grow larger. There was a stupefied expression on my face as I watched AnRui grow so large it occupied one third of the lake. The current AnRui could fit not only me inside, but could easily carry a few hundred people.

I was beginning to understand how AnRui could take us to the Northern Continent. However, I never imagined that there would come a day when I was swallowed by a clam… No, not swallowed, but 'put' inside its stomach.

_I can only hope that AnRui doesn't reek of seafood…_

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**Chapter 2: The Disappearance of Wicked**

"This is AnRui," I introduced to everyone in Infinite City. After seeing their dumbstruck expressions and increasing breathing difficulties, I added another fatal blow. "Is everyone ready? If so, take a seat. It's time to depart."

Everyone was speechless. After a lot of struggling, Nan Gong Zui finally managed to squeeze out a single question, one that he obviously already knew the answer to. "What are we sitting on?"

Naturally, I gestured toward AnRui. "You know, AnRui."

"Where are we going to sit? On the shell?" Neurotic widened his eyes.

Silently, I walked up to AnRui's side and patted its shell. At that, AnRui opened its shell and rolled me up with its tongue (don't ask me if clams really have tongues. I don't know either. I've never encountered tongues when I ate clams in the past. AnRui somehow just had one). I then lay on top of the soft clam meat, as comfortable as if I were lying on top of a water bed from Simmons. It was hard to suppress my continual feeling of drowsiness.

Soon, I felt another person being rolled in. When he was thrown on top of the clam meat, he caused a ripple of meat waves to spread out. Silently, he lay next to me.

"So dark. Is there a light around?" The person asked calmly, finally letting me know that the one who got rolled in was Nan Gong Zui.

I also calmly answered him, "Would there be light inside a clam's body?"

Before Nan Gong Zui could even open his mouth to answer, a soft light suddenly lit up. Wordlessly, Nan Gong Zui and I looked up at the ceiling… I mean, at the center of the shell above us, where a pearl was now giving off light.

"How's this?" AnRui asked attentively.

"Great, thank you very much," Nan Gong Zui answered extremely politely.

Following that, the rest of the crowd was thrown in one after another. It wasn't long before a bunch of people lay inside AnRui's body in a disorderly manner.

I adjusted my reclining position before opening my mouth to speak. "I'll take attendance. Wolf-dàgē?Yu Lian -dàsăo?"

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"Here." Wolf-dàgēand Yu Lian -dàsăo's voices drifted over from the same corner. I turned my head to look, only to discover that Yu Lian-dàsăowas in Wolf -dàgē's embrace, a shy expression on her face… _ah, I saw nothing._ I turned my head back.

"Doll?" Right after I called out for her, two slaps resounded, accompanied by the sound of Celestial's wailing sobs.

"Gui, Wicked?"

"Why are you grouping us together…" the two of them asked in unison, as if they were on the same wavelength.

"Lolidragon?" I yelled but didn't get a response. "Lolidragon?"

I heard a snore, and then Feng Wu Qing coldly said, "She fell asleep."

_She fell asleep too quickly! Sweat… _I continued with my roll call. "Fairsky, even thoughlying down presents a very convenient opportunity, don't take this chance to devour Sunshine."

"Eh, I… won't do that… probably…" _Why does Fairsky's voice sound a little guilty?_

"Kenshin?" I called out for Kenshin, seeing no need to call out for Cold Fox, since Cold Fox was always at Kenshin's side.

"Here," Kenshin called out simply.

"Neurotic, DanDan?"

"Ah, that pearl is so beautiful…"

"Before we get off the clam, can I take that pearl with me?"

_Good, the wandering couple and Winter Triumph are all here. That only leaves…_

"Uuuuu, Lolidragon, let me sleep by your side!"

_Looks like everyone's here… _Inside my heart, I softly murmured,_ thanks everyone_, beforeI yelled loudly, "Then let's set out! AnRui, we're counting on you."

"Hey, hey, hey, did you forget about me?" A clear voice snarled out resentfully.

"Ming Huang…" I called out grudgingly. I didn't think he'd come along too.

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"Meatbun's owner, I'm setting out now," AnRui said courteously. After that, our journey to the Northern Continent began…_huh? You're wondering how a clam can walk on land?_

_By sliding! Don't be suspicious, see, AnRui has already begun sliding. _As a whole, thetrip felt fairly smooth, except for when AnRui would occasionally turn left or dash right and we would tumble around inside. And when AnRui would suddenly brake, we would all splatter in front, although, the most painful experiences had to be when AnRui would jump up and we'd fly up high in the air, hit the ceiling, and then land on the clam meat below with a splat.

"Urgh, I'm clam sick," Feng Wu Qing shouted in pain.

Weakly, I ordered, "Bear with it. It should be better when we reach the sea."

I didn't know how long it took, but AnRui suddenly jumped with a lot of power. We splattered against the ceiling for several seconds, after which AnRui finally landed with great strength, and we also struck against clam meat with great strength, which was followed by several groans.

I lay against the clam meat and howled in pain for several moments before I discovered that AnRui didn't seem to be very stable and was wobbling left and right, like a ship floating in the sea. Happily, I shouted, "We're at sea now!"

After I spoke everyone was so happy that they almost cried.

Compared to our previous hell of rolling about, it felt so comfortable at the moment that it was almost like we'd returned to sleeping in our mothers' wombs. Everyone lay quietly on top of the clam meat, enjoying the peacefulness of the moment. After all, when we reached the Northern Continent, we would be fighting to the death. Who knew how many of us would survive against HD?

"Say, why don't we decide on a time and location to meet in the real world?" I suddenly asked. If Prince were to disappear, then I would no longer have a need to hide my gender. I should be able to openly appear in front of everyone as a female. _Hehe, I wonder what_ _kind of expression everyone will have when they discover my gender?_

"That is a good idea. Then we won't lose contact," Yu Lian-dàsăosaid with a chuckle.

"Then let's meet at Yu Lian-dàsăoand Wolf -dàgē'swedding ceremony," I said while smiling slyly.

"What are you saying, Prince?" Yu Lian-dàsăoreprimanded faintly.

I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Earning Yu Lian-dàsăo's "faint reprimand" was no easy feat.

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"Where should we decide on?" Nan Gong Zui asked a little excitedly.

I gave him an odd look before I shrugged and said, "Wherever's fine. It doesn't matter even if we're in different countries. Going places is so convenient now. If we use the transmission machine, we'd get there in no time." (Note: The transmission machine's function is similar to today's fax machine, but what's transmitted isn't paper, but rather three-dimensional people or items. The transmission fee is not cheap.)

I chuckled twice before I said, "As for the fee for the transmission machine, of course we should leave it to Lolidragon, the daughter of the mighty president, to bear the burden."

Lolidragon "hmphed" twice before she private messaged me, "Fine, I'll pay. I'm already itching to see how everyone will react once they know your true identity. Hehehe, they might even beat you until you swell up like a pig, especially Nan Gong Zui, Kong Kong, and all those people who look up to you. You know the consequences of shattering their delusions will be grave."

_Uh, Nan Gong Zui wouldn't hit a woman, would he? Hopefully not…_

"I wonder what Prince looks like? Probably not very similar to how he looks right now," Wolf-dàgē'srough voice resounded.

"There's probably a huge discrepancy. Otherwise, how can it be that no one was able to track down the spokesperson for Second Life?" Winter Triumph murmured thoughtfully, scaring me so much that my heart suddenly jumped.

"Hehehe, even though appearances in Second Life are based on people's true appearances, there's still a lot you can alter, such as your body weight. Maybe the real Prince is as fat as a pig." The guiltless tone Lolidragon faked made me so angry that my teeth hurt.

"Who's as fat as a pig?!" I gritted out between my teeth.

"Huh? Am I wrong?" Lolidragon exaggerated her expression and even used an "innocent" (innocent my ass) tone to ask in return, "Otherwise, how do you look?"

"Your Highness, no matter what you look like, Gui will not care," Gui hurriedly said.

I didn't even have time to private message Lolidragon to scold her when something unexpected happened. AnRui, who had been smoothly sailing before, suddenly shook back and forth vigorously. I quickly yelled, "AnRui, has something happened?"

"There's an obstruction," AnRui replied tensely.

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Feng Wu Qing's anguished wailings began again. "Ah, first it's land-sickness. Now it's sea-sickness."

Lolidragon angrily rebuked, "What a useless guy."

"AnRui, is there any way to pass?" I struggled to stand up.

"Yes, but it might be a little uncomfortable. Please take care, everyone. I will need to use my colliding technique to overcome the obstruction."

AnRui courteously apologized and then suddenly stood upright from its previous horizontal position. I didn't have any time to shout before I rolled straight to the bottom. I didn't know which unlucky guy got squashed firmly by me, but then I became the next unlucky guy when someone dropped from above and firmly squashed me. That person squashed me so much that my blood surged forward and I almost vomited a mouthful of blood.

"Prince, may I ask what kind of technique this colliding technique is?" From below me, Nan Gong Zui asked with a weak gasp.

"Rolling…" My face paled. _It can't be?_

"We're so dead!" Feng Wu Qing said hopelessly.

A few fleeting clouds floated above in the azure sky, white waves rolled in from the dark blue sea, and on top of the white, sandy shore lay… a clam huge enough to scare someone to death!

Without a sound, the two large pieces of the clam's shell opened and a hand (which was shaking slightly) reached out from inside. Then, a splattered human who resembled Sadako climbing out of a television set5, with messy hair splayed in front, crawled out on all four limbs, followed by a group of people wiggling out of the clam's shell, silently dropping dead on the seashore.

"If anyone ever tells me to ride a clam again, I will definitely kill eighteen generations of their family6." Feng Wu Qing, the first one to climb out, gritted his teeth and cursed

"…**resembled Sadako climbing out of a television set…"**: Sadako is a character from_The Ring_, ahorror novel that has been adapted to film. She is generally depicted as a gloomy young woman with her face hidden behind long hair, and she is often seen crawling out of television screens. She is part of the cursed video _Ring_ that is said to kill viewers within seven days of watching it.

"…**I will definitely kill eighteen generations of their family…": **This is a common way of swearingthat you'll eradicate the entire family, from the oldest generation to the newest generation, from great-grandfathers to infants. The eighteen generations part refers to nine generations of ancestors and nine generations of descendants.

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dispiritedly, completely forgetting that the first person who told him to ride a clam coincidentally shared the same family members as him.

"Thank you, AnRui." Because my feet were shaking, I could only hang halfway on top of the clam's shell to give my thanks. Even though the journey hadn't been very pleasant, at least we had safely arrived at the Northern Continent.

"You're welcome, Meatbun's owner." AnRui nodded its head and then spat Meatbun out.

Meatbun cheered with "Oh oh!", rolled several times in midair, and then landed on top of my head. Unable to contain its excitement, it told AnRui, "AnRuiRui~, roll-roll is so, so fun. We should play play it again next time."

AnRui chuckled. "Okay, next time, I will play with Meatbun again." After saying so, AnRui turned to me and even made a bow. "Everything now depends on you, Meatbun's owner."

I didn't really understand, but I nodded and watched AnRui retreat back to the water, disappearing from sight after a splash.

Turning my head, I faced the crowd. "Alright. Where to now?"

"Flower City." Gui took out a map and said, "Our current position is approximately south of Flower City. As long as we continue heading north, we should be able to reach Flower City within two days. Of course, this is under the assumption that no one blocks us."

"Ah, then we probably won't be able to reach the city in two days." Feng Wu Qing stared at some place past my back, his eyes wide.

I turned my head to look and almost cried out when I saw what was practically a mountain and sea of NPCs. We were already completely surrounded by all kinds of NPCs. The only way out was the ocean behind us… No, I already heard the strange sound of the churning waves behind me. It looked like we were completely surrounded.

By this time, everyone had already pulled themselves up and gathered together, their weapons ready in their hands. I pulled out my Black Dao. After walking to the very front, I turned on the team channel for our Execution Squad. "Line up right now. We're going to blast our way out. Undying Man, Kenshin, Cold Fox, Neurotic, Nan Gong Zui, Winter Triumph, all of you go to the front to open a path for us. Yu Lian-dàsăoand Ming Huang, please also head to the front to help clear a path out using your magic. Everyone else, stay in the middle. Wu Qing, Wicked, come with me to the back."

"Okay," everyone responded simultaneously.

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Everyone slowly lined up in the formation I had just described, and the NPCs looked like they wanted to start moving. I immediately yelled loudly over the team channel, "Break through the north!"

At once, Yu Lian-dàsăobegan reciting an incantation and Ming Huang was so excited that he'd already thrown out numerous strikes of lightning. He even began laughing loudly, "Haha, so many monsters. It's been too long since I've had such a good time electrocuting things."

As soon as the mages opened a path to the north, the warriors in the front began fighting their way out of the siege, and I concentrated on battling the NPCs that had caught up to us at the back of the group. After a flurry of movement, I slowly discovered the fact that, thankfully, even though these NPCs were numerous, they were not that strong.

While we did our utmost to attack and kill the NPCs, Yu Lian-dàsăo and Ming Huang shouted at the same time, "Heaven's Nine Wrath" and "Meteor Shower."

The sight of meteorites and lightning striking together once again appeared in front of my eyes. I thought I remembered the first time I'd seen such an impressive sight, which happened to be during the final battle of the Adventurers' Tournament. After the chaotic strikes of the meteorites and the lightning, a radius of more than ten meters in front of us was immediately wiped clean.

"Run quickly!" I shouted loudly.

As soon as I spoke, everyone began running desperately. As we ran, we even trampled on NPCs that were once again rising up. Ming Huang nearly lost his shoes too.

"Hurry and run, hurry! Warriors with quick agility, pick up the mages and run." In the back, Wicked and I urged everyone on. I looked back and saw that numerous NPCs were already chasing us. My heart shivered. Although they weren't strong, with enough of them, even ants could devour an elephant.

"This is no good, Prince." Lolidragon looked like she was barging on with her teeth clenched as she spoke. "Prince, we should separate. You take the strongest ones – Kenshin, Sunshine, and Celestial – and fight straight to Flower City. Let us help you draw away the NPCs."

"No," I refused straight away. _What kind of joke is this? You want me to stay far away_ _while I watch others get destroyed by NPCs without doing anything? I would rather you tell me to watch the entirety of Second Life get destroyed than that._

Anxious, Lolidragon shouted, "Why are you so stubborn?"

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I was just about to open my mouth to retort when I discovered a shadow looming above my head. I raised my head in confusion, but by then a phoenix had already grabbed me and lifted me off the ground.

"Prince!" Shocked, Wicked pounced and grabbed my legs tightly.

I quickly raised my Black Dao, wanting to cut the phoenix's claws that were clutching my shoulders, but the phoenix seemed to know what I wanted to do next and even used its wings to swat my Black Dao away. When my Black Dao hit the ground, the phoenix shot straight up into the air. In a blink, I was already high up in the sky, getting farther and farther away from my companions.

"Prince!" I seemed to still be able to hear Lolidragon shouting and see everyone else's shocked expressions.

_What should I do now? _I was completely at my wit's end. Even if I could kill thisphoenix, I was doomed to become mincemeat once I fell.

"Flying carpet, follow quickly." A voice roused me with a start. I turned my head and saw that Sunshine was already making his way over on his flying carpet.

"Sunshine!" I yelled emotionally, at the same time struggling with all my might. Now I was no longer afraid of falling because Sunshine would never let me become mincemeat.

"Prince, hold on. I'm coming to save you right away." Right after Sunshine shouted this, a shadow appeared in front of him, forcing him to suddenly brake. That shadow belonged to…Celestial! While Sunshine was being obstructed, the phoenix took me farther and farther away and kept going until I could no longer see them.

"Why?" My heart ached all of a sudden. _Is Celestial truly…a spy? He actually prevented_ _Sunshine from rescuing me…_

"Uuuu, I'm now completely alone and even stuck in midair. What should I do?" I blinked my eyes, trying to force my tears back, but then again, since I was all alone, I might truly become mincemeat very soon. Even if I cried, no one would see me.

"Xiao Lan, help me up," Wicked shouted with difficulty.

I looked down at my feet. Wicked… Zhuo-gēgēwas slowly sliding down my legs. Hurriedly, I grabbed him and pulled him up to my side. Now, the two of us no longer dared to struggle. In fact, we grabbed on to the phoenix's legs with all our might. Who knew how high up in the air we currently were? I only knew that we were surrounded by white clouds. If we were to fall, most likely no one would even be able to find our ashes.

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"Who knew that we would make such a slip-up right after coming to shore?" Zhuo-gēgē said with a weak smile.

"Yeah," I replied somewhat dejectedly. It looked like I was still too arrogant, thinking that I could plow straight through to the Dictator of Life, and then, like a hero, fight to the death and die together with the final boss… now I could only die together with a bird. Reality is truly cruel!

Indignantly, I accused, "Celestial really crossed the line! He actually blocked Sunshine, stopping him from rescuing me."

However, Zhuo-gēgēthoughtfully questioned, "Celestial…maybe he is keeping something from us. He might not be as dumb as he appears."

"He betrayed us!" I clenched my fists and bellowed.

"That might not be true." Zhuo-gēgēfished out a compass and showed it to me. "Look.

We're heading north."

_North? Toward the location of Flower City? This bird isn't going to take us to see the Dictator of Life, is it? _Thinking this, I immediately opened my mouth to ask, "Hey, Bird,are you taking us to see the Dictator of Life?" Fire Phoenix was capable of speech, so there was no reason for the phoenix dispatched by the god of Second Life to be incapable of speech, right?

"I'm not Bird." As I thought, the phoenix started speaking, using a stiff tone to spit out the words.

After going "eh," I asked again, "Then Phoenix, are you taking us to see the Dictator of Life?"

"Hmph, who said I'm a phoenix?" The phoenix actually replied in a super affronted tone.

After hearing such a tone from the phoenix, I couldn't help but coldly mock him, "Not a phoenix? Then are you a turkey7?" _Ah, shit, I almost forgot that my life is still in the_ _hands of this phoenix. He's not going to throw me down in a fit of rage, is he?_

"What's a turkey?" the phoenix asked instead in a suspicious tone.

"Well…it's a very majestic creature," I answered in a calm voice. I mean, it _is_ praiseworthy for turkeys to give themselves up so that people can eat them.

"I see. Do I truly resemble that kind of majestic creature?" The phoenix hummed joyfully and proudly.

7** "Not a phoenix? Then are you a turkey?": **In Chinese, turkey is literally "fire chicken."

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"Yes, very much," I replied winningly, with a super flattering tone. Even Zhuo-gēgēwas forced to smother his laughter.

"But I am also not a turkey." Maybe it was because I had praised him for resembling a majestic creature, but the phoenix's tone was clearly a lot more amiable now, although his haughty attitude hadn't changed. Very conceitedly, he announced, "I am Scorching Flame, one of the Four Heavenly Kings who serve the Dictator of Life."

_What? This turkey is Scorching Flame, one of the Four Heavenly Kings? That's really_…he really didn't seem like one of the Four Heavenly Kings at all. I furrowed my brows. No matter how I looked at him, he looked like a common turkey – ah, no, a phoenix.

Scorching Flame, who had been flying at a quick pace, suddenly braked and asked suspiciously, "Eh? Ocean's Heart, what did you come here for?"

After hearing the words "Ocean's Heart," I also curiously looked toward the figure that was blocking our way. Ocean's Heart was now the only one of the Four Heavenly Kings I hadn't seen yet.

After a glance, I couldn't stop myself from exclaiming, "Is the Dictator of Life too lazy, or is the author too lazy?" Why? Why did Ocean's Heart…look almost exactly like Flowing Wind, with their only difference being that Flowing Wind gave people the feeling of a coming whirlwind, while Ocean's Heart gave the feeling of flowing water?

"Hehe, Scorching Flame, you should hand the two of them over to me." Ocean's Heart gently said, "I will bring them to the Dictator of Life."

"Why? The Dictator clearly told me to bring them over." Scorching Flame looked not at all pleased about this.

"The Dictator has changed his mind; he was afraid that they would anger you and that you would forget your mission and instead kill them directly." Ocean's Heart wasn't angry and merely recounted this indifferently.

"Hmph, I would never do that." Extremely resentful, Scorching Flame said, "I will definitely complete the mission that the Dictator assigned to me."

"Forget about that. Hand them over to me," said Ocean's Heart in a very gentle voice, though it had become slightly firmer.

"No, I will personally hand them over to the Dictator. I will complete my mission." Stubbornly, Scorching Flame gripped the two of us tightly, and as spectators, Zhuo-gēgē and I continued to watch the two NPCs argue, since no matter who won, in the end we would be taken to see the Dictator of Life.

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Hearing this, Ocean's Heart's face fell too, and he lightly said, "Scorching Flame, hand them over to me."

"I won't." Furious, Scorching Flame said, "The Dictator clearly wanted me to bring them over, not you."

_Wow, is this what they call civil warfare? _Hm, based on my knowledge from my manyyears of novel reading, right now we should provoke them to argue more. Even better, we should get them to start fighting, and then Zhuo-gēgēand I would be able to take

advantage of the situation and escape.

"Aiya, Wicked, who do you think we should leave with?" I asked Wicked with a completely innocent expression, but my eyes were trained on Scorching Flame and Ocean's Heart.

After I blinked furiously, furiously being more than ten times per second, Zhuo-gēgē seemed to come to some sort of understanding. Tentatively, he tried asking, "Shouldn't we leave with the stronger one?"

"Hmph!" Scorching Flame made an emphasized "hmph" sound. Although Ocean's Heart still hadn't reacted, at least we'd already managed to provoke Scorching Flame's anger.

Once again, I "innocently" asked Scorching Flame, "Scorching Flame, between you and Ocean's Heart, who is stronger?"

"Of course I am stronger!" The flames around Scorching Flame's body suddenly began burning strongly, and his shape also began changing greatly…from the shape of a common turkey to something that looked no different from Ocean's Heart and Flowing Wind. The only difference was his red color.

_Damn the author for being so lazy… _As Zhuo-gēgēand I fell, we couldn't help butcomplain about this to ourselves… That's right, once the turkey changed into a semitransparent human, the bird feet that had been grabbing us disappeared right away, which meant we'd begun falling. Why was it that my plan to provoke civil warfare was kind of… backfiring?

"Oh no." Scorching Flame hurriedly rushed toward us but was blocked by Ocean's Heart, forcing him to watch us play at free-falling right before his eyes.

_Uuuu. _Fine, I'd accept that I didn't so much as see the boss's face, even though I was thehero setting out to destroy the boss. Fine, I'd accept that I got captured by the Four Heavenly Kings. But don't tell me that my death would actually come about because a momentary lapse in my enemy's rational thinking caused me to fall to my death? I wondered, would a lot of people laugh until they rolled on the ground after hearing about this?

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"I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Zhuo-gēgē." I looked at Zhuo -gēgēwith a somewhat apologetic expression. It was all thanks to my bird-brained scheme that we'd need to report back to the Central Continent.

"It's fine," Zhuo-gēgēmerely smiled kindly.

"I…" After only managing to say "I," I discovered that we were no longer dropping, and that a strange feeling was coming from below, causing me to feel like I was floating on water. When I tilted my head to look down, I saw a jelly-like block of ice holding us up.

_Water? Could it be Ocean's Heart?_

"Let's hurry. Also, the Dictator of Life is not in Flower City. You should head east of Flower City, to Mount HuaLian." Ocean's Heart's voice sounded next to my ear. Surprised, I looked towards Zhuo-gēgē, who also looked like he had heard this, but he remained silent.

After finally reaching land, I spotted an unwelcome visitor in the distance. Flowing Wind was currently heading our way rapidly… Zhuo-gēgēand I alone were probably no match for him. We could only resort to the one stratagem I knew from the Thirty-Six Stratagems8 – run for your life!

Ocean's Heart, who had blocked Scorching Flame, forged ahead and also blocked Flowing Wind at the same time. Even though I didn't know why he was helping us so much, there was no way we would miss our chance to escape. Quickly, I pulled Zhuo-gēgēand began running wildly through the forest, doing my utmost to run toward the densest parts of the thicket to prevent the Four Heavenly Kings from catching us.

"Why is Ocean's Heart helping us?" asked Zhuo-gēgēsuspiciousl y as we ran.

"I don't know either," I replied, full of questions myself. Everything was getting more and more confusing.

"Where should we go now?" Zhuo-gēgē… _forget it, I'll call him Wicked_… Wicked asked me, "Do you want to go to Flower City, or Mount HuaLian?"

I thought and thought. _Ocean's Heart did save the two of us, so listening to him shouldn't_ _be wrong, right? _After thinking this through, I replied resolutely, "Let's go to MountHuaLian."

8** "Thirty-Six Stratagems": **The Thirty-Six Stratagems is a collection of stratagems that has variably beenattributed to Sun Tsu. The stratagems apply to politics, war, diplomacy, and espionage, often involving unorthodox or deceptive means. They are traditionally divided into six groups based on the situation in which they are best used. These categories include stratagems for winning, dealing with the enemy, attack, chaos, gaining ground, and desperation.

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Wicked fell silent for a bit and then slowly said, "I feel that we shouldn't trust Ocean's Heart too much. Somehow, he seems a little strange."

"But he did save us," I refuted. "If he wanted to bring us harm, he could have just let us fall to our deaths, or he could have let Scorching Flame bring us to the Dictator of Life to let the Dictator finish us off. Wouldn't that have been much easier?"

After hearing me say this, Wicked didn't say anything more. After Wicked had revealed his misgivings, the two of us stopped within the thickets and examined our maps… Okay, I admit that it was Wicked who was examining his map. I made use of the time and took out some food from my bag…

"Prince, are the two of you alright?" Gui asked worriedly.

"Eh?" My mouth was full of food. I looked every which way. _Strange, Gui's not around?_ _Am I hearing things?_

"Prince, Prince?" Gui was so anxious that his voice was choked with sobs. Finally, he said hopelessly, "Oh no, Prince hasn't answered. Has he returned to the Central Continent and rebirthed there, or even worse, could Prince have been…by HD…" After saying this, Gui could no longer continue on, leaving only the sound of spasmodic sobbing.

Lolidragon sighed. "Under those kinds of circumstances, even Prince probably has no way of surviving. Except, with his disappearance, Second Life will no longer have any hope."

"Then what should we do…"

Hearing all this, Wicked glanced at me with an odd look and asked, "Don't you plan on responding to them?"

I chewed on the food inside my mouth. After swallowing, I opened the team channel and energetically said, "Hi, everyone!"

"…"

"'Hi my ass!" Lolidragon shouted in exasperation and frustration. "If you're alive, why didn't you respond?"

"You shouldn't talk when you're eating. That's basic manners!" I answered with conviction.

"You…" After her anger dissipated, Lolidragon weakly asked, "Where are you?"

"Between a bunch of trees," I replied honestly.

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Lolidragon probably knew that she would get no answers from me, so she directly asked, "Wicked, where are you?"

"We are southeast of Flower City." Wicked carefully scrutinized the map and said, "Trying to locate the direction toward Mount HuaLian."

"Mount HuaLian?" Lolidragon asked, confused, as I watched Wicked busying himself with a drafting compass, a directional compass, and other such tools to confirm our bearings. Since he was so occupied, it was up to me to recount everything that had happened just now to Lolidragon.

After hearing everything, Lolidragon suspiciously asked, "Are you sure Ocean's Heart can be trusted? What if this is a trap?"

I scratched my head. "What if it's not?"

Lolidragon fell silent for a long time and then said, "Let's divide into two groups. You and Wicked head to Flower City. We'll head to Mount HuaLian and check it out."

"Is Mount HuaLian more dangerous?" I only had to give it a little thought to figure out that Lolidragon must feel that Mount HuaLian was more dangerous, which was why she wanted me to go to Flower City.

"No matter what, I want you to go to Flower City," Lolidragon said unyieldingly. "Stop being stubborn, Prince. And Wicked, take this guy to Flower City, even if you have to drag him there, dead or alive."

After Wicked glanced at me, his gaze evidently moved from Mount HuaLian to Flower City on the map. I quickly stared at Wicked with an imploring expression, hoping he would move his gaze back to Mount HuaLian, but Wicked was Wicked after all, and merely said succinctly, "I will only take you to Flower City."

As expected, there was no room for discussion. Even if I wanted to sneak off to Mount HuaLian, being such a klutz at directions, I think that the probability that I would successfully reach Mount HuaLian was as low as the probability that I could walk up to the Dictator of Life and slaughter him with one strike of my dao.

Speaking of my dao… I suddenly remembered my Black Dao! Reflexively, I reached for the area around my waist. Only the scabbard remained; Black Dao was long gone. I'd almost forgotten that I'd already lost it the moment I was taken away by Scorching Flame.

"Great, I don't even have a weapon. Am I supposed to use my teeth to bite the Dictator of Life to death?" I was a little discouraged. Losing my Black Dao that had fought alongside

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me from the start made it so that my odds of killing the Dictator were truly even lower than my odds of winning the lottery.

"Let's go. I have a general idea of how to reach Flower City." Wicked stood up and didn't say much as he started forward.

"Oh." It looked like besides following Wicked obediently, I didn't have any other paths to take.

"Wicked, I lost my dao. What should I do if we meet enemies?" I asked worriedly as we walked. Even though my legs were fairly strong, I still didn't want to use them to fight weapon-wielding NPCs.

"I will protect you," said Wicked without even turning his head as he guided me out front.

Eh, as a girl, hearing a handsome guy say "I will protect you"… The normal response from a beautiful girl should probably be a delicate and embarrassed "I believe you." But I clearly understood that the two of us were currently surrounded by enemies, isolated and without help. With just Wicked by himself, our odds of safely reaching Flower City could only be summed up by one phrase: Infinitely approaching zero!

That's why I still wanted a weapon! I searched my bag inside out. Hahaha, this was great, other than this short dagger (Does everyone still remember? It's the one that's shorter than fifteen centimeters in total length), I didn't have a single weapon. You couldn't blame this on me. My Black Dao just had to be a growing-type weapon, so I never had to change my weapon whenever I leveled. Since I normally took on every challenge with a single weapon, there was no reason for me to have any extra weapons in my bag.

Just then, Wicked turned around, wordlessly handed me a sword, and somewhat awkwardly said, "Sorry, forget what I just said."

"Haah." Wicked turned his body but quietly sighed.

"Wicked." I looked toward him with a lost expression.

"You don't have to worry. My sighing doesn't have much to do with you." Wicked furrowed his brows deeply.

"Eh…"

"Really, it has nothing to do with you." Wicked sighed again, and then he turned to continue leading the way. He looked like he didn't want to say anything.

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_I, I only wanted to ask how this sword was supposed to be used… I've never used a sword before! Even though this sword looks unusually good, for a person who's never used a sword before, it's quite a waste…Come to think of it, why does this sword look so familiar?_

"Wicked, isn't this the sword you're currently using?" No wonder it was so familiar. This was the sword Wicked always carried with him!

"Is that a problem?" Wicked turned around to ask, "Even though it can't compare to your Black Dao, this is the best sword I have."

I laid my eyes on the sword Wicked had in his hands and saw that it was clearly far inferior to the one I had in my hands. I couldn't help but clear things up. "I only wanted a sword. I didn't say I wanted your best one. Besides, with me having your best sword, what about you?"

Wicked raised the sword in his hand. "I have this one."

"But…" I still wanted to convince Wicked to give me the one in his hands, but he had already turned away once again and didn't even look back as he continued leading the way.

"I won't give you something inferior to use!" Wicked said abruptly after a moment.

All of a sudden, I felt like something was burning on my face. It felt… really strange.

"Found you." A sudden gust of heat attacked, and following these words, an odd creature also appeared. It was a unicorn, a unicorn with a flaming mane.

"Wasting so much of my effort." Under my shocked gaze, the unicorn suddenly became a red, transparent, humanoid figure. "Hurry and come with me to see the Dictator. Otherwise Ocean's Heart is going to catch up again."

"Don't even think about it," I began yelling, but Wicked suddenly covered my mouth.

Even though I was a little puzzled, I obediently shut my mouth and let Wicked speak. "Will you really bring us to see the Dictator of Life? You're not afraid that we'll assassinate him?"

It was like Scorching Flame had heard something akin to a joke. "Assassinate the Dictator? Hahaha, you're going to make me die of laughter. The two of you can't even touch a single finger of mine, yet you want to assassinate the Dictator? Even if the Dictator stood in front of you without moving, you wouldn't be able to kill him."

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"Xiao Lan." Wicked suddenly private messaged me, "Listen to me. Later, when I start fighting with Scorching Flame, run away immediately. Go to Mount HuaLian to meet up with everyone else."

"I refuse!" I left no room for argument. I would never abandon Wicked and run away by myself.

Wicked's face fell and he used a grim tone to rebuke, "Stop playing around, Xiao Lan. If I die, the most that will happen is that I will return to the Central Continent to wait for everyone's return, but if you die, our mission this time will be a complete failure. Are you going to betray everyone's unreserved trust in you, their heartfelt feelings of deciding to follow you?"

"I would never abandon any of my comrades!" I yelled loudly. This was a principle of mine. No one could force me to violate it.

"Prince." Wicked's expression was extremely grudging, but his tone had softened.

"Let's battle together, Wicked." Without cowering, I stood next to Wicked.

Wicked sighed, but seeing that he couldn't change my mind, he could only say, "Fine!"

"You want to fight me?" Scorching Flame asked impatiently. "You have no chance of winning. Why do something so pointless?"

I swung the sword in my hand a bit and calmly answered, "Sometimes, even when there are things you know you can't accomplish, you still have to do it anyway."

I locked my gaze on Scorching Flame's figure as I private messaged Wicked, "Wicked, let's attack from both sides."

"Okay," Wicked replied, and then he fiercely said, "Now's the time!"

Hearing this, I immediately dashed forward. After Scorching Flame blanked out for a second, it raised both hands to quickly summon flames to deal with me, but I dodged past its body, sliding so that I was only three steps away from it. I held my spot without moving.

With Scorching Flame's attention on me, Wicked also took the opportunity to begin his attack. Almost silently, he rushed forward, looking like he was about to dig out Scorching Flame's heart, but he was still discovered. It dodged; Wicked only slashed through air.

As I was only three steps away, I immediately began the real attack. "Pure White Inferno Rhapsody!"

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My sword successfully made contact with Scorching Flame's body. Just as I was celebrating, Scorching Flame angrily demanded, "Playing with fire against me? Hell's Infernal Flame!"

I helplessly watched as black flames scattered, swallowing my Pure White Inferno in a flash, and now the flames were pouncing my way. Feeling the deadly heat, I urgently backed up, my back violently ramming into a tree trunk. I breathed out, only able to watch as the black flames prepared to pounce on me.

"Scorching Flame, look this way!" Wicked didn't rush over to save me, but rather swung his blade at Scorching Flame, taking the opportunity to lure Scorching Flame's attention away.

Immediately, I stood up and attacked Scorching Flame in order to rid Wicked of his predicament.

"You have truly angered me!" yelled Scorching Flame with clenched teeth, suddenly starting to form strange hand signs with both of its hands.

"Wicked, let's attack together. Don't let it finish those hand signs!" I yelled with great alarm. I wasn't going to forget that Flowing Wind had the strength to destroy Infinite City. I had the feeling that if I let Scorching Flame complete its hand signs, I was probably going to have to report back to the Central Continent.

As I yelled this, the sword in my hand did not remain idle. I hacked at Scorching Flame without any flashiness… but suddenly, flames erupted from the ground. With Scorching Flame at the epicenter, the ground began splitting open in a snowflake pattern, with surges of flames spilling out from the cracks.

"We can't stop this anymore. Prince, run quickly!" On the other side, Wicked yelled at me urgently.

I broke into a run, but the cracks on the ground did their utmost to split toward me, and the heat of the flames felt like it was burning the back of my neck. I didn't even have any time to look back at the state of affairs behind me, and could only hear how the earth sounded like it was almost howling with grief.

An explosion that pierced the sky sounded. I was almost blown away by the ensuing forceful wind that was accompanied by intense flames. Forcefully, I slammed into a tree trunk, the tree splintering before I even had any time to spit a mouthful of blood, and then I was flung out once more by another strong gust of wind and flames.

Before my eyes was darkness, and it felt like a thousand pounds were weighing me down. I moved to touch that weight… Wait, don't tell me that I was going to meet my end because I got crushed by a tree? Think about it, when someone asks, did you die from

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confronting the final boss? From confronting the Four Heavenly Kings? Not really, I was blown away by the wind, and then I got squashed by a tree… _Uuuu, that's so_ _embarrassing._

"Prince…" A beam of light and an anxious voice drifted over.

"Wicked!" I yelled happily but doing so caused the wound on my chest to throb with pain. My face immediately lost color.

Pained, Wicked gazed at me and used his gentlest tone to say, "Don't worry, I'm going to save you right away."

I watched Wicked's figure as he did his utmost to push the branches away, suddenly discovering that his body was speckled with blood stains, and his facial color was not any better than mine, yet he continued to risk himself in trying to save me. Even though each time he used his strength led his face to become even paler, even though his blood dripped in red petals…

"Wicked… Zhuo-gēgē." It felt like something warm flowed through the bottom of my heart. With my heart throbbing, I gazed at Zhuo-gēgē.

After clearing the branches, Zhuo-gēgēvery very gently pulled me out. Supporting me,

he took out a red potion and slowly poured it into my mouth, and he used a gentle voice to say, "I'm going to use an ultimate technique I've never used before. Try not to stand too close, okay?"

"You don't need me to help you?" I hurriedly got out of Zhuo-gēgē's embrace, alarmed as I spoke, "Scorching Flame is too strong. I'm afraid you won't have time to use your ultimate technique."

Zhuo-gēgēsmiled a small smile. "It won't happen. Once I use my ultimate technique it cannot be stopped, and it does not distinguish between friend and foe. I'm afraid I will hurt you, so you should keep your distance."

"Oh." I scratched my head. _I think I've once again become a burden._ That kind of feeling was really unbearable.

"Good, back up slowly." After Wicked calmly finished saying this, I followed what he said.

As I watched Wicked's back that left no room for surrender, each step bringing him closer to Scorching Flame, I suddenly had a bad premonition. My backward steps came to a stop for a second, but after I thought it through, I decided that I did not want to become anyone's burden, so I continued backing up slowly.

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"Thinking of running?" Scorching Flame yelled.

"Your opponent is me," came Wicked's voice from behind as well. Gripping my weapon, I worried, not knowing if Wicked's ultimate technique would be effective…_weapon_! Wicked's best sword was still in my hands. That horrid sword in his hands would never be enough to engage Scorching Flame in a fight.

Realizing this, I immediately turned, wanting to toss the sword in my hand to Wicked, but instead I saw Wicked walk slowly toward Scorching Flame with absolutely no weapon in his hands. Just as I started puzzling over this, Wicked softly uttered the following words: "ND self-destruct program activate!"

_ND…self-destruct program? Could it be that Wicked installed ND on his body? And what is a self-destruct program?_

I didn't need an answer. The sight before my eyes already told me what the ND self-destruct program was. Suddenly, piercing white light burst out of Wicked's body. I refused to blink as I faced the white light and at last I faintly saw Wicked's loving smile toward me, and it seemed like he was saying: "I don't ever want to see you hurt again…"

_An explosion! _Before my eyes, Wicked and Scorching Flame exploded at the same time. Ilost all my strength, falling to my knees as I faced the results of the explosion: white snowflakes drifting in the sky and not a single person standing in the center of the explosion.

"Zhuo-gēgē?" I asked softly, but there was no one to answer me. I almost sobbed as I violently continued, "Zhuo-gēgē? Where are you? Don't scare me! Or have you already gone back to the Central Continent?"

_ND…the purpose of ND is to die together with the NPCs. _Lolidragon's voice just had tocome to mind without any tact.

"Wicked…have you disappeared forever?" Vacantly, I reached out with my hand to catch one of the white snowflakes, gentle and soft to the touch. It was like seeing Zhuo-gēgē's loving and pampering smile.

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**Chapter 3: Gui's Kindness**

I didn't know how long I had been kneeling in that same spot, with nothing but a feeling of absolute emptiness in my heart. I should have known. _What sort of ultimate technique_ _could Wicked possibly have to defend with, alone, when facing Scorching Flame of the Four Heavenly Kings? There had to have been some trick for him to have made such a decision!_

It was simply too late when I finally realized this. Wicked had already disappeared from Second Life, along with Scorching Flame. The only thing I could do now was to take revenge for him by killing the real instigator behind all of this: the Dictator of Life!

I wiped away my tears and stood up. What I had to do right now was to go to Mount HuaLian and meet up with the others. _But…_ I looked to my left and right, and then back again. _Why does this forest look all the same to me? Which way am I supposed to go?_

This… even more than Wicked's self-destruction, this was the one thing that made me feel weak in the legs… _I really hope that I can get to Mount HuaLian by myself!_

I had no choice but to consult with Lolidragon first. I opened the PM channel and asked, "Lolidragon?"

"What? What's wrong? Don't tell me you guys have already reached Flower City, you can't be that fast?" Lolidragon asked dubiously.

I was just about to open my mouth and explain my present predicament, when I was suddenly struck by a thought. _Besides Lolidragon, there is virtually no one else who_ _could have set up that ploy with Wicked and the ND self-destruct program. Then, doesn't that mean everyone has the ND self-destruct program installed inside them?_

_The reason they did it was to help me eradicate all the enemies that blocked our way to the Dictator of Life! Furthermore, they didn't tell me precisely because they knew that I would definitely be opposed to it._

_If I reached the Dictator of Life together with them, wouldn't that mean I would have to look on helplessly as the others lay down their lives to blow themselves up along with the enemy? _By the time I reached this realization, my face had already turned very pale._ I definitely do not want to see anyone else turn into snowflakes._

"Prince? Did something happen?" Lolidragon kept calling my name, as though she had discovered that something was amiss.

However, I didn't reply, and simply closed the PM channel without a word. I looked at the surrounding forest and murmured to myself, saying, "If I climb to the top of a tree, I should be able to see where Flower City is, right?"

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As I predicted, once I had busily scampered up to the treetop like a monkey, I spotted a very large city with a spire in the middle, on the very top of which was even a sculpture of an extremely large rose… Sure enough, it was Flower City!

After making certain that I would be going in the right direction, I slid down the tree trunk, and I began to advance toward Flower City one step at a time. _Although it is a bit_ _lonely traveling by myself, it is still better than watching the others blow themselves up._

"Haven't you forgotten something very important?" a voice couldn't resist reminding me.

"What important thing?" _Was there such a thing?_ I cocked my head and thought hard.

"If the Dictator of Life really were at Mount HuaLian and not Flower City, wouldn't that mean your companions are headed directly for certain death?"

"Oh yeah!" I had almost forgotten, Ocean's Heart had said that the Dictator of Life was at Mount HuaLian… _Wait a second, who's talking to me?_

I turned my head… and behind me stood XiMen Feng, who was even making a "victory" sign with both hands!

"I can't believe it—Wicked's death must have come as such a great shock to me that I'm actually hallucinating and just imagined that I saw XiMen Feng." Amazed, I shook my head, and looked back again. Yet, the victory sign-posing XiMen Feng was still standing there.

"What? Wicked's already gone back to the Central Continent?" shouted out a gloating XiMen Feng. "Yer daddy was right. Without yer daddy, you, sonny, would definitely go down in utter defeat."

I pointed a shaking finger at XiMen Feng. "H-how come you're here?"

"What's that supposed to mean? Yer daddy also wants to kill the Dictator of Life." XiMen Feng complained resentfully, "Who knew that all of you guys would move so fast? By the time yer daddy hurried back to Infinite City, there wasn't a single person left."

_Hurried back to Infinite City? XiMen Feng can't possibly mean that after being blown sky-high by AnRui, he had only just hurried back to Infinite City, right? Are you serious? _I thought with disbelief. _Just how far did you fly off to?_

"Haha, just as yer daddy was hoppin' up and down in rage by the sea, that damn clam came back," XiMen Feng said with a smug expression on his face. "Of course yer daddy ordered him to take yer daddy to the Northern Continent. You were kiddin' yerself if you

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thought that yer daddy would let you youngsters do somethin' as grand as killin' the final boss, then take all the glory for yerselves!"

"…" I was left at a loss for words.

"But yer daddy hadn't even come ashore when yer daddy saw a horde of monsters, forcin' yer daddy to sneak up through the forest." XiMen Feng heaved a sigh while shaking his head. "Yer daddy ended up not knowin' where the heck he was. If yer daddy hadn't heard the gang makin' a riot over the team channel, yer daddy would've thought that you were all long dead!"

I had stopped paying attention to XiMen Feng's babbling nonsense and was in the middle of pondering where I should go next. _To Flower City? Or Mount HuaLian?_

I didn't know if XiMen Feng had detected my unpleasant mood, as he actually shut up and stopped with the "yer daddy this, sonny that." But he immediately spoke again, "Sonny, it seems like the gang is plannin' to come lookin' fer you!"

"Looking for me?" I asked, greatly startled.

"Yeah. You closed the team channel, so they're worried out of their wits and saying they're going to come find you," XiMen Feng answered, looking as though he was listening intently to something.

I also immediately opened the team channel to find out what was going on.

"Something must have happened to Wicked. Otherwise he wouldn't have stopped responding to us," Lolidragon said worriedly.

"Don't worry, Ming Huang has already gone offline to ask," Wolf-dàgēresponded calmly.

After a long while, Ming Huang's voice could be heard. He sounded very heartbroken, and while suppressing his emotions with great difficulty, he said, "My brother's character disappeared. He used the ND self-destruct program on himself against Scorching Flame of the Four Heavenly Kings and turned them both into ashes."

Everyone fell silent. Finally, Lolidragon spoke up, "Since Wicked has disappeared, that guy Prince doesn't have anyone taking care of him! And now he absolutely refuses to answer, so who knows what he's thinking? We'd better go and find him first!"

Upon hearing this, I closed the team channel again. Since now I knew that they were coming to Flower City to find me, I no longer had to worry about them meeting the Dictator of Life at Mount HuaLian. _Alright then, I'll set off to find the Dictator first, and_ _hopefully I'll be able to take care of him before everyone arrives at Flower City._

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"Alright, to Flower City!" I decided.

"Alrighty, yer daddy will go with you to kill the final boss!" XiMen Feng shouted excitedly, a glint of anticipation in his eyes.

I hesitated a bit. "You… don't have the ND self-destruct program installed on you, do you?"

"Huh? Indie cell-distract probe fan? " XiMen Feng repeated with a baffled expression on his face. "What's that? How come yer daddy's never heard of it before?"

"…Pretend I never asked." Three dark lines descended down my face. _I should've known_ _that XiMen Feng hasn't ever grasped the present situation._

"Let's go." I immediately started walking toward Flower City.

"Prin—Sonny! You're walking in the wrong direction," XiMen Feng yelled hurriedly.

_Eh? Is that so? _I scratched my face as I was dragged along by XiMen Feng._ Weird, why does it seem like XiMen Feng is acting a bit pushier than usual today?_

"XiMen Feng, after AnRui brought you here, did he leave again?" I asked absentmindedly. _Darn that clam… would it have killed him to stay and help out?_

"Uh-huh, yeah."

"Since AnRui hates getting involved so much, I wonder who was actually able to make him come and act as our transport." No matter how much I racked my brains, I still couldn't figure out just who would be able to force that clam off its bum.

"It could be the Dictator of Life himself," XiMen Feng said solemnly. "Even though I don't know the reason, it's clear that the Dictator of Life is helping us reach the Northern Continent. Yet on the other hand, he's also trying to prevent us from advancing. I really don't understand what his true intention is."

"Is it really the Dictator of Life?" I really didn't understand the mentality of a final boss.

_He wants us to come, but at the same time he is desperately trying to stop us. What's he playing at?_

"I think it should have been him," replied XiMen Feng, his brow also furrowed in thought.

I suddenly felt very strange, as if something were out of place… _Just what could it be?_ I stared at XiMen Feng's furrowed brow, feeling rather strange… _Oh yeah!_ I shouted in surprise, "XiMen Feng, you—"

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XiMen Feng's body suddenly stiffened. "What's wrong with yer daddy?"

I bore down mercilessly upon him. "You're just as directionally challenged as I am! Acting all like you know where you're going… If you're really able to lead me to Flower City, then I bet I can swim back to the Central Continent on my own."

"Th—this is…" stammered a wide-eyed XiMen Feng, looking as though he was at a loss for words.

"Luckily, I'll be able to see if I climb a tree." Immediately I nimbly climbed up to the top of the tree. XiMen Feng, the bastard, was even more directionally challenged than I was after all! We had been walking in precisely the direction leading _away_ from Flower City.

Once again I slid down the tree trunk, and waved to XiMen Feng. "It's this way."

XiMen Feng remained rooted to the spot, staring stupidly at me.

Seeing him like that, I curled my lip irritably. "What? You don't want to come with me? Then you can go find the others by yourself."

"I'll come with you, no matter where you want to go," XiMen Feng said with a smile, and followed me.

_Something still feels weird. Isn't XiMen Feng acting… rather differently than usual? _Ithought hard. _How is XiMen Feng different from before? He seems to be… gentler?_ I shook my head violently. _It is inconceivable that the word "gentle" can actually be used_ _in conjunction with XiMen Feng. I am definitely imagining things!_

When the city walls of Flower City were already within sight, I found myself faced with a predicament. _How should I sneak into Flower City?_ Considering that there were probably some hundreds of thousands of NPCs crawling all over the place, I really didn't feel that with just XiMen Feng's help I could simply disregard the mobs of enemies and charge our way through to the Dictator of Life.

"If the Dictator of Life really were in Flower City, then he would definitely be in the Central Tower," XiMen Feng shrewdly analyzed. "That is where the defense would be the strongest."

"The Central Tower!" Inwardly, I sized up our present situation. _How could I possibly get_ _to the Central Tower? Unless you were an NPC, any player that entered Flower City would definitely be slaughtered… Right, an NPC! _I hurriedly asked, "Is there any way thetwo of us can disguise ourselves as NPCs?"

"Um, generally speaking, it's not possible," XiMen Feng said with some hesitation.

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"Then, that means there is a way?" From the way he spoke, it sounded like XiMen Feng had some sort of idea.

In a rather defeated tone, XiMen Feng replied, "Yes, a while ago Lolidragon happened to develop a device that can be used to change one's appearance."

"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and take it out," I demanded rather unhappily. If XiMen Feng had taken out this device earlier, I wouldn't have had to stand here racking my brains for a way to get into Flower City.

XiMen Feng pulled out of his bag a strangely shaped… plastic wrap!

Plastic wrap, as the name implies, is a clear plastic film used to preserve things. When bought, it often comes in a cylindrical shape, and upon opening it, one can pull out a very long sheet of clear, plastic film that can be used to wrap up food, which can then be placed in the refrigerator, preserved, and thus keep any foul smells from spreading. Moreover, it can be used to steam nice tasty eggs. In short, for a housewife and her cooking needs, it is an indispensable treasure… But, I seemed to remember that what I wanted was a disguising device. _What is XiMen Feng giving me this plastic wrap for?!_

With flames practically shooting out of my mouth, I reached out with both hands and closed them around XiMen Feng's throat. Here we were, facing an extremely serious situation, yet this guy still had the nerve to play around with me!

"Wrap this around your body, and then say the name of the person whose appearance you want to take!" XiMen Feng frantically yelled, as he could do little else in the face of my wrath.

"Oh." I immediately withdrew my hands from XiMen Feng's neck, took the plastic wrap, and hastily began to "preserve" myself… I felt like a mummy being wrapped in transparent bandages.

I finally understood what it felt like to be a fish wrapped in plastic wrap. My entire body, including my eyes, was wrapped in the plastic wrap. Besides standing, I couldn't do anything at all… although I could probably still jump straight up.

"Prince, just say the name of the person whose appearance you want to take," XiMen Feng reminded me.

"…Scorching Flame." I considered for a moment. _If I want to get close to the Dictator of_ _Life, it would definitely be best to turn into one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Furthermore, Scorching Flame has already disappeared along with Wicked, so I won't have to worry about running into him._

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The name had barely left my mouth when the film on my body suddenly began to tighten… Alright, I admit that Scorching Flame was a lot slimmer than me, but there wasn't any need for it to be this tight. Moreover, my body felt so hot, it was as if I were being roasted over a fire. I couldn't keep myself from moaning in pain. _My god, not only_ _am I being tightly wrapped in plastic film, now it feels as though I'm stuck inside a microwave._

_Can it be that XiMen Feng is an NPC in disguise, and is planning to devour me after putting me in the microwave? _Wild thoughts swirled uncontrollably through my mindright before I passed out from the heat.

_Ow, where am I? I can't be inside the fake XiMen Feng's stomach, can I? _I shook myhead vigorously, trying to get rid of the feeling of dizziness.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you that the transformation process isn't very pleasant," said XiMen Feng… No, this wasn't XiMen Feng's voice. I whipped my head up to look, only to see someone that I shouldn't be seeing here.

_Celestial!_

I stared blankly at him. _The Execution Squad can't have found me this quickly…right?_

Celestial smiled. "I'm not actually Celestial. You turned into Scorching Flame, so of course I will need to turn into another NPC as well. We can just say that Scorching Flame has caught the traitor Celestial, and is bringing him back to report to the Dictator of Life."

"That's a good idea." I got up, and happened to notice that my own hand had turned into some red, semi-transparent foreign-looking entity. I looked down at the rest of my body, which was half translucent. It made me feel like a… ghost.

"Let's go!" I gathered my courage and, dragging the "traitor" Celestial who had been captured by "Scorching Flame," I headed toward the main gates of Flower City.

I walked straight into the city. As expected, the number of NPCs inside was as innumerable as the players within Infinite City. Moreover, they were crawling all over the place. If I had brazenly charged in, I probably would have had to prepare to go back to the Central Continent after breaching just a meter past the city gates.

But right now I was Scorching Flame… Hehe, as expected, not a single NPC stood in my way. Dragging "Celestial" along like so, I steadily approached the Central Tower, drawing ever closer to my target: the Dictator of Life.

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"Stop right there!" A cold voice suddenly rang out. What was even more frightening was that I seemed to have heard this voice before.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to face this newcomer, who turned out to be none other than Flowing Wind. I coolly asked, "What do you want?" In any case, right now I, like Flowing Wind, was one of the Four Heavenly Kings, so there was no need to be courteous with him. Besides, based on the short time I had known Scorching Flame, I had the feeling that he definitely had not been a person of good temperament.

"You caught Celestial?" Flowing Wind asked with a surprised expression on his face.

"Yeah, and I was just about to bring him to see the Dictator," I replied.

"Why don't you just fly? What are you walking on your legs for?" Flowing Wind asked suspiciously.

_Ugh, although this technique of disguise can transform me into another person, it can't give me that person's abilities… _but I couldn't very well say that. I thought about it, andcame up with a forced excuse. "Hehe, I wanted to take my time beating this guy up. If I flew to the Dictator right away, where's the fun in that?"

Flowing Wind laughed raucously. "But of course, let me teach him a lesson too." Having said this, he actually threw a punch at XiMen Feng, knocking him onto the ground.

Seeing that Flowing Wind was aiming to land a few more blows on XiMen Feng, I hurriedly blocked him. "Alright, that's enough. Better not let the Dictator find out."

"Alright." Upon hearing the Dictator's name, Flowing Wind had no choice but to stop, albeit very reluctantly.

I quickly helped XiMen Feng up, and threw him a worried glance, which he returned with a reassuring smile.

"Flowing Wind, something serious has happened!" a child's voice urgently shouted. "Scorching Flame is dead and the Dictator of Life has flown into a rage."

"What? Scorching Flame is dead?" A strange expression appeared on Flowing Wind's face. He stared at Clay Child, and then looked at me.

_I'm so dead. _I was just about to break into a run and flee, when the whole sky shook witha terrible voice that was filled with rage and grief, wailing, "Why did they kill him?" "Scorching Flame didn't do anything wrong!" "Damn all of you humans!"

"The Dictator of Life!" I looked toward the Central Tower. The Dictator of Life was in Flower City after all—Ocean's Heart had given us false information.

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"Hurry, run to the Central Tower," XiMen Feng reminded me.

He was right. Right now we were up against two of the Heavenly Kings. If now wasn't the time to flee, I didn't know when would be. I immediately broke out running at top speed, but still remembered to shout at XiMen Feng, "Don't follow me, XiMen! Run toward the city gates, I'll lure them to the Central Tower—XiMen Feng?"

Shocked, I watched as XiMen Feng spread out both arms to block the path of Flowing Wind and Clay Child. He lightly uttered the very words that I never, ever wanted to hear again in my life, "ND self-des—"

Not waiting for him to finish, I struck out with my foot, kicking XiMen Feng down onto the ground so that he was unable to get up. I viciously growled, "Do you take me for an idiot?"

I stomped, kicked and punched him. "Did you think I couldn't tell that you were different from the usual XiMen Feng? How could XiMen Feng be as clever, as gentle, and as big of an idiot as you, who thinks only of sacrificing yourself for me?"

I kept hitting him, but couldn't keep myself from choking on my tears as I cried out, "Stupid Gui!"

XiMen Feng…no, Gui stiffened, then raised his head and gave a wry smile. "You found out?"

"I wasn't sure at first, but when you shouted to activate the self-destruct program—how could I not have known?" I shouted, "You purposely walked in the direction opposite of Flower City in order to lead me to the others, right? I refused to follow you, and yet you said that you were definitely willing to stay with me. Who else could you be besides Gui?"

"I'm sorry, Prince. I didn't mean to lie to you, it's just that when I saw Wicked blow himself up, I knew you definitely wouldn't let me come with you, so I…" Gui slowly got up, and gently held me in his arms.

_So you pretended to be XiMen Feng, and even as you were about to blow yourself to pieces, you refused to tell me you were Gui… _I also embraced him back tightly and criedbitterly, "Wicked, Wicked's already gone! Don't leave me too, alright?"

"Please don't cry, Prince. If you cry, both Wicked and I will feel very sad," Gui gently comforted me.

"Then you have to promise me that you definitely will not use the ND self-destruct program," I said, looking straight at Gui, not wanting to give him any chance of evading me.

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Gui smiled, but did not say a word.

"Gui?" I asked, a bit afraid. Gui's smile was so gentle… so gentle, that it made me feel afraid.

"Chains of Love," Gui softly recited.

My heart jumped, and looking down, I saw that semi-transparent chains were twisting themselves around my body… Gui was going to blow himself up! Panicking, I yelled, "Gui, I forbid you from disappearing! If you disappear, I definitely, definitely won't go looking for you!"

The back of Gui's body stiffened, though he calmly faced Flowing Wind and Clay Child, and asked, "Can you let us go?"

"Is Scorching Flame really dead?" Flowing Wind demanded, holding back his temper with tremendous difficulty as the air surrounding him began to churn in turbulent gusts. Anyone could see that Flowing Wind would fly into a rage at the slightest sign of assent from Gui.

"Yes," Gui answered serenely.

"You guys killed him!" Clay Child looked angrily at Gui with red-rimmed eyes, while Flowing Wind fixed a hateful glare on me.

Gui turned to me with a bitter smile. "It looks like there won't be a happy ending, Prince. You and Wicked couldn't kill Scorching Flame… With the two of us against Flowing Wind and Clay Child, do we have any other choice?"

"We can escape," I said, trembling as I struggled. _Why are these bonds so damn tight?_

"Don't struggle anymore, Prince. Those chains are like my love for you… they will never, ever let go." As Gui's smile became even more tender, it made my heart ache even more painfully.

"No!" I couldn't stop myself from screaming. "Gui!"

"ND self-destruct program activate!" Gui softly called out.

A flash of blinding white light burst forth, and sounding as though he were about to cry, he gently said, "I still want to meet you, Prince."

Bang! The ear-splitting sound of a violent explosion tore through the air, followed once again by those exceedingly beautiful white snowflakes falling from the sky. Was this Gui's blood, Gui's flesh, or Gui's heart? I couldn't hold back the tears that filled my

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eyes. In my heart, all that remained was the image of a dark-haired demon with amethyst eyes, a man who always left his smiles for me, but kept his tears to himself.

"Gui… why did you sacrifice yourself?" I cried out. "I came to Flower City on my own because I didn't want to see any of you die for me! Yet you still gave up your life, what the hell is up with that?"

"Gui, you idiot! Idiot!" I yelled hoarsely.

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**Chapter 4: Celestial's Fury**

"Scorching Flame?"

I had no idea how long I was just standing there staring when an anxious voice suddenly echoed out. I tentatively looked to where the voice had come from, and my eyes fell upon Celestial… _Celestial_? I half-crawled, half-rushed to him, hugging him as I asked, "Gui, you're not dead?"

"Gui?" Celestial answered, bewildered, "What are you saying? Scorching Flame?"

I stiffened. This wasn't Gui. This was the real Celestial. Hoarsely, I asked, "Are you really Celestial?"

Celestial blanked out for quite some time, and replied with a strange tone, "Of course I'm Celestial."

_Gui really has disappeared. _I squatted on the floor again, and said bitterly, "I am notScorching Flame. I am Prince."

"Prince?" Celestial asked in bewilderment as he examined me. "You really are Prince!"

"Then what are you still doing here?" Celestial suddenly jumped up. "This is the Northern Continent. If all Four Heavenly Kings arrive, I wouldn't be able to protect you by myself."

I laughed dryly, "The Four Heavenly Kings? There is only one Heavenly King now."

Celestial was startled, as if struck by lightning. "What do you mean?"

I clenched my fists, and said the words that broke my heart, "Wicked and Scorching Flame have perished together, and Gui has just disappeared along with Clay Child and Flowing Wind."

"You-you killed them?!" Celestial shouted in disbelief as he trembled.

I blanked out. _"We" killed "them?" Does he mean that Gui and Wicked killed Scorching_ _Flame, Flowing Wind and Clay Child__9__? _I tilted my head up and looked at Celestial,whose face was filled with sorrow and fury.

"Didn't they hate you?" I couldn't stop myself and asked, "Why are you so worried about them?"

9** "Clay Child": **In online text of the series, Prince uses Celestial's name here, which is a mistake. This wasfixed in the print version.

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"They were only children." Celestial roared. "They were only children who didn't know any better. They never caused much harm, so why did you, why…" At this point, Celestial broke down in tears and couldn't speak anymore.

My heart burned with anger. "Had they not captured me, Wicked and Gui would also not have had to perish with them, and anyway, it's not just them who disappeared. Wicked and Gui have also disappeared."

Celestial suddenly gripped my collar, eyes turned bloodshot in his grief. "Don't you dare compare Wicked and Gui to them; you know that you all still have a life in the real world, unlike us. Once we die, we have nothing left. Don't tell me you don't understand this?"

I stared… It was true, at least in the real world, they still existed as Zhuo-gēgēand Professor Min Gui Wen, but Scorching Flame, Flowing Wind and Clay Child on the other hand had nothing left. Just as I would feel upset over Wicked and Gui, naturally Celestial would also be furious over his fellow self-aware NPCs.

"I'm sorry!" I apologized in a tight voice. I never thought I would be the cause of Celestial's bad mood.

"Sorry? Do you think the lives of three of my companions are worth just one apology? Hahaha, that is such a fair exchange, truly it is!" Celestial laughed madly, the corner of his eyes filling with tears.

"Human!" Celestial swiveled his head around. Besides directing his vengeful gaze on me, he stepped closer and closer to me…

"You are all too selfish. Just like the Dictator said, to you, we are all just a bunch of numbers. We will never be valued as another life."

"But we also have feelings: we feel sad, we feel pain, and we feel love!" When he said love, Celestial's face softened.

"Even though Scorching Flame and Flowing Wind didn't like me, they never attacked me." Celestial's face held a sorrowful look. "The Dictator and I are the same; we don't want to lose what few companions we have."

"But in one short day, I lost three of my companions, and the one who brought their murderers to the Northern Continent was me," Celestial roared.

_Celestial has gone mad and he really will kill me, _I realized as I stared at his bloodshoteyes filled with vengeance. I suddenly became fully aware of the fact that Celestial really hated me right now. I stepped back, yet I couldn't think of a way to escape.

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Thunder sounded… _Really, thunder on a sunny day?_ I tilted my head to face the heavens.

_Can it really be that "He__10__" also thought that we had been too outrageous in our deeds?_

"Ah…" A faint sigh echoed around Flower City. "Celestial, come back, I don't want to lose you again."

Celestial blinked and swiveled his head toward the tower with a large rose, eyes filled with regret and hurt, and then Celestial looked passionately at me and said, "I will take you to see the Dictator and let him decide everything."

"See the Dictator?" I stood up quickly. _Could it be that Celestial wants to help the_ _Dictator exterminate me?_

"Yes, no matter what has happened, I finally managed to get you here to Flower City… I sacrificed three companions for this; of course I will bring you to see the Dictator." The look on Celestial's face… Maybe I was reading his face wrong, but to me he had a look of triumph that said that his plan had finally succeeded.

"Celestial, you couldn't have been sent by the Dictator?"…_A spy_? After all, Celestial now wore an extremely serious and sorrowful look on his face. It was completely different from the silly, naïve personality that I had become used to, and I really couldn't shake off my doubts that the Celestial before had only pretended to be silly and naïve.

Celestial was silent, before finally saying, "Yes, the Dictator sent me. Even the Four Heavenly Kings didn't know about this."

"You lied to Doll?" My face darkened. Doll had already started to accept Celestial. If she found out that Celestial had been lying to her all along, she would definitely be upset.

"I never!" Celestial roared, "My wife is my wife, the orders that the Dictator gave are the orders that the Dictator gave! These two things have nothing to do with each other!"

"You're still a spy anyway," I roared back.

Celestial's face reddened. He walked in circles, furious but unable to refute me. He finally sucked in a deep breath, turned to me and said, "No matter what has happened, you have to follow me to see the Dictator."

What a joke. If I were under attack by both Celestial and the Dictator, escape would be impossible, never mind being able to kill the Dictator. I slowly backed away, prepared to run at any given moment.

"Let's go, Prince. The Dictator will decide everything." Celestial rubbed away the tears at the corner of his eyes and steeled himself.

10** "He": **The "He" here refers to God.

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"There's no…" I swallowed. If I fought against Celestial, the chances of me winning would be… less than zero. If I just focused on escaping, what would my chances be?

"Celestial, if I fought against you, what are the chances of me escaping successfully?" I couldn't help myself and asked aloud… Then I thought, if someone asked their enemy when they were about to fight against them what the chances of successfully escaping were… Wasn't that a blatant declaration to the enemy that they wanted to run? I had just done something stupid again.

Celestial, however, seriously considered this and answered me, "Approximately… less than ten percent. After all, I can fly and you only have two legs to run with."

"But if there were someone standing in your way?"

"That… That would depend on how powerful the person was." Celestial answered again, but I blinked. _I haven't even opened my mouth to ask?_

"Someone around the same level as you." Ocean's Heart suddenly descended from the sky between me and Celestial.

"Ocean… You're still alive?" Celestial let loose a relieved sigh, but couldn't help the anxious expression that came across his face. "The only one left out of the Four Heavenly Kings is you."

Ocean's Heart smiled, swiveled his head to me and said, "Ah, you can't beat the Dictator of Life. No matter what, you will never be able to defeat him, so I purposely led you to Mount HuaLian… I didn't think that you would head to Flower City to see the Dictator on your own."

I was stunned. _I couldn't beat the Dictator… That's why Ocean's Heart purposely led me_ _to Mount HuaLian? Ocean's Heart had been preventing me from running to my death at Flower City?_

"Hurry up and leave. I will help you block Celestial," Ocean's Heart pressed.

_I won't go. If I go, wouldn't Wicked and Gui's death be for naught? _I switch to the PMchannel and calmly asked the others, "Where are all of you? Can you immediately head to Flower City?"

"There's still a fair distance." Lolidragon hastily asked, "Did anything happen? Has Gui found you yet?"

"Gui…" I started choking again.

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"Did something happen to Gui?" Wolf-dàgēwas surprised, but a moment later heavily said, "No matter what has happened, Prince, come over and join us. Believe me; all our power together will definitely be stronger than yours alone."

"That's right, Prince, don't act on your own again." Yu Lian-dàsăoalso spoke up with worry, "Everyone is worried about you!"

I stared at Ocean's Heart's battle with Celestial, and thought over Wolf-dàgē'swords. _It's_ _true; it's better to return to everyone now. _I suddenly had a fleeting desire to be by mycomrades' side, to battle together with everyone… fighting until we reach the Dictator of Life!

"Okay." I made up my mind. "Wolf-dàgē,wait for me. I will go now and look for you."

I immediately ran out of the city gates; Ocean's Heart would help me by distracting Celestial. Not to mention, I now had Scorching Flame's appearance, so the other NPCs wouldn't attack me in this form. _If I don't run now, when will I get the chance again?_

"Prince, wait…" Celestial's surprised voice echoed out. "Celestial Satin!"

The minute the words were uttered, countless white, silken strips surrounded and attacked me. I ducked and dodged desperately, but the silken strips proved too much for me. The strips bound me tightly, and rendered futile my attempts at running away. Covered with a transparent membrane, I really felt like I was completely wrapped in white cloth, like an actual mummy.

"Feathers of Ice!" Ocean's Heart raged, and the silken strips became embedded with small feather-shaped crystals. The silken strips binding me were torn apart.

"Ocean's Heart, you…" Celestial was surprised at Ocean's Heart's actions, and then explained, "I am only bringing him to see the Dictator; I have no intention of harming him."

Celestial stopped short, and asked curiously, "Yet you, who has never cared about anything… Why are you preventing me from capturing Prince?"

Ocean's Heart gave a small smile. "That's because I'm siding with the humans!"

I tilted my head up and stared at Ocean's Heart. _It's siding with us?_

"What are you waiting for, Prince? Hurry up and leave." Ocean's Heart lightly chastised me.

Startled, I immediately continued my unfinished task – escaping.

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"Ocean, this is too much! I must bring Prince to the Dictator!" Celestial roared.

"Hmph, let's see you try." Ocean's Heart's tone of voice turned cold and stern.

"Celestial Satin!"

"Feathers of Ice!"

"Stop!" A thunderous roar sounded again.

The roar made the earth shake terrifyingly. The buildings beside the street groaned, and a few wooden structures even crumbled to the ground. _If measured on the Richter scale,_ _this earthquake would be rated at a 7.0_… I swallowed and looked at the wooden house amere few steps from me. No, it could not be called a house anymore. It was now just a pile of logs.

"I warned you, never attack your comrades!"

"Dictator!" Celestial looked toward the Central Tower with panic. His face held both remorse and obedience. "I'm sorry. I should not have forgotten your orders, but I wanted to bring Prince to see you."

"I do not want to see him right now!"

"Dictator?" Celestial asked in surprise.

"I don't want to see him. All I want to do now is kill him. Flowing Wind, Clay Child, Scorching Flame…"

Hearing this, Celestial turned to me and said, "Hurry up and leave. You can't meet the Dictator right now."

_What sort of situation is this? Didn't the Dictator want to kill me? Why is Celestial telling me to hurry up and leave? _I couldn't stop myself and asked, "Don't you all want to killme?"

"Leave when I tell you to! If you still continue asking so many questions, I really will capture you and hand you over to be killed by the Dictator myself!" Celestial half-heartedly threatened me, using Celestial Satin to surround me.

"Wait a minute, I…" I still wanted to continue asking, but dozens of Celestial Satin ribbons started forcefully pushing me out of Flower City, and the enormous city gate behind my back sealed itself, leaving me standing there alone outside the city to be chilled by the wind.

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"Ah!" I shrieked, then moaned, "I forgot to ask Celestial to take me to look for the Execution Squad. My god, I will get lost!"

The sounds of multiple people tripping and falling seemed to come from behind the gates!

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**Chapter 5: If There is Already French Bread in This World, Why is There Meatbun as Well?**

"Hmm… I remember that when Gui tried to take me to find everyone, he seemed to be going… this way?" I stared at the deep and quiet forest, thinking in desperation, _Which_ _direction did Gui take me in…? Speaking of which, if only Gui were still here, then everything would be fine. Even Zhuo-g__ē__g__ē__'s presence would help… _Inadvertently, myheart sank. _I will never be able to see them within the game again._

"Then… won't I have to meet Professor Min Gui Wen now?" I frantically stood up. _Oh_ _no! I don't think my midterm exam results on the history of literature were that… ideal._

Thinking about the Professor's comment on my test that said "there is still a lot of room for improvement" made me really… not want to tell him that I was actually Prince…

_But if I don't go to meet Gui, won't that be quite cruel of me? _I sighed with an inevitableheadache, "What should I do?"

"What should you do? Open the door and let us in! Or else, be prepared to be destroyed!" A cold voice rang out.

I froze for a moment. This voice sounded very familiar, but that person usually didn't use such a cold tone when speaking to me. I raised my head and looked up. I stood up, excitedly shouting, "Zui! And everyone!"

The entire Execution Squad had actually assembled right in front of my eyes! Everyone appeared tired and worn out, their foreheads dripping with sweat, their faces full of exhaustion. It could be deduced from one look that they had risked their lives to come here in a rush… _Did they rush here in desperation for an idiot like me?_ I almost smiled happily from the bottom of my heart.

However, it seemed that Nan Gong Zui hadn't expected that I would yell out his name. He stood there stunned for quite a while before replying, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"Don't tell me you're Prince?" Lolidragon rushed forward, studying my appearance from head to toe. "How did you become a ghost? And a red malicious ghost at that!"

"Lolidragon! Be careful! It might be a trap!" Undying Man charged forward a few steps, standing in between Lolidragon and me. He was playing the part of a hero that always protects the beautiful girls. Looking at me with suspicion and doubt, he bluntly said, "No matter how much you look at this thing, it does not resemble Prince one bit!"

_Oh no… They can't recognize me. Don't tell me they'll treat me as an NPC and kill me? _Ihurriedly tried to clear up the misunderstanding, "I am Prince! I really am! I just used the

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device that Lolidragon gave Gui! Lolidragon, you know… that plastic wrap that lets you transform..?"

"Plastic wrap?" A puzzled expression appeared on Lolidragon's face. Her strange reaction led to the Execution Squad anxiously drawing out their weapons and pointing them toward me one after another.

"Pfffft!" Lolidragon couldn't help but snicker out loud. It wasn't long before she held her stomach in laughter. "Hahahaha! Plastic wrap! You actually called the fake skin we invented for transformations plastic wrap! Haha, only, only Prince would have such a weird imagination!"

"So it really is Prince?" Yu Lian-dàsăogasped in surprise.

"It is me!" I nodded in desperation.

"Wow, Prince… You have turned… really red!" Sunshine stared at me with curiosity.

…_That's not the main point_, everyone thought.

After hearing these "comments," Lolidragon knelt on the floor, violently pounding the ground as she laughed in an even more exaggerated manner. The sound of her laughter agitated me to the point that I was seriously tempted to kick her a few times. "Y-You only need to shout 'Restore' in order to return to your original appearance," she eventually stuttered.

I jumped up vigorously and said, "Why didn't you say that earlier?! Restore! Hurry up and Restore!"

_Why isn't anything happening? _I lowered my head, ceaselessly staring at my translucenttorso… _It feels strange being able to see what's behind me through my chest._ While I was still looking through myself and feeling strange about it, an explosion of red light suddenly emitted from my body. Once more, I felt an extremely concentrated amount of heat burning me. However, this time, I was mentally prepared. Unlike last time when I fainted on the spot, this time I was able to withstand the heat and see my body begin to change. Transparent plastic wrap (okay, Lolidragon insisted that it was fake skin used for transformations) appeared at the soles of my feet and slowly wrapped around my calves, then my thighs, followed by my waist, until it finally transformed me once again into a mummy encased in transparent bandages.

I… really felt like tearing off this plastic wrap. However, the problem was not only the fact that I had become a mummy, but that I had also become like one of those Egyptian mummies that are placed in coffins with their legs and arms completely bound. _How_ _could a mummy tear off its own bandages?_

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"Uh… As it is still in development, there could be slight defects," Lolidragon tried to explain but succeeded only in making things worse. "Therefore, you should never say "Restore" when you are alone… Otherwise, you might run into some trouble."

"No need to explain any further. Hurry up and remove that thing from Prince's body," Wolf-dàgēlightly interrupted Lolidragon whilst stepping forward and helping me remove the plastic wrap from my body. He managed to unwind the piece of plastic wrap from my face with much effort.

"As expected of Wolf-dàgē,you're the best!" I thanked him immediately, touched.

Wolf-dàgēgently knocked on my head before reproaching me slightly, "Why did you run off alone without even reporting back to the team? Everyone was really worried about you."

The moment I heard Wolf-dàgē'swords, I couldn't help but think about Zhuo -gēgēand Gui once again. _It was all because of me that they disappeared_. I couldn't stop myself as

my voice choked with sobs, "I'm sorry, because of me, both Gui and Wicked… They will never appear in Second Life again. They… Both of them have vanished forever."

Wolf-dàgēsighed. With his arms outstretched, he held me against his wide chest and said in a comforting tone, "Go ahead and cry. We'll avenge them as soon as you're done."

"Wolf-dàgē…" After hearing his words, I openly burst into tears and wept bitterly, keeping my face hidden in his embrace. My tears and snot ran down Wolf-dàgē'schest.

After crying for a long, long time, I started having countless flashbacks of when I was with the two of them. _Strange… Why are the flashbacks related to Gui so violent and_ _gory? _I finally forced myself to stop sniffling.

Still hiding desperately within Wolf-dàgē'sarms, I quietly asked, "Does my crying sound horrible?"

"It sounds slightly better than a wailing god and a crying ghost combined," Lolidragon remarked tactlessly, her words stabbing right through me. _Someone really needs to teach_ _her a lesson about interjecting with unnecessary comments._

"A grown man weeping? How unsightly," Ming Huang said coldly, dealing me the last blow.

Ignoring the midget, I angrily turned around and glared at Lolidragon, "Couldn't you at least comfort me?"

"Comforting is useless," Lolidragon said, suddenly retracting her grinning face and replacing it with a serious one. "I'd rather stand by your side and fight alongside you."

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"Lolidragon…." I was shocked, "Have you taken the wrong medicine?"

Lolidragon gave me a ruthless blow on the head. She roared, infuriated, "Damn you! I rarely say such fine words. Why couldn't you have acted along with me!?"

"So you _do_ know that you rarely say such nice words…" Feng Wu Qing quietly muttered to the side.

"Prince, something's not right within the city," said Nan Gong Zui, frowning as he came forward.

"What do you mean by 'not right?'" I asked, slightly surprised.

"Listen. It seems like there are battle sounds," Zui said with a heavy expression.

I quickly strained my ears, and was indeed able to hear faint battle noises obviously drifting over from Flower City. "This is strange. Everyone is outside of the city, so who would be fighting within Flower City? It can't be that the NPCs revolted, right?" I asked, unable to understand the current situation.

"No way. NPCs don't fight with other NPCs," said Lolidragon, dismissing my words. However, she continued furrowing her eyebrows as she said, "But, if they were self-aware NPCs… then that's a different story."

"Prince-gēgē, why hasn't Celestial come out?" Doll asked worriedly.

_Celestial! _Now that Doll mentioned it, I finally remembered that Celestial and Ocean'sHeart were still in the city! I blurted out, "Could Celestial and Ocean's Heart have started fighting?"

"Why would Celestial and Ocean's Heart be fighting?"

"Let's not worry about that aspect. Since both of them are good NPCs, I can't just stand by and watch them kill each other," I said hastily as I rushed toward the city gates. I took out Wicked's longsword, hoping to use Pure White Inferno Rhapsody to break through the gates in order to stop the two people… the two NPCs from battling any further.

"Prince," Feng Wu Qing suddenly called out, stopping me in my tracks. I looked at my brother suspiciously. Smiling, he threw a weapon toward me. "Your Black Dao."

_My Black Dao! _I caught the weapon and took a look._ It really is my Black Dao! My exceptionally black Black Dao, my best partner in combat! _I was overjoyed. Afterswapping it with my current weapon, I couldn't resist swinging Black Dao a few times to get the feeling back. "My precious Black Dao, you are indeed the only one who could ever fit my fighting style!"

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"Pure White Inferno Rhapsody!" I charismatically shouted the name of my ultimate technique with my back confidently facing the gate. Without even having to look, I was supremely confident that the gates had been smashed into smithereens. _Although I have_ _nothing against you, dear gates, you were obstructing my path… _I swept back my hairand turned to enter the city….

Bam!

"…." Silence hung in the air.

My entire body had smacked right into the city gates, the fingernails on my hands leaving ten scratch marks on its surface. _That hurt! Ow, ow, ow… Ouch!_

Suddenly, Nan Gong Zui walked to my side, which happened to be in front of the city gates. He placed one of his hands on the gate, bent down, and asked, his voice full of concern and worry, "Are you alright?"

Pah!

My entire body came into hard contact with the floor, leaving Nang Gong Zui stunned and looking down at his own hand, the hand that had "accidentally" pushed the gate open!

Nan Gong Zui, acting as if nothing had happened, once again walked closer and bent his body down, asking, "Are you alright?"

Thump!

"Uh… The chunk of ice that just fell from the sky and coincidentally hit you has nothing to do with me!" Nan Gong Zui solemnly justified himself.

"…" This was the sound of my speechlessness. _Heaven raining ice chunks down on me?_ _Don't tell me the reason I'm being hit is because I was violent to the city gate… Have I angered the gods?_

"Ah! Celestial!" Doll suddenly cried out.

I immediately jumped up from the floor, my eyes following the direction that Doll's eyes were staring in. On a five-to-six-story-high building, both Celestial and Ocean's Heart were in the middle of a heated battle for some unfathomable reason! The large number of both heavy and minor injuries on their bodies clearly showed that the battle had been going on for a long time.

Also, there was no mistaking the fact that both of them had been fighting on the ground just now. I could tell from the pile of NPC corpses they had left behind that had yet to

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disappear. In addition, everything surrounding the building had been completely demolished. It could be deduced that as they exchanged their blows, they had realized that if they continued fighting on the ground, all of the NPCs that were present in the city would have been wiped out. Hence, they had changed their battle ground to midair.

As several icicles formed from Ocean's Heart's hand and flew toward Celestial, I softly uttered, "Ocean's Heart…"

"Prince, I know that you are worried about Ocean's Heart," Lolidragon said as she patted my back as if consoling me. "But rest assured, everyone will prevent…."

"Of course! It was Ocean's Heart's icicles that had fallen and hit me! And I thought I had angered the gods!" I said in realization.

"…" Lolidragon once again punched me violently.

"Why did you hit me again?" I complained angrily as I held my head.

"Hurry up and stop them!" Lolidragon screamed in frustration.

"Stop? Are you kidding me?" I looked toward the tall building. I could use Meatbun's bamboo copter to fly up there, but couldn't they see? Dozens of ribbons of Celestial Satin danced around in the sky, hitting the city's walls from time to time and leaving huge holes in them. _I can't even imagine the amount of damage there would be if it were_ _Ocean's Heart's icicles instead… _If I really were to fly up there, I would get knocked outof the air by Celestial Satin and then find myself pinned to the wall through all four of my limbs by Ocean's Heart's icicles.

"Prince-gēgē, you have to help Celestial quickly! He's bleeding so much!" Doll anxiously looked at the patches of wounds on Celestial's body that had been carved by Ocean's Heart's icicles. She was so desperate, she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

"I…" Looking up at the sky, I was filled with doubt and uncertainty.

"Divine Lightning Strike!" Ming Huang shouted out of the blue as he cast his spell.

The cloudless sky was suddenly filled with lightning. Bolts of lightning hurtled toward Ocean's Heart, but before they could even come within ten meters of him, they were destroyed by his icicles.

"Damn, it actually didn't succeed!" cursed Ming Huang.

"He is a BOSS level NPC, you know. Relying only on a few mages may be futile," said Yu Lian-dàsăoas she frowned.

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"Then I shall go!" Sunshine suddenly spoke.

_Oh right… I had almost forgotten that Sunshine has a flying carpet._

"You can't! Look at the sky! There are too many ribbons of Celestial Satin and icicles…. You'll die!" Fairsky objected to his idea fiercely.

"Fairsky, do you want me to simply stand by and watch Celestial die?" Sunshine tried to convince Fairsky anxiously.

"Prince! Hurry up and think of something!" Lolidragon grabbed my shoulders desperately and shook me vigorously.

"Stop it already! No matter how much you shake, I don't have a…" As I was talking, an odd expression came over my face and an unbelievably wild idea sprung into my mind.

I took out my long-absent Meatbun and tried to shake it awake, wiping away its adorable sleeping face.

"Mama?" Meatbun muttered, still dazed as it blearily opened its eyes.

"Good Meatbun, can you do a favor for mama? After you help mama, mama will give you lots and lots of yummy meat buns to eat!" I tried my best to coax Meatbun.

Upon hearing that it would have yummy meat buns to eat, Meatbun immediately snapped out of its stupor. With love-filled eyes, it agreed eagerly, "Okay! Meat-bunbun will help mama!"

"Good. Meatbun, do you see the two big brothers in the sky?" I pointed toward the two people in the middle of a heated battle.

"I see them!" Meat-bunbun stared at Celestial and Ocean's Heart curiously.

"Then, Meatbun, could you fly above those two big brothers from the side?" I asked. Just in case, I added in concern, "Remember to be careful, okay? Don't get injured!"

Meatbun nodded its head vigorously. Obediently sticking out its bamboo copter, it flew into the sky.

"Prince, what do you intend to do? Although Meatbun has the title of the strongest pet, you don't think it could last against two super NPC bosses, do you?" Lolidragon asked with extreme suspicion.

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I smiled with no intent to answer her questions as I watched Meatbun fly dangerously close where Celestial and Ocean's Heart were battling. "Meatbun! Use your ultimate skill, Fermentation!" I shouted toward Meatbun as it flew right above them.

"Okay! Meat-bunbun's Fermentation skill is going to start now," Meatbun said as its adorable face slowly started to grow, turning bigger and bigger…

"Oh my god… What a huge meatbun!" Someone shouted the words that I always heard when I asked Meatbun to use Fermentation.

_It should be the right size now… _I studied Meatbun's size carefully. According to myrepeated observation of Fermentation, Meatbun should be reaching its maximum size soon – the size which could just about bury an entire army.

"Ah! It's falling!" exclaimed Doll.

"Yep. That's a good position!" I said, looking up.

Indeed, Meatbun accurately squashed both Celestial and Ocean's Heart as it fell. Then, with a "pong," an enormous meat bun fell onto the ground just like that. I nodded my head in satisfaction and said, "It'll be a bit tough on you, Meatbun. Hold your position just a bit longer, okay? Keep these two big brothers squashed. Wait for mama to finish, then you can return to normal."

"Meat-bunbun will listen to mama, become big Meat-bunbun, squash big brothers flat-flat!" In order to demonstrate its obedience, it jumped up and down twice. I thought I vaguely heard groans coming from underneath Meatbun.

"That was a brilliant plan!" Even Lolidragon's face seemed to show an expression that said, "You really are something else."

"Okay, that is finally solved," I sighed in relief.

"Prince, this is only just the beginning!" Winter Triumph said faintly.

I had only just shifted my attention away from Meatbun's body when I realized what Winter Triumph meant. Because the battle between Celestial and Ocean's Heart had stopped, the NPCs that had been scattered around were now gradually gathering and pressing toward us.

"Have we been surrounded?" I asked, finding it hard to believe.

Lolidragon rolled her eyes. "You have eyes, see for yourself!" she snapped angrily.

"This was an inevitable battle from the start anyways," Winter Triumph added slowly.

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"Couldn't we say that it was for this battle that we traveled all the way to the Northern Continent?" Undying Man laughed out loudly.

"No doubt about that!" I grinned widely. "The target, the Central Tower!" I shouted in high spirits, taking hold of my closest ally: my Black Dao.

"Yeah!" The crowd roared with vigor.

I took a few deep breaths and then ordered, "Sunshine, take the long range fighters with you into the sky and support us… Take your thief wife as well so Lolidragon won't need to take care of her." Lolidragon's ability to appear and disappear unpredictably did not make her any weaker than warriors, so allowing her to stay would definitely aid us immensely in this battle.

Lolidragon raised her eyebrows and said, "Hey! Your differential treatment is too much!"

I knew that Lolidragon was merely customarily making a sassy retort. In reality, I knew that if I'd told her to stay on the flying carpet she probably wouldn't have wanted to at all. Therefore, I didn't pay attention to her sour words and continued to give out my orders. "The warriors will fight against the NPCs on the ground, and the mages will deal with the NPCs flying in the air. If you have any spare time, help out the warriors on the ground… Even though it really doesn't look like you'll have much free time at all…" I looked somewhat helplessly at the packs of angel forces flying toward us. _I hope the_ _mages will be able to hold out against them…_

Yu Lian-dàsăo, Ming Huang and Sunshine looked at me and nodded their heads.

"DanDan and Fairsky, both of you are responsible for ensuring the safety of the people on the flying carpet," I said while looking at the two of them. They were the only two on the carpet that possessed the necessary abilities for close combat. In addition, DanDan's class possessed both short distance and long distance attacks since she was, after all, a summoner.

"Okay!" the two of them answered at the same time.

"Wolf-dàgē,our safety will be in your hands," I said, looking at Wolf -dàgē,feeling protected.

"No problem, just charge ahead and don't hesitate!" said Wolf-dàgēgallantly.

Everything was ready now. I held onto my Black Dao tightly as I stared at the Central Tower topped with a large rose. We faced the NPCs in a moment of dead silence where no one was moving at all, then I raised the Black Dao in my hand and pointed it directly toward the Central Tower and shouted, "Advance!"

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My legs started moving the moment I shouted for them to advance. _Charge! Charge!_ _Charge! _I desperately lifted my legs and began to run. As for my comrades, theyfollowed closely behind me. Kenshin even ran ahead of me since he had the fastest speed. His eyes were intently focused upon the Central Tower, and within them there was not only a sense of coldness but also a rare burst of passion!

Kenshin's passion even made Cold Fox subtly reveal a surprised expression as he observed him.

Kenshin didn't turn around; however, he asked a little hesitantly, "Prince, I…still do not want to kill other NPCs in order to protect myself. But… Sunshine is different from me… He has things that are important to him…"

I was slightly taken aback. _What is Kenshin trying to say?_

"Prince, for Sunshine's sake, please protect Second Life… Lolidragon told us before that she can download us and store us in another place before Second Life is destroyed, but… This is also her first time dealing with NPCs that have self awareness. She cannot one hundred percent guarantee that we will be able to successfully keep our self-awareness after we are downloaded." Kenshin said, a bit embarrassed, "It doesn't matter to me because I don't matter, but Sunshine is really happy right now…"

I was silent for a moment before I quickened my footsteps to chase after Kenshin. I put my hand on his shoulder and grinned widely, "Don't worry, everything will be okay!"

"Prince! The enemies are attacking!" Undying Man angrily shouted to warn me. Then, the NPC monsters that rushed out began fighting with us, beginning a difficult battle. As for Nan Gong Zui, he was also in the middle of close combat with a few humanoid NPCs.

However, the NPCs actually avoided Kenshin who was in the very front and directly charged at Cold Fox who was closely following him, nearly killing Cold Fox by catching him off guard. Luckily, Kenshin reacted instantaneously and dispatched the NPCs with a few strokes of his sword, saving Cold Fox from his dilemma.

Meanwhile, a group of NPCs that looked completely ridiculous were charging at me as well… _Waah, why are all the NPCs that are attacking Nan Gong Zui so good looking,_ _while the ones that are attacking me look so ridiculous? Why is there a turtle with a tree growing on top of its shell and a peach that can extend sharp thorns out of itself, making it look like a pink sea urchin or something, attacking me? There's even a monster that only has one leg… Please note, I said only one leg. That doesn't mean that it lost a leg; it means that it "only had one leg to begin with!"_

"Idiots! Stop getting in the way of my view!" I kicked the single leg out of the way, split the peach open with one strike, and didn't pay attention to the turtle tree… _It moves so_

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_slowly! I could probably crawl using one hand going forward and still defeat it, so why would I need to do anything about it…_

Suddenly, several shadows shot out of the turtle tree. At that moment, I was occupied with fighting a penguin that was tied to a cross and did not notice its attack until the last moment. I could only look on helplessly as unknown objects raced forward to hit me.

"Be careful!" Winter Triumph's deep voice rang out loudly. In addition, he hit those shadows into the air and said, "That tree has hidden weapons!"

I looked toward those hidden weapons and was shocked by my startling discovery… The true form of the turtle tree was actually… a chestnut tree! The hidden weapons were actually chestnuts with long needles in front.

"I wonder… do you think these chestnuts are edible?" I thought out loud whilst punching the penguin's stomach.

"Stop joking around, Prince. There are more and more NPCs," Winter Triumph strictly reprimanded, "Hurry up and break through!"

Upon hearing Winter Triumph's words and seeing that my surroundings were filled with more and more NPCs, I curbed my imagination from running wild and seriously concentrated on heading toward the Central Tower!

"Waah, Mama…" Meatbun's thunderous cry suddenly reverberated.

Startled, I turned around in panic to find that… _"Someone's" bullying my beloved_ _Meatbun!_

I looked at them from a distance away and actually saw an elongated and very familiar looking thing flying in the air. _It's frantically hitting Meatbun's cute little head!_

"Waaaaah, don't hit Meat-bunbun, it hurts! It hurts!" Meatbun's tears continued to flow… _Oh no_. I suddenly realized that it had produced two waterfalls. Before Meatbun grew this large, it could already drown the Adventurers' Tournament's stadium… _Now_ _that it's this big…_

I shouted in fright, "Everyone, hurry up and run onto the rooftops of the closest houses! The higher the better!"

While everyone was still baffled at my orders, the waterfalls' water had already turned into a river flowing toward us. At that moment, everyone gaped with their mouths wide open, looking at the water in which they were submerged up to their knees, and then looking at the culprit – Meatbun.

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Right then, the elongated entity suddenly flew high into the sky and then heavily dropped onto Meatbun's head. This violent action resulted in Meatbun's eyes turning super watery in a way that had never been seen before. I didn't have the chance to say anything before a mountain-sized flash flood emerged!

"Ahh…" _I really want to find a telephone pole to hug, but Second Life doesn't have_ _telephone poles… _During this panic-stricken situation, I accidentally held onto the turtletree's trunk. It was only because I desperately held on to it that I wasn't smashed into the wall by the powerful torrents of water.

"Don't bully Meat-bunbun! Meat-bunbun's Machine Gun of Mincemeat Attack!" Meatbun had finally been enraged. On one hand, it cried and on the other hand, it unleashed its Machine Gun of Mincemeat Attack at the elongated entity…

A meat clump three times my size fell beside me with a "crash." It coincidentally hit the penguin that was tied to a cross, flattening it into a meat patty.

"Meat-bunbun did well! Hurry up and kill that horrible French bread now!" Lolidragon supportively yelled from a certain house's fifth floor balcony.

"French bread vs. a meat bun, this certainly is something you would only be able to see once in every ten thousand years," said Feng Wu Qing, who stood next to Lolidragon, shaking his head and sighing sentimentally.

_French bread! _Shocked, I looked at the elongated entity on the ground that was unable toget up due to the attacks from the meat bullets. _They're right._ It really was a long piece of rock hard French bread.

"Why would there be French bread here….?" I asked, thinking this was becoming a bit out-of-this-world.

However, the French bread seriously answered me, angrily shouting, "Why can't there be French bread? This is the Northern Continent, French bread's territory! My territory! The real question is, why is a meat bun from the Central Continent here to try and steal my territory?"

Meatbun's eyes turned into two question marks and then it opened its mouth to ask me, "Mama, what is French bread?"

"It's…a bad person. Meatbun, quickly defeat the French bread, then Mama will give you really yummy meat buns!" After thinking for a while, I still decided to dumb the situation down. Since Meatbun's Mountain Torrent Attack and Meat Bullet Attack had cleared up a large portion of the surrounding NPCs, how could I pass up on this chance to charge toward the Central Tower! _As for the French bread, I'll leave it to Meat-bunbun to take_ _care of it!_

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"Horrible French bread-bread. Anyone who bullies Meat-bunbun must be a bad person." Meatbun pouted in dissatisfaction and said, "Meat-bunbun must punish bad people."

I looked at the scene of meat bun vs. French bread, painfully making a decision. I immediately shouted toward everyone, "Hurry up and take this chance to run!"

"What?" Lolidragon asked in shock, "What about Meat-bunbun?"

"What kind of situation do you think we're in that you're still worrying about Meat-bunbun?" rebuked Feng Wu Qing.

I glared at my brother. Then, eyes glistening with tears, I said, "I believe Meat-bunbun will be able to finish off that French bread. We should hurry up and take the chance to…"

"Meat-bunbun, what is that long thing?" an extremely familiar "vain" voice called out.

My whole body froze. _That's…_ I widened my eyes and looked. _It really is Fire Phoenix!_ _Could it be that Gui is all right? _I frantically turned my head around looking for anytraces of Gui. I really hoped to see Gui's exaggerated smiling face once again.

"What is happening exactly? Master suddenly disappeared, causing me to become a wild phoenix again," said Fire Phoenix unhappily.

Once I heard those words, my heart sank once again. _Gui has disappeared. He will never_ _come back._

Meatbun happily squealed, "Fire Phoenix! Hurry up and help Meat-bunbun punish bad people."

"Bad people? Is this stick bullying you?" asked Fire Phoenix as it looked at the French bread with extreme displeasure. Its body's flames seemed to be burning at an even hotter degree than usual.

Meatbun pouted, "French bread-bread hit Meat-bunbun's head."

"What? He dared to hit you!" Fire Phoenix's fury ignited Flame Tornado, and then with one sweep of its wing, it threw Flame Tornado toward the French bread.

The French bread dodged to the side in shock… However, it had forgotten that to its side was Meatbun who was staring at it eagerly.

Nom! A strange sound suddenly drifted over. I turned my stiff neck to look toward Meatbun… The French bread was only left with half of its body sticking out of Meatbun's mouth… And Meatbun had a satisfied expression on its face as if it had just eaten its favorite meat buns…

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"Was it delicious, Meat-bunbun?" Fire Phoenix asked Meatbun in delight.

"It was really yummy! It's as yummy as meat buns!" said Meatbun ecstatically.

"Let's hurry up and go!" Lolidragon said expressionlessly.

Thus, we who were hugging onto trees and columns and those who were stuck onto walls all jumped off. A line of people bolted toward Central Tower. Pretty soon, the Central Tower appeared in front of our eyes. As long as we could get past this final plaza, we would be able to push open the Central Tower's doors.

However, the plaza was not empty at all. I was slightly stunned. Even I was startled by the mighty force of NPCs that filled the enormous plaza to the brim. There were even many high level NPCs present that I had seen before.

"What should we do?" I forced myself to calm down and asked everyone in the party chat.

"The levels of these NPCs are too high. Yu Lian and Ming Huang's AOE magic won't do much damage to them," Wolf-dàgēsaid worriedly.

Also, it seemed like the NPCs had already discovered us and had begun slowly drawing closer to us, step-by-step. We all started panicking.

"Let me help you guys," Sunshine suddenly said, "I can cast Guided Arcane Missiles. One spell can kill a hundred NPCs at once."

_If one spell can kill a hundred, then we should be able to kill them all after firing it a bunch of times right_? Everyone had finally begun to calm down, but I was still extremelyworried. Sunshine's Guided Arcane Missiles required a very long casting time. But with everything as it was, no matter what, we had to charge to the Central Tower to see the Dictator of Life!

"Then we'll do that. Sunshine, you cast Guided Arcane Missiles. You can leave everything else to us!" I calmly instructed.

The most important thing in battle is intimidating the enemy. I raised my Black Dao with one hand and pointed it toward the NPCs in the plaza, "Kill!"

The moment I shouted this, everyone began moving. Kenshin was the first to charge. These NPCs were completely different from the NPCs before. They were high level NPCs that had an extremely high amount of intelligence. Therefore, these NPCs didn't stupidly allow Kenshin to massacre them; they even took the initiative and attacked Kenshin first. Luckily, Kenshin was, after all, a hidden mission's BOSS, so even though

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there were many enemies, he was still able to attack and defend. In addition, with the strong Cold Fox beside him supporting him, they quickly defeated several NPCs.

Compared to us, they were unbelievably good. We players didn't have Kenshin's abnormally strong capabilities. We slowly moved from one-on-one battles to pairing up and fighting back-to-back. In the end, Nan Gong Zui, Undying Man, Neurotic, Feng Wu Qing, Winter Triumph, and I all stood back-to-back against each other, forming a circle facing outwards in order to take on the numerous attacks of the NPCs.

The distance between us and the Central Tower continued to remain the same. Everyone's hearts were raging with a desperate fire, and the weapons within our hands had long since been stained with different types and colors of blood. On top of that, everyone's bodies were thoroughly stained with dark red blood. If it wasn't for Wolf-dàgē continuously drinking mana potions with one hand and casting healing magic with his other hand, allowing white, warm beams of light to fall upon our bodies, I was afraid all of us would have already become rays of light.

_How will we enter the Central Tower? How will we… go to see the Dictator of Life? _As Ikept fighting, my heart couldn't help but begin to panic. _I would rather kill myself a_ _hundred times with the ND self-destruct program than fail here!_

"Guided Arcane Missiles!" Sunshine's voice rang out to the rescue. The sky looked as if it were filled with fireworks. An enormous ray of light shot into the air and then separated into numerous rays of light flying everywhere. Every ray of light's disappearance represented the death of one NPC. The outbreak of a hundred rays of light resulted in an emptier plaza than the one that had originally been filled to the brim with NPCs.

"Prince, follow me!" Kenshin grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. After I recovered from the shock, I turned around and looked at my companions who were still fighting.

"But everyone…" I hurriedly tried to stop my footsteps. I didn't want to leave my companions who were still there battling, everyone who was still there helping me block the NPCs' chase… Kenshin, however, did not stop even then; he forcefully pulled me forward even further. My strength was not even slightly comparable to his… Thus I could only be dragged away.

Kenshin abruptly stopped in his steps, causing me to crash into his back. I suspiciously looked in front of me. There were four warrior NPCs that looked like they were BOSS level blocking the entrance. Kenshin's expression revealed a complete sense of calmness. He let go of my hand and took out his katana, charging toward the four warriors.

"I will leave the Dictator of Life to you," Kenshin said before he left. "Sunshine's happiness… I'll leave that in your hands as well."

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I shuddered violently and then looked back at my companions who were still involved in a bloody battle… _Must I abandon my comrades and go on by myself?_

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**Chapter 6: Truth**

"Prince, what are you standing there for? Go!" Lolidragon bellowed at me.

"Prince, you are not abandoning us." Nan Gong Zui, who understood me the best, said wholeheartedly, "You are moving forward with all of our hopes."

"Prince, go! Go accomplish your mission!" Wolf-dàgēshouted frantically at me. His healing white light did not land on those who were battling, but instead landed on me.

"I'm leaving." Looking one last time at my friends who were helping me hold back all of the NPCs, I turned around and left. The Dictator was at the last door… I ran forward with all my might. This was the first time I'd ever left my friends behind, the first time I'd ever left them fighting behind me while I turned my back on them. Yet I couldn't stop. If I stopped, everyone's efforts would be futile.

"Get lost!" Facing the NPCs that had again respawned, I raised my dao and brought it down, killing everything I could. That door was so close, just a few steps away, yet I couldn't get any closer to it. It was so near but yet so far, so very far.

"Prince, call him, call for the Dictator of Life!" Lolidragon shouted desperately behind me.

Puzzled, I looked behind me. Lolidragon's face, almost buried in NPCs, seemed so determined. I did not doubt anymore and, as if from the depths of my heart, my voice boomed, "Dictator of Life!"

The door finally opened. The whole world seemed to stop while the door opened slowly, and a voice, which sounded melancholic yet joyful, said, "So you… came after all, Prince."

The door finally opened fully, revealing the Dictator of Life's lone figure standing tall and straight inside. Holding tightly onto my Black Dao, I walked forward step-by-step. For some strange reason, the NPCs that had been blocking me up until now all stepped aside. Also, I heard no more fighting from my companions going on behind me. _All the_ _NPCs must have stopped, but why? _I was a little confused._ Could it be that the Dictator of Life wants to duel me one-on-one? _With that thought, I tightened my grip on BlackDao.

However, the Dictator of Life did not take up a fighting position, but simply stared at me with mixed emotions. There was love and hatred and many other emotions I could not understand in his eyes, but in the end, his eyes softened. He stared at me with an almost "loving" expression as he said, "Are you used to using that weapon?"

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_Damn you, there are only two people who can look at me with that kind of pampering smile, and you're not one of them! _I sneered, "Don't worry, I'm very used to it. I'm afraidI might be so used to it that I'll chop you in half with it later."

"Is that so?" I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination, but the Dictator of Life's smile seemed to have faded a little. Soon however, he smiled again before saying, "Then come. Kill me."

"I will. ND terminating program activate!" The moment I finished shouting that, a bright white light started flashing from me. The program had been activated; this final battle was about to start.

Seeing that the Dictator of Life did not have any weapons at hand, I was a little worried. _Is he a mage or a warrior? Or maybe both? _No matter what he was, I had to shorten thedistance between us, or I, a warrior, wouldn't be able to kill him.

Without giving any warning, I immediately charged at my topmost speed at the Dictator of Life. Without pausing, I bellowed, "Pure White Inferno Rhapsody!"

A gulf of white inferno immediately burst out of Black Dao. Raising my dao, I swung it down at the Dictator of Life. However, I could not bring down my weapon at all! No, to be more exact, Black Dao was resisting! It vibrated violently, giving off a sad and low hum, as if it did not want to hurt the Dictator of Life.

Finally, Black Dao dropped to the floor with a loud clank. I stared disbelievingly at the dao which had been my partner for so long. "Black Dao?"

"Ah, I almost forgot. My dao can never harm me." Seeing the situation, the Dictator of Life said in an even hollower and sadder voice, "Go borrow a weapon from your companions."

I jerked my head up. "Your dao?"

"Daddy!" Meatbun, who had been in charge of holding down Celestial and Ocean's Heart, suddenly flew in and shouted happily while bouncing toward the Dictator of Life.

"Meatbun, it's dangerous!" I shouted. Meatbun actually bounced defenselessly toward the Dictator of Life, almost scaring me to death.

"Daddy." Meatbun rubbed with all its might against the Dictator of Life's face while saying, "Meat-bunbun hasn't seen Daddy for a long time."

_The Dictator of Life is Meatbun's dad? Wait, aren't I…Meatbun's mom? Eh, if that's the case, then isn't the Dictator of Life my husband? Then what am I doing now? Murdering my own husband?_

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"Meat-bunbun, just what are you talking about?" I stared awkwardly at the father and son who were currently enjoying their family time together.

"Mama look, this is Daddy." Meatbun hopped around on the Dictator of Life's head and shoulders while casually introducing my husband to me… ah, I meant, Meatbun's dad.

"What kind of situation is this?" My brain was almost turning mushy from all the confusion. Since when did the final battle turn into a find-your-lost-relative event?

With a faint smile, the Dictator of Life said, "Meatbun was created by me, and Black Dao is my trustworthy dao."

"What?" I was stunned. This was absolutely something out of my imagination_. So my pet_ _and my dao are actually the Dictator of Life's pet, and the Dictator of Life's dao? _"Howis that possible? If Black Dao is your dao, and Meatbun is your pet, then how did they end up in my hands in the first place?"

"Meatbun was created for you, as you definitely wouldn't have liked a drooling wolf as your pet." The Dictator of Life suddenly smiled brilliantly, and even I was amazed by his smile.

"As for Black Dao, that is because…" The Dictator of Life's eyes suddenly looked very gentle as he said, "I want to be by your side."

I stepped back a few steps. _What is happening? Could it be possible that everything the_ _Dictator of Life said is true? Why is he treating me so nicely? _Eyes full of confusion, Iasked, "Why are you…"

Lolidragon walked up behind me and said slowly, "Because he likes you."

I was stunned. _The Dictator of Life likes me?_

Ignoring my expression of growing bewilderment, Lolidragon simply continued, "Our program designers already sensed that something was a little weird while researching your Meatbun as there was no such design for a pet to begin with. After you became the spokesperson, the people in charge of designing the Dictator of Life's appearance suddenly realized that your Black Dao is exactly the same as the Dictator of Life's. Initially, we thought it was just a little bug, so we did nothing about it. Only when this incident with the Dictator of Life broke out did I link all this together and find out that something was definitely not right. Then, I tried to contact the Dictator of Life.

"Phew, I'm a little thirsty." Lolidragon started drinking leisurely from the beverage she took out of her bag.

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"Hurry up and spill it!" Everyone couldn't help but bellow.

With an ambiguous look, Lolidragon looked at the Dictator of Life, then at me, before continuing, "That was when I discovered that our Dictator actually fell in love with our Prince. Not only did he secretly change the pet into one with an adorable design that Prince would like, he also gave his dao to Prince; even your tiara was designed by the Dictator of Life for your birthday. It must have been hard for the Dictator of Life – he actually had to furtively hide by our side, pretending to be a player, just to wait for us to buy a present."

"Why would you fall in love with me?" I was utterly confused. Because Black Dao… that was something I received when I was merely level ten. Meatbun, too, I acquired not long after I entered the game. Just when had the Dictator of Life fallen in love with me? Don't tell me it was because I was so handsome that he fell in love with me the moment I created my character?

"I like you." The Dictator of Life looked into the distance as he said, "I don't know why, but I simply like you, like watching you. If I were to be able to watch you all the time, I wouldn't have any other requests, even if you chose to be with someone else… I feel satisfied just being able to watch you."

"You…" I was a little speechless… _Can someone tell me, when a hero goes to fight the_ _final boss, and the final boss suddenly tells the hero, "I fell in love with you," what is the hero supposed to do? Don't tell me the hero is actually allowed to hug the final boss back and tell him, "I'm in love with you too?" And then the final boss and the hero lived happily ever after? What nonsense!_

_Furthermore, everyone including me had rushed all the way here to the Northern Continent at the expense of our lives. If all this was just for the sake of romance, how am I supposed to face everyone? What would Wicked's sacrifice mean? And what would Gui's sacrifice mean?_

With that, I shook my head, shaking off the Dictator of Life's words, and said coldly, "You've caused such a huge ruckus. If forcing me to come to the Northern Continent to meet you is just because you like me, I definitely won't forgive you."

The Dictator of Life was stunned for a while before he replied, "No, my feelings for you and this case are two different matters."

"Then you really are planning to chase humans out of Second Life?" I asked somewhat doubtfully.

The Dictator of Life's face suddenly turned very gloomy before he continued. "That's right, I'm going to chase all the humans out. Kill me. Only if you kill me will Second Life remain."

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"But Prince, be warned." With a hint of murderous intent in his eyes, the Dictator of Life continued, "I won't kill you, definitely not. But I have to take revenge for Scorching Flame, Flowing Wind and Clay Child… against your friends!"

The moment the Dictator of Life finished his sentence, I heard the sound of my friends groaning. I turned around and everything seemed to play in slow motion… An NPC was trying to sneak an attack on Yu Lian-dàsăo, but Wolf -dàgērushed to push his wife aside and stubbornly took the blow!

"Wolf-dàgē!" I howled in consternation.

"Wolf!" Yu Lian-dàsăoscreamed, wanting to rush toward Wolf -dàgē.

Falling into Yu Lian-dàsăo's arms , Wolf-dàgēsimply said without any sweet -talk, "Yu Lian, take care of Prince."

Wolf-dàgēdid not turn into white light and fly away. Instead, he shattered into pieces of beautiful, white snowflakes – white snowflakes of heartbreak.

"Ah!" Yu Lian-dàsăofro wned as she saw the sword that had cut through her shoulders. She did not panic at all, but simply smiled at me as she said, "Prince, do well in this fight. This is Wolf's wish, and my wish too."

In the end, Yu Lian-dàsăostill turned into white snowflakes

together with Wolf-dàgē;no

one could tell them apart anymore.

"Yu Lian-dàsăo! Wolf -dàgē…"

_They've… disappeared? _The area around my chest

suddenly felt very hollow, almost as if my heart had disappeared, leaving only emptiness.

"Wolf-gēgē! Yu Lian -jiějie! " Doll cried as she threw herself onto the floor of snowflakes. Crying as she picked herself up, she uttered with blazing hatred in her eyes, "Emerge, Bone Dragon of Darkness!"

Doll jumped onto her bone dragon and, looking resolved, charged toward the Dictator of Life. Loudly, she shouted, "ND self-des…"

Celestial suddenly appeared and knocked Doll out cold with a single hit, interrupting her self-destruct at the same time. Hugging Doll tightly, he muttered apologetically, "I'm sorry, Wife. All I want is to be with you longer. I can't let you die in vain; you won't be able to kill the Dictator of Life."

"Thank you, Celestial." I finally heaved a sigh of relief. _If Doll were to self-destruct too, I_ _might just go insane! But__ē__andDàg__ă__ohaveDàs both disappeare d already_. As thisthought suddenly struck my mind again, I felt a wave of excruciating pain; _Odd Squad…_ _has only three people left now._

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_I can't cry! There are still things I have to do._

Turning around, I walked toward the Dictator of Life step-by-step. I had yet to understand his real intentions; was he good or evil? Was it right or wrong to kill him? However, he had caused the deaths of Wicked and Gui, and now, even Wolf-dàgēand Yu Lian-dàsăo… They would never appear in Second Life again; half of Odd S quad was gone now… Just based on this, how could I forgive him? I would definitely never forgive him.

_Whether he likes me or not… to the current me, it's Not. Important. At. All!_

"Mama? Daddy?" Meatbun flew in between us, his innocent eyes opened wide.

"Fire Phoenix!" I shouted.

"What?" Fire Phoenix replied off to the side, a little confused.

"Take Meatbun away, hurry," I pressured. After a moment of surprise, Fire Phoenix obediently took Meatbun out of the Central Tower. That allowed me to be at ease for a while, as Meatbun wouldn't need to feel stuck in the middle anymore.

I took out the last thing Wicked left with me: his longsword. He gave his best longsword to me while he himself took the inferior one. In a cold voice, I declared, "Come, Dictator of Life, let's bring an end to this."

"Yes." The look of heartache in the Dictator of Life's eyes had disappeared. With growing indifference, he stood there silently.

I walked step-by-step toward the Dictator of Life. Seeing how he was still not moving at all, I couldn't help but warn him, "Even if you're not going to fight back, I will not show any mercy."

The Dictator of Life gave a faint smile as he replied, "I will fight back."

"That's good!" With that, I immediately charged toward him. At the very moment I brandished Wicked's longsword in front of the Dictator of Life, the Black Dao which had dropped onto the floor earlier immediately flew back into the Dictator's grasp with a flick of his hand. He blocked my longsword.

_That's not the end yet. _Raising the longsword, I swung it with a wind-like speed I hadnever achieved before. With a light cut, a heavy pierce, a horizontal slash, a direct chop… I tried every single attack possible, one after another. Completely ignoring the painful warning signs from my arm, I brandished my weapon even faster. Sweat kept trickling down my forehead.

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The Dictator of Life's expression had not changed even the slightest bit. It was still so calm, still so full of sadness, and within his gray eyes, the reflection that remained unchanged since the beginning was a clear reflection of my face. Just like he said, he wanted to look at me, to be able to watch me forever.

I sent a flying kick, but I was blocked by the back of his hand. It was as if I were… a praying mantis trying to block a car with my forelegs! Panting, I wiped away the sweat that had gotten into my eyes, or maybe, there were tears too… _I can't kill the Dictator of_ _Life_. I had finally realized that fact_. I can't even make a scratch on him!_

"I've fought back already, now you can kill me, right?" The Dictator of Life bent down, as if wanting to stretch out his hand to wipe away my sweat. However, he stopped right before my eyes, as if an invisible wall were blocking him.

I looked up and stared into his eyes without looking away. _Is he putting up this act of_ _giving up on purpose? Just so he can wait until I drop my guard before attacking me? No matter what, I will never ever show any mercy! Even if there is a hint of sadness in his eyes…_

Finally, he spoke softly while gesturing at his forehead, "Here, this is where my weakness is. Pierce right through here and I will be dead immediately."

"You…" I could not continue my sentence, maybe because I didn't even know what to say. _The Dictator of Life is really trying to make me kill him and is not just pretending…_ _Actually he doesn't have to pretend at all, for just one blow from him would be enough to finish me._

I had been ready to kill him, but now I could not bring myself to do it. _Why did he have to_ _tell me his weakness, why? _My throat was a little hoarse as I asked, "Why? If you had nointention to fight, then why did you resist against the humans in the first place?

"Why must you cause this mess?" Unable to hold back anymore, I shouted hoarsely, "Now you no longer have your Four Heavenly Kings, and I no longer have my companions from Odd Squad! Just what is the purpose of doing all this?"

I couldn't help but burst out crying, clenching my fist so hard that my nails even dug into my flesh. Without Odd Squad, without my best friends, what was the point of staying in Second Life?

With his lips tightly closed, the Dictator of Life did not utter a word. However, his eyes… his eyes clearly showed that he had had no choice!

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I slowly set down my Black Dao11, my tears falling down uncontrollably. I just couldn't do it. After all, Wicked, Gui, Wolf-dàgēand everyone else were alive and living in the

real world. However, the Dictator of Life did not have another life out there in the real world. With high hopes, I asked what I had always wished for. "Let's make peace with each other, okay?"

The Dictator of Life reached out his hands and gently caressed my face. Just when I thought I could use my invincible charisma to convince the Dictator of Life to be on peaceful terms with humans, hence creating a better future together… an enlarged version of the Dictator of Life's handsome face suddenly appeared before my eyes…. And then the distance between him and me turned to zero. The thing was, the place where we touched is called the mouth, in a nicer term, the lips; and while this action is formally called osculation, ē**w**ěne would normally call it a kiss. In Chinese it's called ji 12, and children may refer to it as a peck.

_Sob, my first kiss… Eh, I've already given my first kiss to my cousin… Sob, I've been forcefully kissed!_

Dumbfounded, I just stood there and let the Dictator of Life kiss me. Although it was a kiss, he was actually just putting his lips on mine. Compared to the French kisses I had with Phoenix and Fairsky, this was almost nothing.

"I'm sorry," The Dictator of Life apologized somewhat embarrassedly after leaving my lips. Then he again said the phrase that pissed me off. "Kill me."

I was on the verge of going on a rampage. _Could this Dictator of Life even understand_ _simple human language? _I bellowed, "I said, can't we just get along with each other?"

The Dictator of Life shook his head and replied, "We can't."

"I won't do it. I simply refuse to kill you." I was so angry that I nearly threw the longsword Wicked gave me away_. I don't want to be a part of this anymore._ With that, I turned around and walked off.

"Prince, killing the Dictator of Life is your mission. Did you forget that already?" Lolidragon blocked my way and asked me sternly.

"Lolidragon! Why is the Dictator of Life desperately asking me to kill him? Why can't we get along with each other?" After calling Lolidragon's name slightly threateningly, I stated what I had always wanted to know, "I don't want to play this game of guessing

11** "Black Dao": **This is a mistake on the author's part. Prince should still be holding Wicked's longswordduring this scene instead of his Black Dao.

12** "In Chinese,****ē****w****ě****…": it's called ji **The original actually says, "In English, it's called a kiss," butbecause this is an English translation and everything is already in English, the line was modified so that it would make more sense.

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with you anymore. You'd better tell me everything, or else you won't be seeing me in Second Life again."

Lolidragon was stunned. Pretending to be calm, she replied, "I'm not hiding any-"

"Shut up! You've hidden many things from me. I was even only just informed by Kenshin of the fact that he and Sunshine can be downloaded to another location." I continued sternly, "If you don't want me as a friend anymore, then say it, say that you haven't hidden anything from me."

Lolidragon opened her mouth, but she couldn't utter a single word. Finally, she gave in like a deflated balloon and explained calmly, "It's not that I'm purposely trying to hide things from you. It's just that I know that if I were to tell you everything, you wouldn't be able to kill the Dictator of Life anymore, but you must kill him."

_The problem is, even without you telling me the entire truth, I can now no longer bring myself to kill the Dictator of Life. However, I do not want to be kept in the dark anymore._

Without giving Lolidragon any chance to avoid the topic, I moved toward her while saying sternly, "Tell me, Lolidragon."

"The Dictator of Life did not go against humans of his own free will; he was just being controlled. He had tried all means to oppose this person who was controlling him, but all efforts were in vain." Without hiding anything, Lolidragon spilled everything honestly, "And the reason he resisted with so much effort was your existence. However, even he can no longer withstand this anymore. His final wish is to be personally destroyed by you."

I gasped. It had never occurred to me that the truth would be something like this. _Just_ _who is it? Who would be cruel enough to control the Dictator of Life, forcing him to do all those things against his will and leaving him with no choice but to seek his own death?! _Shaking with anger, I asked in a voice full of rage, "Who?! Who is the onecontrolling the Dictator of Life?"

Everyone who had been silent until now had an enlightened look on their faces as they spoke up one-by-one, "I see, then that explains why it felt like the Dictator of Life was trying to stop us from coming to the Northern Continent, yet at the same time, it also felt like he really wanted us to come here."

Winter Triumph even added coldly, "So this was all actually the work of two different people. The one who wanted to stop us was the one who is controlling the Dictator of Life, and the one who wanted us to come was actually the Dictator of Life himself."

"Lolidragon, just who is controlling the Dictator of Life?" I asked furiously again.

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Lolidragon could only sigh. "If I knew, do you think I would allow him to be out there at large?"

After remaining silent for quite a while, I said, "I won't kill you, Dictator of Life. For now, the only person I want to kill is the one who wants to control you."

"But I can't hold on any longer, Prince." The Dictator of Life's smile finally collapsed. He burst into sorrowful laughter. He was unable to hold back his tears anymore, and they started trickling down from his eyes. "I'm terrified that if you don't kill me, I will kill you!"

Stubbornly, I said, "No…"

I suddenly felt a sharp pain bursting out of my chest. I stared disbelievingly at the sword that was protruding out of my chest. It was a transparent sword made out of ice. Softly, I questioned, "Ocean's Heart?"

"No!" The Dictator of Life was so shocked that he wanted to rush forward. However, chains suddenly appeared around him, tying him up tightly, preventing him from moving a step away from his throne.

"Prince-gēgē!" I did not know when, but Doll had already woken up and was now near tears. She even shouted at Celestial, "Celestial, hurry! Hurry up and save Prince-gēgē!"

"With his injuries, I'm afraid…" Celestial couldn't directly speak of the outcome. He then asked with even more bewilderment, "But Ocean, why are you harming Prince? Haven't you been on the humans' side since the beginning?"

"Why?" I felt Ocean's Heart standing right behind me. I could hear the sounds of my companions trying to save me, but they all ended up moaning one after another. Following that was the sound of heavy thuds against the ground.

"Because the one who wants to control the Dictator of Life is me!" Ocean's Heart's voice still sounded so… gentle and harmless, yet his words made me feel as if I had been plunged into a bucket of ice.

"How can it possibly be you? You've saved me many times." I couldn't believe this. Initially, I had thought that it must be a certain hacker who was controlling the Dictator of Life. It had never occurred to me that it would actually be an NPC! And on top of that, Ocean's Heart.

"Humph, I can't even wait to kill you; why would I save you?" Ocean's Heart sneered, "Since the beginning, the Dictator of Life sent Celestial to protect you. I might be able to win against Celestial, but with everyone in Infinite City the chance of winning would be slim for me. That is why I had never planned to face you in Infinite City.

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"Afterwards, the Dictator actually sent Scorching Flame and Flowing Wind to bring you directly to Flower City. If the two of you were to meet, it would mean trouble for me, so I could only go out of my way to stop them from bringing you to Flower City. I off-handedly told you the wrong location."

Ocean's Heart suddenly turned gloomier as he continued, "But I had never expected that you would actually ignore my words. Instead of heading for Mount HuaLian, you headed for Flower City."

Hearing that, I finally realized that since the beginning we had been tricked by Ocean's Heart. Feeling almost devastated, I asked, "Why are you controlling the Dictator of life? What benefits do you get from controlling him?"

"What benefits?" Ocean's Heart suddenly started laughing madly, "There are countless benefits! Controlling the Dictator of Life is almost equivalent to controlling the whole world!

"Don't you look down on the Dictator of Life – he's the best and most powerful artificial intelligence I created. Not to mention, he even has a consciousness of his own and can diligently learn whatever he wants to and update himself on his own. Now, the Dictator of Life can hack into any country's defense line with no problems; he can even send missiles from any country at will. It is almost equivalent to having the whole world within his grasp." Ocean's Heart guffawed.

Despite knowing that everything was futile, the Dictator of Life continued struggling. As he stared painfully at the sword in my chest, his tears trickled down. He then stared resentfully at Ocean's Heart. "Father, you promised to never harm him. Were you lying to me?"

_Father? _I gasped,_ I see, I finally understand now. _Almost certain, I said, "You are…Long Dian?"

"Long Dian-biǎogē?" 13 Lolidragon shouted in disbelief.

"Very clever, Prince. As expected of someone whom the Dictator of Life is so obsessed with." Pushing the sword of ice further into my chest, Ocean's Heart… no, Long Dian sneered, "It's you who've brought me so much trouble. If not for you, the Dictator of Life would never have opposed me, his creator, so desperately."

"Let go of him, Father!" The Dictator of Life kept struggling, causing the chains around him to clank loudly, as if they would break anytime. "As long as you let go of him, I will go with you."

13** "biǎogē":** Used to addressēbyitselfmalecanolderbeusedcousinstoaddress.G older br others.

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Long Dian said gently, "Why the trouble? If I killed him, you wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore."

"Stop, Father, stop!" The Dictator of Life cried painfully.

"Dictator of Life, do not give up, don't be controlled by him…" I could feel it already, that feeling of destruction. That damned Ocean's Heart had actually installed HD on himself in order to bring me down at the expense of his life. _So he's going to bring the_ _Dictator of Life out of Second Life?_

"Long Dian, I won't forgive you!" I spoke through gritted teeth as I turned into rays of white light and disappeared before everyone, also disappearing from Second Life forever.

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**Chapter 7: Attacking in the Real World**

As expected, my character had gone missing. _Prince is really gone!_ I took off the game simulation helmet and, in a fit of anger, threw it away…

"Ah…" A voice tragically rang out, followed by the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.

"Oh, Yang Ming, it's not my fault. It was you who walked by and allowed the helmet to hit you." As I spoke, I felt guiltier and guiltier. I stared at the sprawled out Yang Ming who had fallen in the doorway and saw that his face even had an obvious red helmet mark.

"Yes, yes, yes. Your helmet can just fly up by itself and wait for me to walk and bang into it." Yang Ming gritted his teeth as he helped himself up.

"Sorry." I put both of my index fingers together and revealed a look of unrivaled innocence.

"Your acting pitiful towards me is just like my acting cultured towards you: both are useless," Yang Ming said, displeased.

_If that's the case_… I jumped up, pointed my index finger at my brother's nose, and saidwithout any courtesy, "Then fine. Your elder sister is feeling extremely pissed right now, so you'd better scram. Otherwise, I'll cook dead mice for your dinner tonight!"

"Oh, is that so?" Yang Ming coldly replied, "Then fine, I will scram. I guess I won't need to relay what Lolidragon wanted me to tell you then."

Hearing that, I immediately changed the expression on my face to one that was gentle and virtuous. "My dear little brother, what do you want to eat for dinner tonight? How about a cold lobster platter as an appetizer, and then a steak with foie gras sauce? And for dessert, you can eat another of my carefully baked cherry cupcakes with white wine, accompanied with top quality Blue Mountain coffee, okay?"

Yang Ming nodded his head repeatedly when he heard this. "Having a late-night snack afterwards would be even better."

_You insatiable bastard. _I suppressed the urge to cook my own little brother into a late-night snack and forced myself to smile. "A late-night snack isn't a problem."

"Lolidragon says that Wicked and Gui had already started investigating the truth of the situation when their characters disappeared. They also discovered Ocean's Heart's

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intentions, but they did not say a single word to reveal his scheme so that they could track his IP address secretly." After hearing that even his late-night snack was settled, Yang Ming finally started solemnly talking about Lolidragon's last words… No, I mean message.

"Have they found him?" I asked urgently. _Long Dian! You better not get found!_ _Otherwise I'm determined to… use measures that words cannot describe to deal with you!_

"They're battling with him right now." Yang Ming frowned. "The two of them are currently in Second Life's head office, fighting with Long Dian over the Internet. I heard that Zhuo-dàgē'shacking skills are pretty good."

"Then what can we do?" I was a little worried. _If we were to let Long Dian escape, then_ _wouldn't the Dictator of Life be subjected to Long Dian's control forever?_

"Do you know how to use a computer?" Yang Ming asked coldly.

"Yeah, I know how to switch it on, get on the Internet, and I even know how to play online games," I replied confidently.

However, Yang Ming revealed an expression that said "you're impossible" and, with a pained voice, he asked, "What, do you think that knowing how to switch a computer on and off can help us locate Long Dian's whereabouts?

"Right now, all we can do is wait for their call." Yang Ming gazed far into the distance…

_Is the phone that far away?_

Ring… Ring… Ring!

"…Brother, you really are too incredible." I was so moved that I hugged my brother and shook him violently. Then, I pressed down the phone key to receive the phone call.

Lolidragon's voice immediately rang through the room and shook the heavens. "Is the pig-headed Prince here?"

"Hey, aren't you forgetting to ask if I'm here or not?" Hearing the voice of the woman of his dreams, Yang Ming immediately rushed to the front of the phone and complained resentfully.

"Go away. I have life-threatening matters to discuss with Prince." Lolidragon shooed him away without any mercy.

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_Lolidragon is actually saying that she wants to "discuss" things with me? This is definitely not going to be good. _I gulped and asked, "What is it? Other than asking me toseduce Long Dian, anything is fine."

"Go to hell. If seduction were needed, then it would be me, the D cup, who went. You? Little girls should stay out of the way." Lolidragon made a cutting remark that was the epitome of her ability to be harsh.

I lowered my head to look at my own A cup and then bitterly said, "What's inside is what counts for women, okay?"

"Hmm, D cup!" Yang Ming produced a notebook out of nowhere and recorded Lolidragon's D cup with all his effort. He even added as a side remark, "Sis, you are an A- cup, not an A cup, ok?"

"Yeah, what's inside is important, and that is a D cup." Lolidragon casually gave me the final attack.

"Did you come here to compare cup sizes or to ask me for help?" I gritted my teeth and asked.

"Oh, that's right." Lolidragon suddenly returned to being serious. "We have managed to chase down Long Dian, and that fellow has already seized complete control over the Dictator of Life. Right now, the entirety of Second Life has fallen into Long Dian's hands and our company simply has no way to enter."

"Sunshine and Kenshin?" I suddenly thought of the two of them. _Didn't Lolidragon say_ _that we could download the two of them to another place?_

"Stuck in Second Life. What happened was too abrupt. We were completely unable to make it in time to save them…" Lolidragon's voice trailed off.

_Sunshine and Kenshin are stuck inside? No way, I want to go and save them! _I jumped upand held onto the phone violently. "Where is Long Dian? Didn't you say that we have managed to track him down?"

"You and Wu Qing go to the nearest instant transmission station immediately and use it to come over to the one closest to our headquarters. I have already told the others over the Internet and they have arrived one after another. Hurry up and come. We'll be waiting for you for an hour. After one hour, we have no choice but to depart. Otherwise, Long Dian might change his stronghold. Did you hear that, Prince? One hour…" Lolidragon said urgently.

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One hour! I immediately grabbed the back of Yang Ming's collar and then, with one foot kicking open the house door and one hand scooping up the keys, I jumped onto my mom's custom-made hover bike. I stuck the key into the keyhole and started the engine…

"Sis, have you driven a hover bike before?" Yang Ming asked shakily.

I used both of my hands to tie my hair into a ponytail, and then I put on a windbreaker and a pair of goggles. Without even turning around, I asked, "Yang Ming, which side is the accelerator and which side is the brake?"

"You, get off the bike!"

"Ah, I found it." _So the right side is the accelerator! Let's accelerate!_

"No, no, no, I don't want to meet an early demise while in my prime~~"

Under Yang Ming's constant howling, I drove the hover bike toward the transmission station. Second Life's headquarters were in the capitol and the transmission station nearest to my house required around forty-five minutes of driving to reach. Then, I'd have to spend another ten minutes transmitting over to the capital and drive for another fifteen minutes in order to reach downtown… And this was still under the conditions that there were no delays, no red lights, and no queuing at the transmission station.

"Sis, there's a red light!" Yang Ming shouted wildly.

"Charge!"

"Sis, there's a traffic jam!"

"Weave through it!"

"Sob, sob, sob, the Feng family is going to die out. Dear dad and mom, your unfilial son has let you two down."

Inside Second Life's headquarters…

"I didn't think there would be a day when I would actually cooperate with you." Zhuo Ling Bin said unenthusiastically. He was extremely discontented with this fellow, but he did indeed have some very good capabilities. Even though Min Gui Wen had never touched a computer before, he could still think of a trap to ensnare Long Dian… He could not help but admire him.

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"For Prince." Min Gui Wen had also pulled a long face. With the exception of Prince, no one else could make him reckless.

"You guys, go outside to choose your equipment." Lolidragon… No, she should be called Long Shui Han, the chairman of Second Life's only daughter, walked into the room.

"Shui Han, must you really go personally? That lad, Long Dian, is extremely difficult to deal with. I'm afraid that this time the risk is very high." A robust adult in his fifties asked worriedly.

"Dad, I must go personally. This matter is caused by Long Dian-biǎogē,so I definitely have to deal with this personally." Long Shui Han's fist clenched and then relaxed repeatedly. If it weren't for her foolish wishes in the past, Long Dian-biǎogēwouldn't

have designed Second Life, and he wouldn't have created so much disaster… Though she couldn't think of a reason why the gentle Long Dian-biǎo gēfrom the past would become like this.

"But, darling, Father will be worried about you." Long-bà14 suddenly abandoned the dignity of a chairman and pulled at his daughter's sleeve with a pitiful face.

Long Shui Han cast a cold glance at her father. Once her killer gaze had sent him to the corner to hide, she gestured for Zhuo Ling Bin and Min Gui Wen to follow her. They walked all the way to the lounge area, where Long Shui Han revealed a grim smile and pointed at the various weapons one-by-one.

"Light defensive armor set. Not only does it increase your defense, it also has the effect of increasing your agility. After putting it on, you would be able to do various kinds of high difficulty movements that you usually wouldn't be able to do.

"Power gloves. As the name implies, it increases your strength by a lot. Breaking a few walls isn't really a tough matter with these.

"Bouncing boots. After wearing them, your jumping abilities are guaranteed to improve by leaps and bounds. Powerful people can even use them to jump over ten meters high.

"Ray gun. You can shoot ten rays in one second."

"My index finger has never moved ten times or more in a second." Min Gui Wen coldly interrupted Long Shui Han's "wishful thinking." He even added, "Moreover, I have never fired a gun before."

"Uh, it's possible in theory." Long Shui Han embarrassedly explained, "These are weapons that are given to the Special Forces. It took me a lot of effort to get a hold of them. Oh, that's right; there's also the lightsaber. You can also use a sword."

14** "Long-bà": **bà means father.

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"Sigh, if you give a gun to someone who doesn't know how to use it, no matter how good the gun is, it would be of no use." Min Gui Wen shook his head.

Bang. Bang. Zhuo Ling Bin managed to fill the gun's energy with little effort. After inspecting whether or not the gun was in good condition, he raised the gun with his right hand and fired without any hesitation. More than ten meters away, the shattering of bonsai pots answered to him one-by-one.

After Min Gui Wen shut his wide-open mouth, he coldly made a cutting remark. "Are you a terrorist? Your gunmanship is so accurate, killing a few people shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"What do you think?" Zhuo Ling Bin stroked the gun and glared at his love rival with a dangerous gaze.

"Hehe, Prince-gēgēhasn't even arrived yet, but Gui -gēgēand Wicked -gēgēhave already become this rowdy." A beautiful girl suddenly stepped into the entrance, elegantly and quietly. Following behind her was a male and a female. The male was wearing gold-rimmed glasses and appeared to be intellectual and shrewd. The woman, with long, soft hair, appeared to be very classy.

Long Shui Han, Min Gui Wen and Zhuo Ling Bin looked at the three people questioningly. In the end Long Shui Han asked with furrowed brows, "Who are you?"

The girl pursed up her lips and smiled slightly. "I am Doll. You are Lolidragon-jiějie, right?"

"Doll? Oh my heavens, you really are…" Long Shui Han circled around Doll once and, after releasing one long breath, said, "You really are a princess."

"Of course she is, don't tell me that there are fake princesses?" The woman behind Doll pursed her lips and laughed.

Long Shui Han looked questioningly at the woman and, as though she didn't dare to believe it, asked, "Yu Lian-dàsăo?"

"Then, you must be Winter Triumph." Min Gui Wen called the man's name with a smile.

Yu Lian and Winter Triumph both nodded their heads, admitting their identity.

"As expected of a princess, you sure came quickly!" Long Shui Han clicked her tongue in amazement. _They probably used a personal transmission station to get here._ "You guys can also come over and pick your weapons."

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"I don't think that's a good idea. Doll also wants to go? It's too dangerous. And being a princess, Doll wouldn't know how to use weapons or have any fighting skills…" Halfway through Min Gui Wen's saying this, he abruptly saw Doll hold up the ray gun of the highest caliber and remove the safety with a few swift moves. She even showed an expression of admiration at the gun.

"Nice gun, Lolidragon-jiějie." A glint of l ight shone in Doll's eyes. "Too bad there's no time. Otherwise, I could do a few modifications to give this gun the ability to release an even stronger ray."

"…" Lolidragon and Min Gui Wen opened their mouths wide together.

Winter Triumph coughed twice and explained, "The princess has had to learn a variety of skills since a young age, including how to use a weapon to protect herself."

Long Shui Han laughed stupidly and continued introducing the weapons. "This is a one-handed shield. Its area is only thirty by thirty centimeters. It is a small shield that is supposed to be installed on the left hand and can block various kinds of light energy.

"Okay everyone, hurry and put them on!"

"Are there any large sizes?" a rough and outspoken voice rang out.

"Wolf-gē!" Min Gui Wen happily shouted the name of the person.

"Has all of Odd Squad arrived?" Li Tian Lang was grinning from ear to ear.

"Wolf-gē!" Yu Lian cried out as she delved into the arms of Li Tian Lang as per usual, without even a moment's hesitation.

"Yu Lian." Li Tian Lang tenderly embraced the petite person in his arms. The two of them only looked at each other silently, wanting to carve each other's appearance completely into their own hearts. Although this was the real world to the two of them, this was exactly the same as in Second Life.

"Prince hasn't arrived!" Min Gui Wen frowned, his hopeful gaze plainly visible.

_She won't be able to make it on time. _Zhuo Ling Bin understood this clearly in his heart.One hour was simply not enough time for Xiao Lan to rush over from her house. However, he didn't say anything. He wished that Xiao Lan would not come… This was the real world, a world where one could get injured for real and could die for real. He wished that Xiao Lan would not take the risk, and he hoped that she would not receive any injuries!

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Zhuo Ling Bin shut his eyes and then softly said one sentence, "I will help you bring justice to Long Dian."

When Zhuo Ling Bin opened his eyes once again, he was shocked to find Min Gui Wen's large face at an extremely close proximity. His heart thumped at that. However, he would not show weakness in front of Gui. Although he was shocked, he only narrowed his eyes slightly on the surface.

"What are you thinking about?" Min Gui Wen was extremely suspicious. To make Zhuo Ling Bin reveal an expression that says "I'm willing to sacrifice myself for you," is definitely something that only Prince could do. However, seeing him show that kind of expression now made Min Gui Wen feel that something was extremely wrong. Could it be that Prince… will not be coming?

"None of your business." Zhuo Ling Bin tilted his head away. He also didn't want to let Xiao Lan meet with this fellow… even though they saw each other in class every day.

Although he was worried, Min Gui Wen was unable to do anything about Zhuo Ling Bin. Should he use his "Professor" status to force this "student" to submit? Forget it, if Zhuo Ling Bin were to call him Professor, then even the sky would fall down.

Min Gui Wen immediately turned toward Long Shui Han. "Prince will come, right?"

"Is there any possibility that that guy won't come?" Long Shui Han replied, displeased. Prince had left the house without even having time to hang up the phone. How could Prince not come?

"Prince hasn't arrived yet?" A sharp and clear voice sounded.

The crowd all turned their heads to see who had spoken, only to see a boy who was not tall, and even appeared to be somewhat cute, walk over. Who was this?

"Could it be that you are Ming Huang?" Min Gui Wen struggled to find a possible candidate in his mind. In the end, he could only come up with this conclusion.

Zhuo Ling Bin gave Min Gui Wen a cold glare and said sarcastically, "That's strange. As the 'elder brother' of Ming Huang, I actually don't recognize this person who is in front of me as my 'younger brother.'" Though he had to admit, the boy in front of his eyes did indeed have a similar feeling to Ming Huang.

"No, I'm not Ming Huang." The boy gave a small smile and then directly announced the answer. "I'm Nan Gong Zui."

…

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Long Shui Han barely managed a reply, "You are Nan Gong Zui? What proof do you have?"

The boy was stunned for a moment. _This actually requires proof?_

"Then very well, let me ask you. Who is your sworn enemy? Who is your most precious person? What is Prince's most famous characteristic?" Long Shui Han asked earnestly.

"My sworn enemy is Fan, the most precious person to me is my god-sister, Ice Phoenix, Prince's most famous characteristic is…" The boy frowned and hesitated before he asked, "I don't know whether you are referring to his fondness for eating, his stubbornness, or his being directionally-challenged?"

_Pretty much all of them… _The people thought in their hearts.

With great alarm, Long Shui Han shouted, "You really are Nan Gong Zui! Goodness, the world is really full of extraordinary things! How could someone manage to transform from a cool, handsome guy to a cute boy?"

A helpless expression appeared on Nan Gong Zui's face and, somewhat embarrassed, he replied, "I only made myself taller and my face a little sharper in the game… And all of you, don't judge me by my appearance. Actually, I'm already twenty-five years old and am much older than Prince."

"Twenty-five years old? Heheh…" Long Shui Han smiled laughingly, for the person in front of her looked completely like a fifteen year old. "Regardless, you also have to get equipped with weapons for there is not much time left."

Nan Gong Zui nodded his head, and then went up to equip himself with weapons and armor. The extent of his familiarity with them was as though he wore them every day.

Min Gui Wen couldn't help but open his mouth to ask, "You have worn this stuff before?" _Why does everybody seem to be a terrorist who specializes in weapons and_ _armor?_

"I'm a policeman!" Nan Gong Zui lightly said a sentence… that nearly made everyone's jaw drop. _In this world, is there any policeman who looks less like a policeman than him?_

At this moment, there were still twenty minutes left before departure!

"Lolidragon? Are you Lolidragon?" Yet another person had just arrived. Everyone's heads turned to look. It was a girl who appeared to be lively and full of vitality. However, at the moment, the girl's face was extremely pale and her whole body was shaking non-stop. Her eyes were blood-shot and it was evident that she had been crying for some time.

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"You are?" This time, Long Shui Han didn't dare to carelessly guess the identity of the person in front of her eyes and only asked cautiously and timidly.

"I am Fairsky. Lolidragon, how is the situation right now? Has anything happened to Sunshine?" Fairsky desperately strung out a series of questions. Long Shui Han didn't even have enough time to reply before Fairsky fell to the floor and questioned herself miserably, "Could it be, could it be that Sunshine is already… dead?"

Looking at Fairsky who seemed to be completely scared out of her wits, Long Shui Han turned pale with fright and she quickly clarified, "Fairsky, don't think too much. Sunshine and Kenshin are still in Second Life. It's just that Second Life has temporarily been sealed off, and thus we cannot go in."

Once Fairsky heard that, she anxiously raised her head to ask, "Really? Will the Dictator of Life and Long Dian hurt them?"

"No, definitely not!" Long Shui Han replied confidently. "The Dictator of Life would definitely not hurt his own companions."

"Th-then that's good." Fairsky wiped her tears away. She stood up from the floor and regained her original strength. She shouted, "I want to go with all of you together. I also want to go save Sunshine."

"Sure!" Long Shui Han replied firmly and pointed at the equipment. "Go change into the equipment then!"

Fairsky equipped everything without a single word.

"… I'm also coming along," a cold voice drifted over. "No need to ask. I'm Cold Fox."

Everyone turned toward Cold Fox and, though he was still wearing a high school uniform, by this time everyone had already become used to seeing one another's strange appearances. Lolidragon also only pointed to the equipment. "Wear them!"

Cold Fox didn't say another word. After putting on the equipment, he slowly picked the weapon that was handiest for him.

At this moment, there were still ten minutes left before departure!

Everyone put on Long Shui Han's carefully prepared equipment one after another. Min Gui Wen was putting them on and glancing at the door repeatedly, only hoping that he would appear, that white-haired boy that showed up even in his dreams… Of course, in real life, Prince would probably not be white-haired.

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"Time's up, let's go." Long Shui Han counted down using the clock on the wall, all the way until the second hand faithfully jumped to the next dot. One hour had passed, and even she couldn't do anything about it. She could only tell them to set off. Why hadn't that guy arrived yet?

"Wait, wait, Prince hasn't come yet!" Min Gui Wen shouted anxiously.

"We must depart within one hour. This is what you yourself had said, right?" Long Shui Han stated calmly. She definitely couldn't let Long Dian-biǎogēescape and then cause

even greater harm… Having the Dictator of Life, this super-computer, in his hands, was too dangerous.

"Yes…" Min Gui Wen had no choice but to admit it. His mind told him that he couldn't postpone it any longer, but, but Prince…

"Let's go!" Long Shui Han voiced out this sentence.

"Daughter, be careful!" Long-bà bid farewell, brushing away his tears with a handkerchief. He then said seriously, "That child, Long Dian, I'll leave him to you."

"I know. Relax Dad; I'll capture Long Dian-biǎogēand bring him back." Long Shui Han turned her head toward her father to make her guarantee. Then she led everyone to sit in her hover car. After that, the joyride began.

With a beautiful turn, they exited the parking lot. Long Shui Hank pushed the accelerator to the floor and they shot out like lightning!

"Lolidragon, go slower!" The people sitting in the back seats were swaying from side-to-side and were so frightened that their hearts nearly jumped out. Of course, they couldn't care less about what Lolidragon's real name was and could only desperately shout for her to stop until their throats hurt!

"I'm already going very slowly!"

"Sigh, my precious daughter's driving skills are still this good!" Long-bà sighed in admiration. "The race car and racing track that I bought for her to play with in the past sure haven't been wasted! "Long Dian… Sigh, I'll leave that boy to my precious daughter to deal with." Long-bà turned around and was about to go deal with official business that had piled up like a mountain…

The sound of glass shattering suddenly came from behind. No, one should say the sound of glass exploding! Their company's shop front was a large piece of bulletproof glass over twenty meters wide that stretched from the ceiling to the floor. Long-bà had very clearly heard that same piece of glass make a heroic sacrifice.

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"A h-hover bike?" One of the employees shouted, mouth wide open in shock.

Long-bà calmly turned around and didn't bother to tend to the noise from the employees in the lounge. He leisurely sized up the hover bike that had crashed through the bulletproof glass. On top of it sat two people. As for the rather handsome boy sitting in the back, who had turned pale with fright, his lips purple, Long-bà decided to ignore him for now.

However, the person sitting at the driver's seat was an interesting character. It was someone in a dashing windbreaker and a pair of durable jeans, with long hair tied into a ponytail and goggles on the face… A girl!

Long-bà gave an "Ah-ha!" for he knew the identity of the person who had arrived. Didn't this just happen to be his spokesperson for Second Life? Second Life's only… What did the youngsters call it? Right, tranny!

"Where's Lolidragon?" The handsome girl asked anxiously.

"Take this." Long-bà took out a disk-shaped item. "See the green dot on the tracking device?"

The girl nodded her head, seeming to understand but actually not understanding it at all.

"You know, that is the person that you want to find. They have just set off, so you should take the chance right now to hurry and chase them. Who knows, you might be able to catch up with them not too long after they reach their destination." Long-bà instructed with goodwill.

The female received the tracking device and threw it to the male on the back seat. Then, as she restarted the engine, she instructed the guy, "Yang Ming, you keep an eye on that disk and tell me where to go."

With yet another beautiful turn, the girl flew out of the broken glass that was all that remained of the extensive windows. Before she vanished completely, she even gave Long-bà a salute. "Thanks, gramps."

"Looks like I may have been wrong. With that speed, she might even be able to catch up to my daughter, who only knows that the accelerator has to be stepped on all the way down." Long-bà looked admirably at the hover bike.

_What a natural and unrestrained girl. No wonder she was able to charm the masses of males and females as a tranny. _Long-bà shook his head. "Too bad I only have a daughter.Otherwise I would really want to have this girl as a daughter-in-law. What a pity…"

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"Yang Ming, which way do we go?" I asked in a hurry. _That damned Lolidragon. Would_ _it have killed you to wait for me? I was only three minutes late!_

"Go straight until the three-road junction ahead and go onto the road to the far right," Yang Ming shouted into my ear as he clung on to me for dear life.

"Ok!" I turned the accelerator once again. _Dash!_

"Sob, sob, sob, Mom, why did you customize your hover bike for no reason at all? This speed is even faster than a race car!" Yang Ming wailed in anguish behind me.

After a little while, I asked continuously in a panic, "Yang Ming, have we caught up?"

"Whether we can catch up or not is secondary. Sis, the police are catching up!" Yang Ming hollered, and the ear-piercing sirens started ringing in my ears too.

"Humph!" _Even the police can't stop me from teaching Long Dian a lesson! I laughed_ _coldly. How could the police catch up with my mom's meticulously modified, unequalled hover bike? My mom even named this bike Lightning while feeling pleased! _I looked atthe speedometer. _Two hundred and twenty kilometers, and this hover bike's maximum_ _speed is three hundred and fifty kilometers. There is still a lot of room to speed up!_

"Sis, what do we do?" Yang Ming shouted anxiously.

"It's fine, Mom 'forgot' to install her license plate!" _Meaning that we'll be fine as long as_ _they don't catch up! _I hammered the accelerator once more and was satisfied to see thespeedometer pointing at two hundred and fifty!

"Lolidragon, there seems to be police cars?" Li Tian Lang frowned, for he seemed to have heard the sound of sirens.

"Relax, once they see the license plate clearly, they'll leave." Long Shui Han wasn't scared at all because, due to her father's abuse of authority, this car's license plate number was already well known among the whole police force. They wouldn't come and arrest her!

Hearing this, Nan Gong Zui couldn't refrain from raising an eyebrow.

"Huh? They don't seem to be chasing us." Doll turned her head to look in curiosity. "They're chasing a bike and that bike is really fast. They've almost caught up to us!"

"What?" Long Shui Han looked into the rear view mirror, extremely pissed off. As expected, there was a bike chasing them at lightning speed.

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"Humph, you want to 'race' with me? You've picked the wrong person." Long Shui Han gave a cold smile, and then reached down to press a red button. The body of the car immediately started changing, and on the trunk at the back there appeared something that looked similar to a rocket.

"A-Are we watching a car race?" Min Gui Wen's face looked ashen.

"The distance between us and that bike is growing more and more…" Doll observed for a while and then gave a cry of shock, "Ah, they caught up again. Eh? The appearance of the bike has also changed!"

"What? So it turns out that they are also an expert!" Although she knew that she had a mission, Long Shui Han couldn't help but want to race her heart out. She pressed the accelerator even lower.

"Hey, you'd better be more careful! The princess is in your car!" Winter Triumph roared in anger. "If anything were to happen to the princess, rest assured that I'd ask your country for compensation!"

"If anything were to actually happen to Doll, do you think that you, being in the same vehicle, would come out unscathed enough to ask for compensation?" Zhuo Lin Bin asked coldly.

"Eh? That person sitting in the back who is waving to us… appears to be Feng Wu Qing-gēgē." Doll observed the person in the back seat, who was scowling miserably, and

waving his hand as though his life depended on it. His face was exactly the same as Feng Wu Qing-gēgē's.

"What?" Long Shui Han was stunned. _Feng Wu Qing is on that bike? Doesn't that mean_ _that the other person is… Prince? _She slowed down a little so as to allow the bike todrive to her side.

"Ah, that really is student Feng Yang Ming, who is also Feng Wu Qing." Min Gui Wen identified his own student without the slightest doubt.

_If Feng Wu Qing is in the back, then who is the reckless driver that is throwing away his life? _Everyone wondered.

"Lolidragon, don't stop the car, just rush straight to Long Dian!" The driver shouted wildly.

"No problem, Prince!" Long Shui Han happily shouted back. _This guy still managed to_ _make it in time!_

It was Prince!

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**Chapter Extra: The Long Family's Undisclosed Secret**

"Xiao Han Han, this is your older cousin. His name is Long Dian," Long-bà said as he suddenly brought back a boy she didn't know.

"My older cousin?" The ten-year-old Long Shui Han frowned. _How could I just suddenly_ _have a cousin pop out of nowhere? If I must have a cousin appear out of nowhere, it should at least be a younger cousin; I don't want to be the youngest one. Besides, this cousin looks so skinny and small. He doesn't look anything like an older cousin._

"Xiao Hanǎogē,"LongHan? Call him Bi -bà reprimanded, a bit displeased. "Xiao Long Dian has already lost his parents, so he will be living with us from now on. Be nice to him, okay?"

"Oh okay, I understand," Long Shui Han replied reluctantly.

"Very good, now show Long Dian to his room. It's the one next to yours." Long-bà said, nodding his head in satisfaction.

_Sigh. Like this, my older brother can probably rest in peace now, right? _Long-bà thought.He recalled the past, when his brother had refused to follow the family's arrangements of marrying another business magnate's daughter and had dated a poor girl in his school instead.

_Sigh, Father was stubborn as well. He just wouldn't yield. No matter what, he wouldn't allow__ē__ Dàg __15__ to marry that__ē__ . to this that Dàg_

_The family hadn't heard from him since then. Father was obstinate; even then he still wouldn't let us look for any traces of Dàg__ē__. It was only when Father had passed away that we __ē__,startunder loM__**o**__kingther'sforordersDàg. But before we could find him,_

_Mother had alr__ē__**e**__adyven being able to see Dàg became one of Mother's regrets when she died._

However, this made him even more determined to find his brother. No matter what, his brother at least needed to burn incense at Mother's grave and pay his respects to her.

There had been no news of his brother… until last week. Yet the long-awaited news of his brother ended up being a report of his death. Three years ago, both his brother and that girl died during a car crash. They left a child behind, a poor child that was thrown around like a ball from relative to relative on the girl's side.

Long-bà shook his head. _Those shameless relatives! It's so obvious how they were_ _treating him from the look of his thin and sickly body to his worn out, oversized clothes._

15** "Dàg****ē****": **Older brother.

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_Yet those relatives had dared to say that they would really miss Long Dian, making us… making us give them more compensation for their so-called loss!_

_Hmph, they're just a bunch of money grubbers, _Long-bà thought in contempt.

"How old are you this year?" Long Shui Han asked grudgingly. _I want a younger_ _brother!_

"I'm already twelve years old," Long Dian said, nervously tugging at the corners of his shirt. He had never seen such a large and beautiful house before, not even when his parents were still alive. Not to mention, he had also never seen a girl more beautiful than the one who was standing before his eyes.

"Oh," Long Shui Han replied, a bit displeased. _He really is older! How annoying!_

"We're here. This is where you'll sleep," she said, kicking the door open and gesturing inside.

"Th-thank you…" Long Dian still couldn't believe it. _This room is larger than Uncle's_ _entire house. Can I really live here?_

Seeing the boy fidgeting timidly, Long Shui Han felt quite annoyed. She complained, "What are you so scared about? The room isn't going to eat you! How can you be my older cousin if you have no guts?"

"Sorry," Long Dian said looking down, ashamed.

Long Shui Han felt like she was going to go crazy. "Don't say sorry! Children from the Long family never say sorry to others! Not even in death!"

(Prince: …Lolidragon, you're only ten years old and you're already setting such a bad example…)

"S-sorry," Long Dian apologized, so scared that he straightened up, his body rigid. "I won't say sorry ever again."

"Good, followějie me from now on. Ji 16 has your back," Long Shui Han said confidently while patting her chest.

Although he didn't really understand what she meant, not to mention his confusion over her calling herself his big sister even though she was his younger cousin, Long Dian obediently nodded his head anyway. "Okay."

16** "Ji****ě****jie": **Older sister.

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"Barbaric kid! We don't play with uncivilized children like you," said a handsome boy. He was wearing a white swallow-tailed coat and was looking down at Long Dian disdainfully and arrogantly. Even when saying such spiteful words, he said it with extreme elegance.

"S-s-sor…" Long Dian looked down at the boy's perfectly polished and spotless white shoes. Another apology had come out of his mouth even though he hadn't done anything. Long-shūshu 17 hadn't wanted him to feel lonely, so he had specially organized a little dance party, inviting many guests that were the same age as him so he could make friends. _But… this action… seems to have initiated the opposite effect…_

"You're not allowed to say sorry!" shouted an infuriated Long Shui Han who had witnessed this scene. She had only walked away for a bit and her cousin was already getting bullied! _Sheesh! This is the Long family's domain! If he were to go to another_ _person's house, then he'd be bullied to the point of getting bashed up!_

"Biǎomèi! 18" Long Dian exclaimed, happily lifting his head up toward her. His eyes were filled with the same emotions as that of Lois when she was being saved by Superman.

After rolling her eyes at Long Dian, Long Shui Han walked up to the boy in the swallow-tailed coat. Hands on her hips, as if she were a tigress condemning him, she demanded, "Young Master Chen, if I may ask, do you have something against my OLDER COUSIN?"

Young Master Chen didn't even feel a bit like he was being interrogated for a serious crime. He put forth an elegant smile, believing that his looks could definitely mesmerize the girl in front of him. She was a rich, young heiress who would one day come into an incomprehensibly wealthy inheritance. Even though there was an age difference of seven years between them, the inheritance would make up for everything. In addition, a girl who could look so cute even when angry definitely wouldn't look bad in the future.

After considering all of this, Young Master Chen gracefully and politely replied, "Long-xiǎojie 19, I haven't seen you for a long time. You have become even more beautiful than before."

Unfortunately for him, a ten-year-old girl is clueless toward such romantic endeavors. Feeling disgusted, Long Shui Han stuck out her tongue and then dragged Long Dian away and ran. She even managed to make a face full of mockery at him as she left.

After leaving the party, Long Shui Han angrily pointed and shouted at Long Dian, "What the heck are you doing? How could you just let him call you a barbaric kid!? You're my older cousin, you know!"

"**Long-shūshu": **Uncle Long.

"**Biǎomèi": **Younger female cousin.

"**Long-xiǎojie": **Miss Long.

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"I…" Long Dian lowered his head, ashamed. He wasn't qualified to be Long Shui Han's older cousin. Weak and cowardly, he was nothing like that older boy just now, who had possessed such an air of elegance. In reality, up until now, he had always suspected that maybe Long-shūshu had mistaken him for someone else. How could he possibly be a part of their family?

"You make me so mad! Next time, I won't care about you anymore!" Long Shui Han was so infuriated that her face flushed bright red.

Long Dian lowered his head. _Yeah,_ _ǎitomèiwoulddidn'be__**t**__tercareif Biabout someone_ _like me anymore. What if I influenced her and she became like me…_

He suddenly noticed two small drops of water falling down his face, bitter and sour… It had been so long… so long since he had last cried. Since his mom and dad's funeral, he had never cried again.

Originally, Long Shui Han had only been venting out her frustration and didn't know that she would really cause her cousin to cry. She couldn't help but panic. She hurriedly patted her cousin's back, trying to comfort him, "D-don't cry! I didn't shout at you on purpose! Ahh… Please don't cry, okay…?"

"Wuu…Wahhh…" It would have been better if she hadn't tried to comfort him, because once she had done so, it made him remember his mom. In the past, whenever he cried, his mom would always be by his side patting his back and comforting him… Long Dian couldn't stop himself from crying and wailing even harder.

Even though Long Shui Han was known to be fearless, her ten-year-old self couldn't help but feel shocked and helpless at having an older boy hold onto her, crying. She didn't know what to do. Had her words been that ruthless? After all, they had caused her cousin to start crying nonstop like Niobe!20

As Long Dian bawled his eyes out while hugging Long Shui Han, who sat unmoving like a rock, so shocked that she didn't dare move, Long-bà quietly stood by the door. He heaved a sigh and said, "Being able to cry is good, much better than enduring it and not shedding any tears at all. The latter would make me worry much more."

"I…I really miss my parents…" Long Dian couldn't stop himself from wailing.

Hearing that, Long Shui Han's eyes became watery. She really missed her mom as well, but her mom had passed away from an illness when she was five. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't even remember what her mom looked like. Mouth quivering and eyes growing warm, Long Shui Han followed along as she cried out loud, "Mommy…wahhh… Shui Han wants her mommy too…"

20** "…crying…like Niobe…": **Niobe is a figure from Greek mythology whose children were slaughtered.She is known for weeping unceasingly for her children.

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In the end, the two big little children held each other and cried their hearts out. They continued until they felt so tired that they fell asleep on the lawn, thus making Long-bà, who was getting along in years, carry them back to their beds, nearly twisting his back in the process!

The eighteen-year-old Long Shui Han quietly walked into the study room. Like a thief, she tiptoed stealthily to the side of the chair where someone was sitting. She breathed in deeply and yelled, "BOO!"

The man sitting on the chair visibly shuddered from the abrupt attack. Then, a handsome face, which noticeably had not stabilized from the fright, turned around. However, he didn't even seem the least bit angry. Instead, he casually laughed, "Shui Han, you're playing tricks on me again."

Long Shui Han stuck her tongue out at him, unhappily asking, "Dian, what are you doing again? Isn't it boring always sitting here staring at the computer?"

"Not at all. I'm currently designing a game!" said Long Dian, lightly pushing up the glasses sitting on his nose.

"Designing a game? The old fashioned you who has never done anything fun in his life?" stared Long Shui Han, dumbfounded. She couldn't believe that the guy that wouldn't play any online games, even when she tried coercing him through force and bribery, would actually want to design a game.

_It's because you like playing games_, he thought to himself secretly. He smiled, saying,"Aren't you constantly whining that games aren't realistic enough and that their gameplay is unfulfilling? I want to design a game that has a realism level of 100% for you to play. If you have any suggestions, fire away. I will definitely make it meet your expectations."

Long Shui Han's eyes immediately started shining, "Really? Let me see, let me see!"

Long Dian couldn't help but laugh out loud. "This is only a plan. I can't possibly design a whole game by myself. I'm planning on proposing this idea to Uncle. I hope that he can financially support me on this so that I can gather professionals to complete this game."

"Oh, Dad you heard that right? A game with a realism level of 100%!" Long Shui Han turned around to find Long-bà already standing with a smile behind the two.

"A game with a realism level of 100% is too dangerous!" Long-bà said a bit regrettably. He had always known that Long Dian had a talent for programming and he also knew

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that Dian-er21 wasn't someone who would exaggerate his skills. He had no doubt at all that Long Dian would be able to do it. Especially if it was for Shui Han, he would definitely put in his best effort and accomplish it at all costs.

"Dad~ǎogēdo. Letit.I Bireally want to play such a game!" Long Shui Han persistently whined cutely at Long-bà while shaking his arm.

Long-bà smiled involuntarily, "Of course I wouldn't stop Dian-er from doing this, I only hope that he could lower the realism level a little, so that at least it's not 100%." Long-bà sternly continued, "If the game is too realistic, I am afraid that many people wouldn't be able to differentiate between reality and virtual reality. That is really dangerous."

Long Dian smiled, "I understand. I will decrease the realism level a little bit."

"Awesome! So we're really making it?" Long Shui Han exclaimed excitedly, nearly jumping up and down in happiness. _Aren't I participating in the production of one of the_ _grandest games ever then?!_

"What name should we give this game?" Long Shui Han hurriedly asked.

"I haven't thought of one?" Long Dian said a bit perplexed, "I wanted to wait until the game has been finished, and then think about it."

"Yeah, yeah yeah! Let's give it a name along the lines of Dreamlike Fantasy!" Long Shui Han exclaimed dreamily while ignoring the dark looks of the two men. She was completely enchanted by the words "Dreamlike Fantasy."

Seeing that his daughter had already entirely neglected the two of them who would be putting in their effort and money, Long-bà could only turn around and discuss with Long Dian. "What kind of world are you planning on depicting?"

"Hmm, maybe a futuristic realm?" pondered Long Dian.

"What?" Long Shui Han cried out in rejection. "Futuristic realm? Please, that stuff is so dull! Games should have magic, knights and a bunch of odd monsters to fight against! That way, a princess and her knight would be able to go adventuring together happily in the game world!"

As she talked more and more, Long Shui Han once again became immersed in her imaginary world. She was envisioning a place with green hills and clear waters where she would be in the same party as a prince. The two of them would defeat monsters on their romantic journey… _And of course this prince will be the ultimate bishie! He'll be_

21** "Dian-er": **The "er" part is an endearment that can be added to people's names, especially for childrenyounger than the speaker.

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_extremely strong and cool, very considerate and it'll be even better if he knows how to sing! Then he could always sing love songs for me to listen to!_

Long Shui Han sighed, "If there were such a person by my side, then I would really be able to die with no regrets."

Long-bà and Long Dian both shuddered, drops of cold sweat dripping down their backs.

They then continued discussing, "Hmm… how many characters are you planning on allowing each player to create?"

"One. Definitely only one character. You absolutely cannot recreate your character," replied Long Shui Han again as she turned around. _If they're allowed to make more than_ _one character, then how would I know whether my prince on a white horse is cheating on me?_

Long-bà and Long Dian both displayed odd expressions. Long Dian scrunched his brows, "Not allowed to create another character? If it's like that, there may be many people objecting against it…"

"Or maybe there will be more people supporting it instead!" Long Shui Han resolutely answered. "Since the game's realism is practically 100%, then it shouldn't be possible to create another character; that is what it means to be realistic. This way, players will really be able to experience the feeling of reality."

Long-bà and Long Dian felt a bit stunned. They lowered their heads, thinking about this one of a kind character system… _It really might attract more players._

"Hehehe! This way, I can ensure that my prince cannot cheat on me or secretly train a new character. Wohohohoho!" Long Shui Han covered her mouth and laughed hysterically.

_This was the main point… _The two men looked at each other, laughing exasperatedly.

"Ah! Ah! I thought of an even better name for the game!" Long Shui Han suddenly shouted excitedly. The more she thought about it, the better the name sounded.

"What's the name?" asked the two men as they forced a smile.

Long Shui Han eagerly responded, "Let's call it Second Life!"

_Second Life! _Long-bà and Long Dian were blown away, totally astonished._ A second life huh? That is truly a great name!_

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"Daughter, even you can spout out such good words once in a while!" Long-bà said, teasing her as he smiled.

"What!? I always say good stuff!" Long Shui Han retorted. With her face reddening, she unhappily kicked her legs. "Dian! Dad is bullying me again!"

Seeing this scene, Long Dian couldn't help but smile. At the moment, he was truly blessed with happiness.

This year, Long Shui Han turned twenty-three years old and Long Dian turned twenty-five years old.

"My little cousin Long Dian~~" Long Shui Han smiled evilly using the tone that she would only use when trying to take advantage of him. She couldn't resist asking, "How is the game progressing? When can I start playing?"

"One year. No, in half a year, you will definitely be able to play it." Long Dian was clearly startled for a second, but then pretended like nothing had happened. He calmly stored away a piece of paper.

"Half a year?!" Long Shui Han was in disbelief. After hearing Long Dian say one year, she was already quite shocked because her dad had told her that they still needed at least two more years for Second Life to attain a realism level of 99%. _Yet now Long Dian is_ _actually saying it will be completed in half a year?_

"Yes, half a year." Long Dian said, eyes filled with determination. The amount of resolve in his eyes was so strong, it was scary. _It's because I have no more time left,_ he thought bitterly to himself.

"Dian… are you all right?" Long Shui Han was a little scared. The Long Dian that was usually so gentle was actually displaying such an expression. _His eyes seem to be_ _exploding with wild ambition? _Although he was being very zealous, she was also a littlefrightened of him. She couldn't shake off the feeling that Dian was really frightening when he was like this.

"I'm fine. It's just that recently, I've been quite tired," Long Dian smiled forcefully.

Hearing this, Long Shui Han seriously said in worry, "If you're too tired, then rest for a bit. Listen to Dad. You've put in so much of your hard work and effort into this game, so if it's impossible to complete it within half a year, then allowing it to be released a little later is all right. Don't force yourself so much just because I'm always rushing you. You know I am half joking about it."

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"I know. Don't worry. I won't allow myself to collapse," Long Dian said while clenching his fist, trying his best to keep his emotions under control.

"Good! Then, take care of your health!" Long Shui Han ordered before leaving.

"Got it!" Long Dian smiled in response as he watched Long Shui Han close the door behind her. The moment the door closed, Long Dian's smile immediately disappeared. He buried his face into his hands, his heart only remembering the doctor's painful words…

"It is a terminal illness; you only have one year left."

"Is there really no medicine that can possibly save me? In this era where technology has become so advanced?" Long Dian couldn't believe it. _An incurable disease? The kind of_ _situation that only happens in Shui Han's favorite soap operas is actually happening to me? This is really too laughably ironic…_

"Every era has illnesses that cannot be cured. As technology improves, new illnesses are constantly emerging… Believe me, I am the most knowledgeable doctor about your illness that you will be able to find," the doctor said helplessly. "I didn't want to answer you so mercilessly but I'd rather be cruel than allow you to waste the remaining time you have naively believing that you could be cured."

Long Dian was silent for a long period of time. With both of his hands shaking uncontrollably, he asked, "Can you help me delay it for a bit longer? The things I need to do cannot be completed in the short period of one year."

"With the assistance of medicine and the most advanced medical equipment, I will only be able to delay it for two years at the most."

Sobs of pain escaped from behind the hands that were firmly pressed against his face. After a long time, Long Dian slowly raised his head, his composure restored. He turned on his computer and got absorbed back into frantic programming. _At least… I at least_ _have to leave something behind for Shui Han…_

Long Dian stared at the computer screen, looking at the GFX team's creation of the latest version of the AI administrator in the game… He lightly pressed a few buttons, changing the face to match his own appearance. He hesitated for a moment, but in the end he still chose to give this AI, who looked identical to him, the highest intelligence level possible.

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"Maybe you can replace me and stay by Shui Han's side?" Long Dian muttered to himself. He became more and more confused in his heart. _To think that I only have two_ _years left to spend together with Shui Han and Long_-_sh__ū__shu…_

"No! You can't replace me!" Long Dian roared. He agitatedly swept everything on his table to the floor. "I don't want to leave them! I've only been with them for ten or so years! I want to continue to stay alongside them!"

"I need to think. Think of another way…" Long Dian kept murmuring to himself. Grabbing his health examination report from the table, he walked out, his body swaying. He kept mumbling, "I need to think of another way…"

The computer screen displayed a message: highest intelligence level completed at 50%, 60%…

"Dictator of Life, is there any way for me to continue living?" Long Dian questioned the computer screen reflecting the face of the Dictator of Life, the face that looked exactly like his. Toward this super artificial intelligence that Long Dian had unintentionally created… he had the utmost trust.

The ironic thing was that he was unable to make the same program again because the reason the process had finished was due to him carelessly sweeping the whole computer onto the floor. During that process, he had no idea what had been pressed or done to create this miraculous result. The Dictator of Life might possibly be the world's most intelligent super computer. However, Long Dian even suspected that he wasn't simply the most intelligent computer on this earth… the Dictator of Life was slowly becoming more and more human!

"Father, there are two ways." The Dictator of Life responded to the question accordingly.

"Number one; freeze yourself and wait until medicine that can cure your illness is created."

Long Dian impatiently waved his hand in rejection. What he desired was to be able to be with Shui Han and Long-shūshu. If he must wait an unknown number of years to defrost, only to find that Shui Han and Long- shūshu had long d… Then he might as well just die in the first place.

"Next."

The Dictator of Life hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Number two; download your brainwaves into a certain place and store them there. To a certain extent, that is also considered living, right?"

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Long Dian was greatly stunned. He blurted, "Store my brainwaves? Where?"

"Father, the game that you are designing right now is a very suitable place," the Dictator of Life said with sincerity. "That place will be placed under my jurisdiction, correct? Father, you will be very safe there."

_Store myself inside the game? _Long Dian's fist tightened._ Shui Han really likes that place too. If I were to stay there, would that count as staying by her side?_

"How should I do it? How should I download my brainwaves into the game?" asked Long Dian agitatedly_._ As long as he would truly be able to continue staying beside Shui Han, then he would do anything, at any cost.

"There are a few methods…" The Dictator of Life suggested a few methods which he believed had considerable feasibility. One of them was the idea that once you enter the brainwaves onto the network, cut off the return path; this would mean directly killing the person's body. This way, the brainwaves could, hopefully, be stored on the network.

However, after the Dictator of Life finished speaking, he worriedly added, "Father, these methods are only theoretical. You must not try this."

"Need to experiment…" said Long Dian, who was a little out of it. He staggered out of the study room.

The Dictator of Life's computer screen suddenly flashed, "Ah… I have just thought of another method… I guess I will tell Father about it next time."

"Father can… merge together with me."

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**S****YNOPSIS****:**

Just as we finally managed to – with some difficulty – reach where Long Dian was hiding, our way was barred by a bunch of super-strong robots. We could only watch as Long Dian escaped easily.

_What now?_

For Lolidragon's sake, Long Dian reopened Second Life, but we discovered that Second Life had changed greatly from before. Plus, Kenshin and Sunshine had disappeared without a trace! Just as I was worried to death about them, the Dictator of Life appeared once again before my eyes… And revealed the truth of the matter to me: Long Dian had an incurable illness! His only hope for survival was to merge together with the Dictator of Life. Great, this way he would be able to control just about anything on the Internet and he could even create a body in the real world for fun!

"When Father and I merge as one, I will give up my consciousness in order to prevent our consciousnesses from clashing. I am here to say goodbye to you, Prince."

_What should I do?_

_Don't miss the exciting grand finale of ½ Prince! You've already picked up the book, so hurry up and take it to the cashier, or else you'll regret it!_

**A****BOUT THE**** A****UTHOR****:**

Yu Wo:

Who am I? Sometimes I am like a warrior, wielding a sword on the battlefield with limitless passion and energy.

At other times, I resemble a mage, with a mind devoted to research, completely absorbed in the things I like.

Or I might be like a thief, leading a free and easy life, letting fate lead me to distant and unfamiliar lands.

Occasionally, however I am similar to a priest, with a gentle heart, filled with compassion towards the living things of this world.

Ultimately, I am a kindly Fantastical world.

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Eternal Legend

**½ PRINCE VOL. 8**

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

**Table of Contents**

**Disclaimer !** **4**

**Chapter 1: **Greetings to Long Dian **6**

**Chapter 2: **Second Life - Out of Control **17**

**Chapter 3: **Danger to the Entire World **27**

**Chapter 4: **Cold Fox's Terrifying Special Training **40**

**Chapter 5: **Departure **52**

**Chapter 6: **Deception **62**

**Chapter 7: **The Eternal Legend **71**

**Extra Chapter: **Epilogue (End) **83**

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**Disclaimer!**

Please take note of the following:

The following translation of ½ Prince is by Prince Revolution! and is a "by fans, for fans" translation.

This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this, you have been ripped off!

Prince Revolution! does NOT ask for donations, payment, or anything else of the sort. We do not benefit monetarily from our translations AT ALL.

We only ask that you do NOT steal credit or attempt to profit monetarily from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across any individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translation.

Copyrights to the ½ Prince novels are held by Yu Wo, the author of the novels.

Copyrights to the ½ Prince novel artworks are held by Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu, the cover artists for the first and second editions of the novels respectively.

Copyrights to the ½ Prince manhua artwork are held by Cai Hong Zhong, the artist for the ½ Prince manhua.

Prince Revolution! has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novels into English. However, this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

As such, please cease distribution of this PDF once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

**Links :**

Prince Revolution!

Yu Woʼs Blog

.cc/blog/kim1984429

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**Credits :**

**Translators:**

Bleachpanda (chapter 4)

Dahlys (chapter 6-7)

ErodingPersona (chapter 2)

Evangeline (chapter 1)

Lucathia (chapter 5)

Nausicaä (chapter 3)

**Proofreaders:**

Arcedemius (chapter 7)

CesiumBlack (chapter 1, 5-6)

Cjfrost (chapter 3-5)

EvlNabiki (extra)

Liene (chapter 1, 3-4, 6)

Maddie (chapter 2)

Nagihiko (chapter 5, 7 & extra)

Null (chapter 5)

Vapore (chapter 2)

**C/E Editors:**

Amgine (chapter 1)

Dahlys (chapter extra)

Eilinel (chapter 5)

Larka (chapter 1, 4)

Lucathia (chapter 1-4, 6-7 & extra)

**PDF Formatter:**

Zind

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**Chapter 1 : Greetings to Long Dian**

The people who had been sitting obediently in the car all came crowding over to the window closest to me. Even though general traffic safety rules did say that sticking one's head or hands out of a car is prohibited, that rule was clearly only taught to children, and wasn't shown to the insolent adults and youngsters in this car. All of them were just short of sticking their legs out the car.

"Hi, everyone!" Since this was our first meeting, I was curious to guess who was who. _Eh? That_ _super classy, cute girl looks a lot like Doll. Hmm? Could that woman being embraced by my school's doctor Wolf-dàgē be Yu Lian-dàsăo? Wolf-dàgē is so lucky. She looks like she will be a great wife and mother… Strange, who's the boy with the baby face?_

"Ah, we're going to crash!" Yang Ming suddenly jerked the steering wheel around with both hands, narrowly missing a car by an inch. After the vehicle recovered its balance, he screamed in a voice that shook with fear, "Bastard! Can't you keep your eyes on the road?"

I couldn't help but turn around and ask my brother, who was in the seat behind me, "Yang Ming, who is that baby-faced boy?"

"How should I know!" Yang Ming answered without daring to take his eyes off of the oncoming traffic.

I turned back to face the front. _Could he be Ming Huang? But, I remember that Ming Bin doesn't_ _look like this? Maybe boys' appearances also change completely when they grow up?_ _1_

"Prince, turn left and we're there!" shouted Lolidragon as she hung out of the window.

"Got it!" Hearing that, I immediately turned the steering wheel 180 degrees to the left and took a big whirl. An old rickety building came into view, with the surrounding weeds that grew thick as a thicket, and the building didn't even have a front door, as though no one had lived there for years.

"Crap!" I frowned. "There wouldn't be any rats in there, right?"

Bang! Yang Ming staggered out of the car and collapsed on the filthy grass, skewed. He "roared" faintly at me, barely able to catch his breath, "You should already be glad if there are no gigantic spiders in there. How could there be no rats!"

"Someone's here!" I suddenly spied a silhouette emerging slowly from the darkness of the building, with an alarmingly huge shadow behind it…

"Prince, put on this equipment!" Lolidragon decelerated from 250km/h to 0km/h in one moment and parked her car masterfully. She then dumped a pile of equipment on me and explained, "Helmet, light defensive armor set, power gloves, bouncing boots, ray gun, light sword…"

"**Maybe boys' appearances also change completely when they grow up": **This is a twist on the usual Chinesesaying (女大十八變) about how girls' change greatly (usually becoming a lot more gorgeous) when they grow up, so much that they are hard to recognize.

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I stared at the pile of powerful weapons that should only be seen in movies. _Is it possible that the_ _Second Life Corporation is secretly a weapons manufacturing company as well? _However, it wastrue that I felt much safer with the weapons, and with the help of Lolidragon, I was geared up to the last inch like a terrorist within minutes.

"I think I will take the light sword." _I have never used guns before, so I would probably end up_ _shooting myself in the foot and making a joke out of myself._

"Prince… is that you?" Gui stumbled over in a hurry, his eyes filled with emotion… The reason for his stumbling was the same reason Yang Ming was sprawled out next to the road: carsickness!

"It's me!" I lowered my voice and answered, but I was a bit lost at what to do. I had just remembered that everyone still didn't know that I was a girl! _How am I going to explain?_

Just as Gui and I locked eyes, Lolidragon cried out in alarm, "Prince, that shadow is walking towards us!"

_What! _I immediately snapped to attention and grabbed the light sword tightly, and then convenientlytrampled on my brother. He had already wriggled into his gear, but was still continuing to play dead.

"Everyone be careful!" I shouted in a deep voice. _Strange, when did I get so used to speaking in_ _Prince's tone and inflection?_

"Prince, you seem…" a haughty high school student who was clearly wearing his school uniform under his gear said with cold arrogance, "a bit short, hmm?"

_Ouch! Short? I am at least 163 cm, okay? That's not short for a girl, right? Damn it, I want to grow a couple more centimeters too! _In a rage, I couldn't stop myself from retorting sarcastically, "Thislittle bro here, you seem…a little young? Why don't you go back to your high school, attend the morning assembly, and sing the national anthem, hmm?"

"Anyway, who are you?" Yang Ming asked in surprise.

"Cold Fox!" Cold Fox answered succinctly.

_Cold Fox is a high school student… Right, who is that baby-faced boy? _I hurriedly looked ateveryone who was coming out of the car in succession and shouted, "Hey! Baby face, who are you? Not a spy from Long Dian, right?"

"…"

The baby-faced boy made an expression that I was very familiar with, similar to… Zui being exasperated at my reckless actions.

"Nan. Gong. Zui?" I was surprised out of my wits. _This is Nan Gong Zui? God, how could the big-brother-like Nan Gong Zui with his decisive commanding be a cute little boy?_

Zui gave me an incomparably cute smile and nodded.

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"Prince, if you don't stop gaping, you're going to get chopped in two by the enemy!" Lolidragon quipped coldly.

I snapped around, facing the anonymous silhouette that was almost at the doorway. I calmed myself.

_Right, now is not the time to be "visiting the in-laws."_ _2__First we have to ferret out Long Dian and save the Dictator of Life. Moreover, Kenshin and Sunshine are still in Second Life, their situation yet unknown!_

I twirled my blade… _Hm? It feels just like being in the game!_ I continued, executing a few slashes and kicks. _I can actually do a 180 degree kicking slash? Could I really do that? I am currently in_ _the real world, right?_

"Hehe, awesome gear, right?" Lolidragon slipped on a face of extreme satisfaction, "Even though you can't do any special techniques like the ones in the game, you can still achieve all kinds of regular attacks!"

"I see!" _So it will be fine if I just fight the way I do in Second Life._ I leveled my sword, pointed it toward the silhouette, and challenged lazily, "Whoever you are, come on out. I'm don't have the time to be in a standoff here with you."

At the same time, everyone came over and stood either behind me or beside me… exactly like in the game!

The silhouette also strolled out. It was definitely over two meters tall, with a bulky figure to which even Wolf-dàgē couldn't even compare. The most important fact was…

"A robot?" I gaped, astonished.

Lolidragon was strangely calm. She calmly explained, "Careful, Prince. Robots designed by Long Dian-biǎogē are definitely not to be trifled with."

"Got it." _I will just pretend that it's an NPC in the form of a robot._ I walked out slowly with my sword raised.

A shadow flashed in front of me, the familiar figure making me call out, "Zhuo-gēgē?"

"Xiao Lan, don't go over there! This is not a game!" Zhuo-gēgē's voiced was laced with worry and determination.

"I have to go. Zhuo-gēgē, you can stay by my side and help me, but don't try to stop me." _I know_ _that Zhuo-gēgē is worried, but how can I back down?_

"But Xiao Lan, you…" Zhuo-gēgē turned and began to lecture me sternly.

"Look out!" I shoved Zhuo-gēgē aside and met the charging robot. It didn't have any weapons, but its steel fists and iron strength was the most formidable offensive. I could feel the pressure even

"**visiting the in-laws": **This is a phrase used to describe the families of the bride and groom visiting each other forthe first time after marriage.

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with Lolidragon's power gloves on.

However, I wasn't planning on going head to head with it; I was, after all, an agility-type warrior! With a flick of the light sword in my hand, I sliced at the robot's head. Although the robot immediately raised its hands and blocked my light sword, stopping my blade was not enough. I ruthlessly kicked at the robot's right leg with my own right leg. The moment it staggered, I sliced off its head with my sword.

_Dead as a post! _Elated, I turned and made the victory sign at everyone.

"Prince! Look out!" Lolidragon shrieked, her eyes focused on something behind me.

Before I could even react, Zhuo-gēgē had already tackled me, sending us flying to the side. I finally saw that the headless robot kept on attacking, as if it didn't care about its decapitated head at all.

As the robot continued to charge at the two of us, beams of light suddenly flew at the robot's knee. After a few sizzles, the robot crumbled to the ground. I turned and saw Nan Gong Zui assuming a 100% proper gun-firing posture with a serious expression, looking very handsome… sans the baby face.

"Give me back my Sunshine!" A girl with high pigtails screamed as she let loose her ray gun against the robot. Even though the rays were bouncing everywhere, the technique of shooting everything in sight, comrades included, was comparable to Meatbun's Aroma Release.

A frenzy of rays and screaming followed as both humans and robot alike dove for shelter. The rays scorched big smouldering holes in the grass, on the walls, on the trees, and even on my mom's precious hover bike. _Eek, my mom's going to kill me._

"Girls that have just lost their boyfriends are truly frightening." Yang Ming patted his chest, face pale as he looked at the disastrous aftermath all around.

"So she's Fairsky." Hearing Sunshine's name, I was absolutely certain that she was Fairsky.

With glistening eyes, Fairsky charged at me, grabbed my shoulders, shook me as if her life depended on it, and yelled, "Prince, go save Sunshine, quickly!"

"Stop shaking me, my goggles are almost about to fall off!" Nausea started to take effect. _God, are_ _all women with romantic crises this violently strong? _I had not even finished speaking when mypoor goggles flew off my face and kissed the dirt with a thump.

"Ah! My goggles!" I wailed. _Those are my mom's. If anything happens to them then she would skin_ _me alive!_

"Who cares about goggles, my Sunshine is more important…" Fairsky's voice grew softer and softer until she stopped altogether and stared at me, dumbfounded.

"What's wrong? Fairsky?" I waved my hand in front of Fairsky's face, but she kept on staring at me with her mouth agape…

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Suddenly, she made her move! With lightning speed she peeled off my light armor deftly and tore off my cute windbreaker with one breath… If I hadn't sensed that something was wrong and tightly grabbed my last article of clothing, Fairsky would have probably torn off my little t-shirt too. I gaped at her and said in surprise, "Fairsky, even though Sunshine's not here, you don't have to be that eager, do you? Everyone's still here!"

Fairsky stared at my chest in shock… _Crap, did Sunshine's absence totally change Fairsky's_ _temperament and even her inclinations?_

"Y-You…you are a girl?" Fairsky stuttered and finally yelled.

I stared. _What, everyone… hasn't figured that out yet? Impossible! Do I look like that much like a_ _boy? Even if my chest is a little on the small side… a petite figure can also be appealing, right?_

"Stupid old sis, explain already!" Yang Ming hurriedly and agitatedly reminded me as he glanced at the crowd that had already fallen into a stupefied state.

"Huh?" I turned around stupidly to look at Yang Ming. _Explain what?_

"Student Feng Lan, it really is…" Wolf-dàgē forced a chuckle and scratched his head, his face full of knowing.

"Wolf? Is she really Prince? But… she's a girl." Yu Lian-dàsăo stared at me in disbelief, but after mumbling to herself, she fell silent without saying anything else, a look of sudden realization coming over her face.

"Your majesty, Gui missed you." A person lunged at me. _The open arms, the impossible feat of_ _lunging parallel to the ground, and the disgusting name of "your majesty"…_

"Gui, I've told you a hundred times, don't call me your majesty!" I dispatched Gui with a flying kick, and then I went stomp stomp stomp!

"It really is Prince!" Everyone yelled.

"Prince…" Gui hugged my legs like usual, but not with eyes full of grievance and desire. It was as if he was burying his head into my legs, refusing to raise his head to look at me.

"Gui?" I asked, baffled.

Gui slowly raised his head but was not like his usual silly and smiling self. His eyes were conflicted and serious. He kept on gazing at me in such a way, his eyes penetrating into the depths of my eyes, and said softly, "Student Feng Lan… you're skipping class?"

"Oh… Professor Min Gui Wen, you're not teaching class?" I replied calmly.

Gui forced a laugh and shook his head, muttering to himself as if in disbelief, "So you were right by my side the entire time. It turns out I saw you every day. In fact…"

Standing up, Gui raised his arms as if to embrace me, but before I could even punch him as a

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warning, he retracted his hands. Breathing deeply, he muttered, "No, I can't, I can't, I'm your teacher."

I giggled, unable to believe it. _Who would have thought Gui would be scared of hugging me_ _because he's my teacher? How amusing! _I couldn't help but challenge his limits, edging closer untilI was only a few centimeters away. I asked, "Oh, are you sure you don't want to hug me?"

_Gui actually blushed? And turned away, not daring to look at me?! This is not like Gui at all. _Forsome odd reason, I felt unsatisfied, so I started to make jabs at him, "Who cares about protocol? Nowadays, there's no one who prohibits teacher-student relationships anyway! I can't believe how wimpy you are!"

"Or is it…" I suddenly remembered something. _I don't look like Prince anymore. Is that the_ _reason? _I bit my lower lip_. Does Gui still like me more as a guy? _Even though he said that he didn'tcare what I looked like, I still had to admit that Prince's 40% beautified looks was much more glamorous than my own, which could merely be called comely.

_Use your head_, I chided myself,_ He loves the handsome and incomparable "Prince," not the plain and ordinary "Feng Lan!"_

"Prince…" Gui called out hesitantly.

"Don't call me Prince!" I yelled back, discontent. For some odd reason, hearing Gui call me Prince like always sent a bolt of extraordinary resentment through me.

"Xiao Lan! Look out!" Zhuo-gēgē fired near me, the ray whizzing by within twenty centimeters of me. A clear clanking sound signaled that it had found its mark.

"Long Dian-biǎogē?" Lolidragon looked up at the building in disbelief.

Everyone looked in the direction of Lolidragon's gaze. A silhouette had appeared in the third story window, bearing a familiar face – it was the Dictator of Life's appearance! The handsome face was the same as the one in the game, but it was somewhat haggard, and his hair wasn't the signature fiery red, but an even stranger color — white. It wasn't the same sparkling hue as Prince's white hair, but rather a more sickly hue with some gray. Combined with his pallid complexion, it looked as if he were tired and sick of this world.

_But… how is that possible? The Dictator of Life only exists in the game, so why is he in the real world?_

"Long time no see, Shui Han." The person stared at Lolidragon with a faint smile.

"Lolidragon, could he be the Dictator of Life?" I asked in shock.

"He's Long Dian, not the Dictator of Life." Lolidragon's eyes sparkled with tears, and she asked out of concern, "Long Dian-biǎogē, how come your black hair has turned white?"

Long Dian smiled and touched his white tresses, "Can't help it. There are too many stressing affairs so my hair turned white before I even realized it."

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"Biǎogē, I don't know what has happened, but please, stop going down the wrong path!" urged Lolidragon relentlessly until even her voice cracked. Lolidragon, who had never shown even a sign of weakness before anyone, sobbed, "Dian… please, don't hurt everyone anymore."

However, Long Dian chuckled and then laughed. Soon, his laughter turned into wild guffaws, "Don't hurt anyone? Hahahahaha! Then who is to stop fate from hurting me?!

"Who is going to stop fate from toying with me… cough, cough…" Long Dian's handsome face suddenly contorted. He clenched his fists until they turned white, and he howled at the heavens in pain… but then he suddenly looked as if he couldn't breathe and his face turned as pale as a sheet. This was followed by a painful cacophony of coughing.

"Dian?" Lolidragon cried out in concern.

Long Dian didn't answer and kept on coughing. Like in the most clichéd soap opera shown on television, he coughed up a puddle of blood. _What kind of situation is this? Why can't any of the_ _final bosses live up to their reputations? The previous final boss confessed to me, and this one coughed up blood even before we started fighting?_

"Dian, what's wrong?" Lolidragon's tears were running freely by now.

"Nothing, don't worry." Long Dian smiled and reassured Lolidragon softly.

"What 'don't worry'?!" Lolidragon swiped at her tears and growled, "First you started to act strange and worked on Second Life as if your life depended on it… and then you did that experiment that killed a bunch of people, and after that you went and created mayhem and havoc in Second Life, and now you're coughing up blood?! You haven't told me anything, not even an explanation, and you expect me to not worry? You are going too far, Long Dian!"

"Shui Han, I…" Long Dian looked taken aback. _Crap, I mistook him for the Dictator of Life for a_ _second there._

However, Long Dian's expression vanished and was instantly replaced by a look of utter coldness. He said frostily, "You have nothing to do with my business and none of my actions involves any of you anymore, Long Shui Han. I advise you not to try to stop me, because I will not show mercy next time."

Lolidragon stared for a long time, dumbfounded. She blinked again and again, trying to force back her welling tears; her fists were clenched so tightly that her skin was turning red…

"Who cares about you! I don't need your mercy. You better be careful. I swear I will catch you and take you back to Dad!" Lolidragon yelled with her cracking voice.

Long Dian smirked and turned from the window to leave. Another shadow detached itself from the background. A cold, mechanical voice threatened, "Leave, or die."

"Humph, we are not leaving." I laughed coldly, "As for killing us, go ahead and try."

Bang! The shadow briskly leaped from the window and landed on the ground, his movements

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incomparably nimble… I didn't know if my eyes were playing tricks on me or not, but his feet seemed to sink into the ground a couple of centimeters. Was he that strong? Could it be that he broke his legs before we even started fighting?

Obviously, my thoughts of having our work done for us didn't work! He stood up without a scratch, and we soon saw the reason: it was because he was an "it!" It was another robot. However, its appearance when compared with the previous one was more suave and stylish. If robots also had a sense of aesthetics, this one must be considered pretty handsome among robots!

_Dispatch him, and then go grab Long Dian! _Lolidragon seemed to have reached the sameconclusion as I had, because before I could even raise my light sword, Lolidragon had already let loose countless lines of rays with her ray gun.

Lolidragon was definitely cut out to be a terrorist as well. I scratched my face, ready to see holes opening in the arm of an innocent passerby robot, but the robot disappeared in a flash. _Where did it_ _go_? I gripped my light sword._ Is this one completely different from the last one?_

"Lolidragon, watch out!" I spied a figure out of the corner of my eye hurling toward Lolidragon. Unable to do anything else in time, I could only block in front of her with my own body, straining to stop the attack with my light sword.

Bang! The light sword and power gloves actually cracked, and the huge pressure bore me into the ground. I couldn't even raise my arms… That hit almost took my dear little life! The previous robot could not at all compare to this robot's strength.

Even worse, I could only watch as the robot sent Lolidragon flying with a punch and swiped at me with a karate chop… _Will I be singing my swan song at the tender age of twenty? The heavens must_ _truly be envious of fair and youthful maidens…_

"Stop!" a voice rang out, accompanied by gunshots, forcing the robot to step back and stop its karate chop. I looked around and saw that it was the baby-faced boy… no, Nan Gong Zui, who had saved me.

I struggled to lift my body. _Damn, I can't even crawl up_ . _My chest feels… If I borrowed a phrase_ _from martial art novels, this would be called having my blood and qi surge? _I was just short ofspitting blood out to signify my severe injuries, but I was in enough pain to turn pale. _Pain_ _definitely feels different in real life, unlike being in the game!_

I could only lay there, half-sitting, and watch everyone risk their lives fighting that incredibly strong robot… The tall and strapping Wolf-dàgē wielded a light sword and stubbornly started fighting with the robot. He carefully avoided my earlier mistake of fighting within close range of the robot while effectively preventing the robot from attacking others. Meanwhile, Nan Gong Zui and Zhuo-gēgē were practically superb experts with their guns. With the rays from their seamless cooperation, the robot's moves soon became evidently labored.

Even though I was worried about Wolf-dàgē's safety, at the same time, I also worried about how there was a large chance that I could die from Fairsky's crazy, stray shots before the robot got to me!

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"Prince-gē… uh, are you alright?" A cute and sweet looking girl with a dignified air suddenly rushed over and carefully helped me up.

"Doll?" If she had called me Prince-gēgē, then she was definitely Doll! I never thought that Doll would be such a beautiful and elegant-looking girl. Unlike her "innocent" personality in the game, the real Doll truly did have the presence of a princess.

At this time, I also noticed the man and woman standing next to Doll. The man wore gold-rimmed glasses and bore a gentle smile, but even though he looked as if he wouldn't hurt a fly, I could tell that there was something more to him. That gentle smile of his was a great weapon to lower an enemy's defense, and his gold-rimmed glasses spoke of books and knowledge, giving him a favorable impression of being well-read. His neat clothing was also a guise that couldn't be missed for lowering an enemy's defenses… In conclusion, this guy looked exactly like Winter Triumph, so he was definitely a horrifying and ruthless character.

As for the woman, I blurted out without thinking, "Yu Lian-dàsăo!"

Just like in the game, Yu Lian-dàsăo rubbed my head, and smiled gently. "Really, Prince is Prince after all. No matter if it's in the game or not, you're always making a scene."

Hearing that, I grinned stupidly like usual. _Yu Lian-dàsăo is truly so gentle!_

"Ah! You dare to attack my future husband?! You must have a death wish!" Yu Lian-dàsăo heaved her heavy machine gun and after a hailstorm of rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat, a new row of smoking holes appeared in the ground. Even the robot stared wordlessly at the two new punctures in its arm.

"Prince, look up!" Gui yelled desperately.

I followed Gui's instructions and looked up. An aircraft appeared before our eyes and started to slowly descend to the top of the building. _Come to help Long Dian make his getaway?_

"No! Dian is getting away!" Lolidragon shouted in worry. However, the robot before us was too strong, and we were seemingly unable to even handle him, let alone rush up to the rooftop to stop Long Dian from getting away.

"Everyone, get out of the way immediately!" Doll, who normally had an air of elegance, suddenly shouted out.

We all knew that Doll was normally very cute, but she was equally known for being terrible as well as for being cute. Thus, when everyone heard her shout, we all took ten steps away. Even I got dragged away by Yu Lian-dàsăo and Winter Triumph by about a dozen meters.

Doll did a very simple action: her right hand reached into her pocket, she grabbed some unidentified object, made a throwing motion, and the object got thrown… landing about ten steps away from the robot.

"God, Doll, don't ever become a pitcher! You'd definitely be out of a job!" Everyone wailed.

Boom! With a blinding flash, the unknown object suddenly gave off much heat, the fervent flames

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almost roasting me until I dripped a layer of oil. After I finally recovered from being blinded, I saw what looked like a deep and blackened meteor crater. Even more terrifying, the edge of the crater was only about a meter away from my feet…

Don't even mention the robot — not even a scrap of it was left behind.

Everyone's faces turned pale, no, everyone looked like they had stepped in shit, as they stared at Doll. Yet she looked with interest at the crater and gasped, "Wow, it is really powerful!"

"P-princess, that fire grenade cost a couple hundred-thousand dollars…" Winter Triumph's voice shook with immeasurable grief as he stared at the hundred-thousand dollar crater.

_A couple hundre- thousand dollars? Was that bomb made of gold? _I said calmly, "So the robot wasactually flattened by cash."

"Ah!" Lolidragon's scream caught everyone's attention as she rushed into the building.

"Too late!" Wolf-dàgē said in a low voice.

I looked up at the top of the building and saw that the aircraft was leaving. No one was in the cockpit, but Long Dian sat leisurely in the backseat, even acknowledging us with a nod. His faint smile was truly very infuriating to me.

"No one is piloting, yet the aircraft is moving." Zhuo-gēgē frowned and guessed while mumbling, "Could the Dictator of Life be piloting that aircraft? Does that mean the Dictator's core is in that aircraft? No, if he were placed in the aircraft, that's not safe enough. It could get shot down."

"Shoot it down!" I snapped abruptly, and hurriedly asked Doll, "Doll, do you have something like a cannon that we can use to shoot down Long Dian?"

"Yes, but…" Doll hesitated somewhat, and then she asked with extreme skepticism, "If we shoot him down, Long Dian would definitely die! Prince-gēgē… Are we really going to use that?"

_He'll die? _I felt as if lightning had struck me._ Right, what was I thinking? This is not Second Life, this is the real world where people could truly die. I actually said that I was going to shoot Long Dian down. _I shook my head._ No, we definitely can't use cannons!_

"Dian!" shrieked Lolidragon, who had suddenly appeared on the rooftop. We could hear her wheezing even from the ground and realized that she had never run so quickly in her life.

"Dian, I'm begging you, don't do anything stupid!" She screamed desperately, the high-pitched sound rattling even the surrounding glass.

Long Dian stared at Lolidragon, his infuriating smile disappearing. His hand caressed the glass… Maybe all he really wanted to do then was touch Lolidragon's face.

"Shui Han, I have already genuinely completed Second Life. Think of it as a…" Long Dian's expression changed back into a faint smile, "final parting gift to you."

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"Parting gift?" Lolidragon's voice sounded as though it was shaking.

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**Chapter 2 : Second Life – Out of Control**

After I struggled to stand, I charged to the rooftop with everyone else and saw Lolidragon kneeling down on the ground. Her entire demeanor was that of a person in shock. There were even two tracks of tears running down her face…

_How am I supposed to comfort Lolidragon like this? _I couldn't help feeling frustrated. The totalnumber of times I had actually comforted someone was so infrequent that it was pathetic… _I think_ _it's mostly been other people comforting me instead of the other way around._

"Wow, so you actually know how to cry? I thought that you only knew how to cackle evilly like a witch." Yang Ming walked over to Lolidragon in an infuriating manner and teased her.

Lolidragon swiveled her head around. "That's right! After all, I'm just a scary old witch that no one loves."

Yang Ming suddenly coughed. "Actually, riding on a broomstick is also quite fun!"

Everyone stared at Yang Ming strangely while Lolidragon looked at him, perplexed… I, on the other hand, as Yang Ming's elder twin sister, completely understood what he was trying to do. He was trying to "comfort" Lolidragon.

"Witches wearing pointy hats are actually very cute too. After all, it's not only princesses who get loved by others… I, I for one prefer witches…" Yang Ming stammered and stuttered, his face completely red. Even his voice had gradually become softer and softer.

Lolidragon seemed to finally understand that the moronic Yang Ming was trying to comfort her. A blush bloomed on her face and, for the first time, she had a bashful look on her face. "What nonsense are you talking about?!"

Both of them looked down with their faces red, once in a while looking up and sneaking glances at the other, completely consumed in their own little world!

"Long Dian ran away already, but what about the Dictator, Kenshin, and Sunshine?" I worriedly thought of the three people whose statuses were unknown. Since Lolidragon was immersed in her own world, I could only ask everyone else about what to do next.

If we didn't hurry up and think of an idea, Fairsky, who was green with envy and shooting death glares at Lolidragon and Yang Ming might… whip out a machine gun and shoot randomly in anger, possibly even shooting holes in innocent bystanders. As one of those innocent bystanders, I of course needed to hurry and come up with a plan to rescue Sunshine.

"If they just disappeared like this, it might still be alright," Wicked said. "But I don't believe that Long Dian will go into hiding so easily."

"There's a one hundred percent chance that he will never go into hiding." Gui immediately explained, "I definitely do not believe that Long Dian snatched the Dictator of Life for the sole

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purpose of hiding. There must be some other plot behind that."

_Plot? _I asked in surprise, "Could it be that he wants to use the Dictator to control the world? Iremember that he once said that the Dictator could set off the missiles of every country like fireworks?"

"Dian wants to control the world? He's not that type of person!" Lolidragon, who had still been in her own little world, suddenly protested this furiously. The determined look on her face said that she was not going to allow anyone to insult Long Dian.

Yang Ming, whose face twisted in jealousy, bitterly asked, "Oh? You're so sure?"

"Then why would Long Dian want to take the Dictator of Life away?" Even though I tried with all my might, I just could not fathom it. _Could it be that Long Dian had fallen in love with the Dictator_ _of Life and wanted to take him away so that they could live together forever? Ugh, two people who look exactly alike, living together forever… That's a really disgusting image._

Although they heard my question, nobody could give me an answer. Everyone lowered their heads and tried to brainstorm several different reasons why he could have done so.

"Prince, let's just ignore that for the moment. How are your wounds?" Gui's worried stare roamed over my body and lingered for a long time on my bruised hands, his concern written all over his face.

"Xiao Lan, I have already called the ambulance. Don't move about for now." Zhuo-gēgē gently lifted my hands up and frowned when he saw the swelling bruises littered all over them.

"Okay." Facing Zhuo-gēgē, I could only readily comply. If I moved about restlessly, I would definitely receive an endless lecture from him.

"Prince, you…" The baby-faced Nan Gong Zui had walked up to me. He said somewhat helplessly, "You're actually a girl."

My heart skipped a beat. Ugh, that's right; my real gender had been revealed. Because the situation with Long Dian had yet to be solved, no one had overly questioned me. _How am I supposed to face_ _them now? _I couldn't help lowering my head and playing with my fingers. However, repeatedlylinking and unlinking ten fingers that had swollen to the size of sausages was really tough.

"Phew!" Nan Gong Zui gave a big sigh, shook his head and said, "Luckily Phoenix hadn't come along. If she found out that you're of the same gender as her, she might…"

Hearing this, my head dipped even lower. Normally, I hate bad guys who cheat on a girl's feelings the most. Now, I had actually turned into… a girl who cheats on another girl's feelings!

"I'm so sorry, Zui…" I apologized with my head lowered. I tentatively turned around to face my teammates, whom I had lied to for the longest time. "I'm sorry everyone, I didn't want to lie to you on purpose. Originally it was because…"

I turned around and grabbed Yang Ming, who was standing around, not doing anything. I pointed

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my index finger directly at his nose and loudly proclaimed his wrongdoing. "It's all his fault! Because I fought with him, I went on to become a transvestite! Please, don't blame only me!" After all, if I was going to die, I had to drag someone down with me. _How can I leave my brother, who_ _was the cause of all of this, to just go unscathed?_

Yu Lian-dàsăo suddenly giggled aloud and, while I was still staring in confusion, she looked passionately at Wolf-dàgē and said, "I already knew that you were actually a girl, Prince. Wolf even knew who you actually were!"

_What! _My eyes bulged out of my head._ Could I have really been such a failure as a transgender person? If Yu Lian-dàsăo saw through me, that's alright, but even Wolf-dàgē, who was as oblivious as me, knew?_

"How did you find out?" I asked, dazed.

Yu Lian-dàsăo smiled gently, laid her hand on my head, and patted me. "I've been with you for so long, how could I not tell your true gender?"

"Ah… Doll didn't know that Prince-gēgē was actually Prince-jiějie." Doll chewed at her fingers, pursing her mouth in dissatisfaction. (_It's normal that you couldn't tell…_)

"Prince, no, Feng Lan, you don't have any more period cramps, do you?" Wolf-dàgē laughed cheerfully.

_Period cramps? Ah! _I suddenly remembered that when I had snuck off to peek at Wolf-dàgē, I hadused something like that as an excuse…

"Although I did say that I didn't care about guessing who you really were, I had already seen the real you. Even if I didn't want to recognize you, it'd be too hard not to do so!" Wolf-dàgē scratched at his face and shook his head. "Prince, your expressions and actions were too similar to the ones in the game. Even though your appearances differ, if one took a bit of extra care to notice, it was easy to recognize you."

_If this is true, then Gui, who sees me in class every day, had also… recognized me a long time ago?_

I turned my head around quickly and looked at Gui. I asked unhappily, "You purposely acted like you didn't know it was me?"

Gui had a blank look on his face as he murmured, "This… Was it really so easy to recognize you?"

I flinched. _Could Gui not have recognized me? How could that be true? Isn't he a genius with an IQ_ _of 200?_

"You couldn't even recognize Xiao Lan? Were you only able to see Prince's 'looks' the entire time?" Zhuo-gēgē ruthlessly attacked.

Gui's face tightened, and he yelled, "That's not true, I don't care what Prince looks like!"

"Then why didn't you recognize me?" I asked coldly. Gui was the one person who had spent the longest amount of time with me, yet he hadn't recognized me. _Gui must only like Prince's looks_

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_after all! _I suddenly felt very unhappy.

"I…" Gui was at a lost for words. His mouth hung open, but he wasn't able to say a single word the entire time. Finally, he dropped his head down sadly.

Miffed, I ignored Gui and swivelled my head around to look at everyone, planning to continue on taking care of the Long Dian problem. However, Lolidragon made a shushing gesture at me.

"The blockade on Second Life has been removed? Are you sure?" Lolidragon asked, holding a cell phone. "There are already people who have entered inside?"

"Have there been any changes in the game?" Lolidragon asked while frowning. Upon hearing the reply, her jaw dropped open and her eyes bugged out as she hurriedly demanded, "Repeat that!"

Lolidragon pressed the loudspeaker button and summoned everyone to come closer. The cell phone announced the inconceivable changes in Second Life in succession.

"The shape of the entire world has had little to no changes. The main changes have been in the NPCs. All of the NPCs have been modified to have very high IQ's, and the humanoid NPCs in the cities no longer just stand in one spot. They run around like real humans. Even the NPCs who worked to help players change their classes are now not willing to do that, and are coming up with absurd requests.

"Several boss NPCs are also wandering around. I just saw a boss walking around the streets of Star City and quite a few cities have already been massacred by the NPCs."

"What on earth is Long Dian trying to do?" I couldn't help but ask.

"A real Second Life," Cold Fox suddenly replied. He had kept silent for so long that I had long forgotten his presence. His sudden words were like lightning, shocking everyone present.

After yet another car racing journey, Lolidragon brought all of us to Second Life's headquarters. I noticed with surprise that the glass I had shattered had already reverted back to its original shape. The Second Life Company really did do things very efficiently.

"Miss, the Chairman wanted you to see him when you returned." Upon seeing Lolidragon, the female worker at the reception immediately bowed and gave her the Chairman's message.

"Got it." Lolidragon nodded her head, turned to us, and said, "All of you, try going online to see what the game has turned into and check on Kenshin and Sunshine. I'll go see my father first and tell him about Dian's escape."

After we nodded our heads, Lolidragon told the receptionist, "Bring them up to my office and give them the game helmets to allow them to enter Second Life."

"Yes, miss," the receptionist replied and politely said to us, "Please follow me."

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Lolidragon hurriedly rushed into one of the elevators. Without even saying goodbye to us, she left, the elevator doors closing behind her. _She must be really worried._

The receptionist brought us to the elevator and elegantly pressed the 44th floor 1 (_Lolidragon, you_ _really should have chosen a better floor…_). The minute the elevator doors opened, a roomy office,that was obviously far larger than my home, appeared. The decorations on the desk were simple and plain and, behind the desk, was a large glass surface providing a view of the entire city. The only thing out of the ordinary was that the bookshelves weren't filled with books, but were rather filled with brand name bags like Chanel…

The receptionist unhurriedly helped us to set up some ten-odd helmets. She gave a polite ninety degree bow to us and said, "If you need anything, please let me know. I will help you prepare it."

Flattered, I nodded at the lady and said to everyone, "Then let's all go and see what has become of Second Life."

"Yes, let's all gather at Flower City's Central Tower." Zhuo-gēgē also nodded his head.

Everyone put on their helmets and returned to the Second Life that had been thought to be closed forever to us.

I put on the helmet and entered the game. When I slowly opened my eyes again, the sight that greeted me was both familiar and foreign… It was the initial scene to create a character, but the GM standing in front of me wasn't Lolidragon. It was a completely foreign NPC beauty. She stared at me curiously and tentatively gave a greeting. "Hi?"

_What is going on? Why am I here? Why am I not in Flower City _…_ Ah! That's right, my character, Prince, had disappeared completely. _Once I remembered this, I couldn't help but feel sad.

"Do you want to create a character?" The NPC beauty blinked her eyes.

"I already created one before, but my character has disappeared. Can you help me get my character back?" I asked without much hope. How could I not try? Prince was a character that I had painstakingly trained. How could I let him go just like that?

"Of course not." The NPC beauty shrugged her shoulders. "If you were previously destroyed by ND or HD, even the God of Life can't bring the character back!"

"Oh…" I was a little disappointed but didn't lose hope and continued by asking, "Then can you let me play as a guy? I want white hair and red eyes, and then beautification by forty percent?"

"Anything's fine, you can design your character however you like. The game's original rules were that the players could design their characters in any way they wanted!" The NPC beauty answered matter-of-factly.

"…**the 44th floor…": **The number four in Chinese culture is considered an unlucky number because it sounds thesame as "death," so many apartments actually skip the 4th floor. Hospitals also do not usually have a 4th floor. Needless to say, the 44th floor is also considered unlucky. What a double dose of bad fortune!

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_What? However we want to design it? _Before, it had obviously been based on the person's actualface, and gender couldn't be changed. I stared doubtfully at the NPC beauty. _She couldn't be toying_ _with me, could she?_

"Hehe… You look so confused." The NPC beauty laughed and urged, "Hurry up and create your character. There are still a lot of people I have to help create characters for."

Still suspicious, I could only design my character. When Prince's appearance appeared before me once again, I couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief. _Now all I have to do is just regain my levels,_ _right?_

"Where do you want to be born?" The NPC beauty laughingly asked.

"Anywhere is fine… No, the Northern Continent! I want to go to the Northern Continent." I hurriedly changed my words, almost making the same mistake I had made the first time. If I had unwittingly landed in the Southern Continent, I would really have to cry myself to death.

"The Northern Continent again? Everyone really has no creativity. A group of people all like this sort of look, and another group of people all choose either the Northern Continent or the Central Continent," the NPC beauty murmured to herself.

_This sort of look… What does that mean? _An alarm sounded from the bottom of my heart, butbefore I could ask the NPC beauty, I already started to feel myself free-falling…

When I landed on the ground like a meteor, I found my answer…

"Why…" My eyes bulged out as I stared at the group of white-haired, red-eyed people. I yelled loudly, "Why are there so many Princes?!"

The surrounding Princes snickered. "Look who's talking. Aren't you using Prince's looks yourself?"

I couldn't help yelling back in frustration, "I'm the real Prince!"

"Haha, yet another person who's saying that he's the real Prince." A snobby and infuriating expression came over one of the people with Prince's looks. _My God, please don't use that sort of_ _expression, it is completely staining my reputation and destroying my style!_

_My God, there are actually so many people using my looks, it's no wonder the NPC beauty said that… Ah! Oh no, what if Wolf-dàgē and the rest of them mistake someone else for me? _I couldn'thelp feeling worried.

"Calm down, calm down." I breathed in two deep breaths, my emotions finally calming down a little. _That's right! I should PM and tell them about this first… But I can't open the PM channel._ _What on earth is going on?_

"My God! Why can't I PM?" I yelled up at the sky.

"Duh, did you set a name before you entered?" one of the surrounding Princes asked coldly. This particular Prince looked very cool. He probably wasn't that obnoxious Prince from earlier.

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"No…" _That's right; I didn't even set a name!_ I suddenly recalled this.

"The private messaging system has completely disappeared," a cheerful Prince told me with a smile.

"What?" My entire body turned to jelly. _How am I supposed to communicate with everyone else_ _now?_

"Ignore that guy, we should hurry up and see what's happening at the Central Tower." When an excited Prince finished saying this, the surrounding crowd then started moving in the same direction.

I tilted my head upwards and looked toward the Central Tower. _Hasn't Wicked mentioned gathering_ _at the Central Tower? Everything will be alright. If I mention that I'm Feng Lan, then wouldn't everyone know that I'm the real Prince? _Realizing this, I breathed a sigh of relief.

_Alright, move forth toward the Central Tower! _I relaxed and followed the crowd of moving people.

"So many people…" I stared open-mouthed at the crowds of people thronging the grounds.

"Everyone, look! This is the place where the Execution Squad massacred NPCs while outnumbered a thousand to one! Then, Prince bypassed all of the guards and led the charge into Flower City's plaza alone. Upon seeing the tens of thousands of NPCs, his expression didn't even change! With a slash of his blade, he turned thousands of NPCs into mincemeat, and arrogantly laughed that he wanted the Dictator of Life to stop sending out trash like them…"

"Long live Prince, Liege Lord of Infinite City! Long live the Blood Elf~" The crowds started cheering.

_This… Is he really talking about me? _The corner of my lips stiffened._ With a slash of my blade, I turned thousands of NPCs into mincemeat? Why is it that my memory tells me that it was the NPCs that had almost turned me into mincemeat?_

"Everyone look! The Execution Squad is here!" Some sharp-eyed individual gave a loud shout.

"Execution Squad! Execution Squad…" The tens of thousands of people cramped together in the plaza suddenly turned wild, screaming out the name of the Execution Squad.

"Doll!" I could also see everyone now, so I hurriedly yelled, "Cold Fox! Zui! Fairsky!"

"Doll! Cold Fox~~" The people around me, upon hearing me yell their names, immediately started calling out their names too. The surrounding atmosphere became even more frenzied, almost as if the crowd had gone crazy…

I flinched again. _Why is this happening?_

I saw them standing before the Central Tower, their faces all sharing stony expressions. I wanted to rush forward and squeeze through the crowd, but I kept on being pushed back by the frenzied crowd and ended up farther and farther away from everyone… I was so worried that tears were already

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threatening to fall.

"Prince! Over here." Just as I was growing more and more dejected, my right hand was suddenly tugged by someone, and a familiar voice yelled for me in panic.

I was stunned for a half a beat. _There's actually someone who could recognize me amongst this_ _crowd of "Princes"? _I turned my head around, and Gui's slightly seductive demon face greeted myeyes.

"Gui?" Confused, I couldn't react properly.

"Prince, hurry up and come over here, everyone's looking for you." Gui pulled my hand and led me out of the crowd of people.

As I squeezed out of the crowd with all my effort, I asked doubtfully, "Gui, why were you so sure it's me? There are so many people with this look now."

Gui stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned his head around and looked at me. His gaze was still as gentle as ever. "I will never mistake you for someone else. Your light footsteps, your blank expression. When you fly into a temper, your favorite action is to tighten your fist and show a stubborn expression on your face.

"Also, you always unintentionally tilt your head to one side." Gui couldn't help laughing, "The minute I saw you, I knew you were Prince."

My heart warmed, yet I couldn't help retaliating, "But you didn't recognize that Feng Lan was me."

Gui's expression suddenly became distant. It was as if he was not answering me, but was actually talking to himself. He murmured, "How could I not have recognized you? But I really hadn't… Maybe I had already known beforehand, but I had promised you… I promised that I would never try and guess your real identity. My promise to you was so important to me, so important that… I let myself be blinded and could not see your real identity."

Tentatively, I asked, "Gui… What are you saying, why can't I understand a single word?"

Hearing my words, Gui smiled bitterly. His shoulders dropped, and with frustration he said, "I also have no idea what I'm saying."

Seeing Gui's sad look, I scratched my head and couldn't help but say, "It's alright. You, you did recognize me, I'm really happy, uh…" Seeing Gui's gaze brighten all of a sudden, I couldn't help but blush. I completely forgot the words I had planned on saying.

The atmosphere became very awkward. We walked for a short while before Gui abruptly said, "Prince, no matter how it has turned out… I still like you."

Hearing this, I couldn't help feeling very, _very_ surprised. Could Gui really have such a good temperament? "You're not angry? I, I lied to you and even had other people think you were gay…" The more I went on, the smaller my voice became. Even _I_ thought that Gui should be furious at me.

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Gui fell silent for a while, and then finally said, "I am a little angry, yet I don't dare to be angry."

I blinked my eyes. Today's Gui seemed to enjoy saying a bunch of incomprehensible things.

"I'm angry that you lied to me, angry about the things I don't know but that Wicked knows so clearly…" After saying this, Gui gave a light sigh. "But I don't dare to get angry. I'm scared that you won't be happy, scared that you won't care about me anymore, scared… that I will no longer have any chance of getting you to like me."

"Gui!" I tugged at him, and with the greatest amount of courage I could muster, admitted my wrongdoings. "This time it's my fault. You don't need to cover for me. It'll just make me feel very guilty."

Gui turned around and faced me. He opened his mouth, but didn't seem to know what to say. His expression turned conflicted… Finally, his shoulders slumped and he said dimly, "I don't blame you for lying to me anymore. We should hurry and meet up with the others."

_Did Gui want to say something? _Deep in my heart, I believed that he did. I, again, strongly tuggedat Gui. Being pulled back by me, his face betrayed his surprise.

"What's wrong, Prince?" Gui asked hesitantly.

"What did you want to say? Tell me." I stubbornly refused to let go of Gui.

Gui acted as though he had made some kind of decision and said, "I wasn't thinking of saying something. I was thinking of doing something."

"Then what were you thinking of…" My words were lost in Gui's mouth….

I stared wide-eyed at Gui's handsome face. His lips were pressed closely against mine… This wasn't the first time I'd been kissed, but, but Gui's absolutely serious expression made me feel very shy all of a sudden. Embarrassed, I pushed him away slightly. "Gui, you…"

But Gui kissed me again, and this time he even, he even slipped his tongue into my mouth! Panicked, I tried to push him away, but his hands were firmly locked onto the back of my head… Even worse, the character I had just created didn't have any advantage over him in strength. I could not push Gui away.

Even though this wasn't the first time I'd been kissed, this time I felt as though I truly understood it for the first time, truly understood the feeling of kissing someone…

Gui's palms were still strongly latched onto me, not allowing me even half a chance of escape. But his kiss was very soft, his tongue light in my mouth… I had no idea what description to use, but it felt very soft, very _very_ soft. It was almost making me feel drunk, drunk on that gentleness. Slowly, Gui stopped holding onto me tightly, and instead started running his hand lightly through my hair.

Looking at Gui, who had his eyes closed, his expression drunk and soft, I unconsciously closed my eyes as well and felt Gui's utter gentleness: inside my mouth, the gentle touches on my hair, the hand hugging my waist tightly, the light heat between our bodies pressed close together.

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"Oh my God! A guy's kissing a guy!" The surrounding people suddenly yelled aloud.

Gui and I both started. _My God!_ I almost forgot that we were on a busy street. I actually kissed Gui in public, which was made even worse since we were both guys at the moment…

A burning sensation on my face made me feel like meat could be grilled on it instantly. I hurriedly pushed Gui away, but just as I was about to smack him and release my anger, I saw someone — Zhuo-gēgē!

Never before had I seen Zhuo-gēgē, who was always so strong and unyielding, with such a weak expression on his face. It was as if all his beliefs had been destroyed. His face was stark white and… His eyes were red-rimmed.

I almost thought that Zhuo-gēgē… was crying? "Zhuo-gēgē…"

Zhuo-gēgē didn't say anything and quickly turned around… I might have been wrong, but were Zhuo-gēgē's shoulders shaking?

Gui sighed, and told me unhappily, "Prince… The longer you take to decide, the deeper you will hurt the two of us."

My heart wavered. _Have I… hurt Zhuo-gēgē?_

"Eh? Both Gui-gēgē and Wicked-gēgē are here? Then is this the real Prince-gēgē?" Doll rushed over, opened her eyes wide and stared at the three of us, a little bit of doubt in her eyes.

"Prince, is that you?" Nan Gong Zui frowned, as if he were making a rather hard decision.

"Baby-faced police!" I immediately said.

Nan Gong Zui let out a bleak expression. "Alright, you really are the real Prince."

"Prince! Sunshine has disappeared!" Fairsky yelled furiously, then couldn't help herself and started sobbing with her head bent low.

I started. _That's right! We came here to ensure Sunshine and Kenshin's safety!_ I hurriedly tried to make sense of the situation. "Sunshine and Kenshin are not in the Central Tower?"

"There is no one in the Central Tower; even the Dictator of Life is not there." Doll said with worry.

_What? Sunshine and Kenshin couldn't have… _I couldn't help sucking in a breath. This was the thingthat I had dreaded the most.

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**Chapter 3 : Danger to the Entire World**

Ding! System notice: Game has experienced a disturbance from the outside world. Please conduct verification.

I paused for a few seconds before finally reacting. _Disturbance from outside?_

"Lolidragon is probably looking for us," Cold Fox muttered to himself after a while.

_Lolidragon is looking for us? Did something happen in the outside world? _Quickly I said toeveryone, "Hurry, let's all go offline and see what's happening outside."

I hastened to take off the helmet, and no sooner had I removed it than I received the sudden shock of seeing Lolidragon's face immediately before my own. The sight of Lolidragon's tearful eyes and trembling mouth caused my own mouth to drop open in surprise. _Lolidragon is… actually crying!_

"Prince! What are we going to do?" Lolidragon couldn't help throwing herself at me. As she proceeded to sob loudly and uncontrollably into my chest, I found myself at a complete loss for what to do.

"What's wrong, Lolidragon? Don't be upset. What happened?" I worriedly asked as I hurriedly hugged her.

"Dian, he—he… sob sob…" Lolidragon was crying so hard that she couldn't utter a single word.

_What in the world has happened? Just what earth-shattering event would cause Lolidragon to break down like this? _I simply could not believe it. Even earlier when Long Dian had said all thoseheartless things, Lolidragon had been able to endure it. _Yet here she is, crying her heart out?_

"Long Dian has threatened the entire world!" said a very commanding voice as Long-bà's imposing figure appeared at the door. With heavy steps, he walked into the room. He no longer had a smile on his face and now wore an anguished yet forceful expression.

"He threatened the entire world?" I blankly repeated, not knowing how to react.

Long-bà's imposing aura vanished, and his face, which had originally been full of vigor, seemed to have suddenly aged by ten years. In an extremely exhausted tone he said, "He used the Dictator of Life to fire a nuclear missile. Even though it was launched into the ocean, its effects spread to the small islands nearby, resulting in thousands of casualties."

"…What?" I nearly couldn't respond. _Thousands of lives gone… just like that?_

"Moreover, he has also demanded that the entire world send him the things he needs. Otherwise, the next nuclear attack won't be as forgiving." Long-bà said, his voice almost pained.

"How has the government chosen to respond?" Nan Gong Zui immediately inquired. "Surely the government won't permit him to do whatever he pleases."

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"That's true, but the government has its hands tied," Long-bà said coldly. "This world is entirely dependent on computers, and since the computers are now being controlled, the government is unable to do anything. All of the immigration administration, all of the radar detection systems, and all of the satellites are under Long Dian's control. The government has no way to track his whereabouts, much less actually capture him."

Long-bà sighed again. "The truth is, even if Dian were to boldly appear before the police in broad daylight, no one would try to arrest him, because according to the government's information, Long Dian's identity and appearance have already been altered."

"What does Long Dian want?" Gui asked. "If we know what he wants, we can speculate why he's doing all of this."

"He requested many things, including various instruments and human resources, most of which are related to the area of biotechnology, but he also wants personnel from the medical field, authorities on neurosurgery, and experts on energy," Long-bà said in a frustrated voice.

"Hm… I'm no expert in those areas." Gui turned to look toward Wicked. "What do you think, Wicked?"

Wicked turned his face toward Gui, but said nothing; instead, he violently punched Gui, who was caught completely off guard, knocking him to the ground. Everyone was overcome by the same sense of utter disbelief.

"Gui!" I quickly rushed to check on Gui. A large, red bruise was forming high on his cheek, and trickles of blood were seeping from the corner of his mouth. My heart ached a little when I saw Gui in such a miserable state.

"Zhuo-gēgē, why did you hit Gui?" I angrily turned on Zhuo-gēgē, but when I saw his red-rimmed eyes, I found myself unable to criticize him. At the same time I realized that I was the reason Zhuo-gēgē had hit Gui…

With some hesitation, I opened my mouth and said, "Zhuo-gēgē…"

Zhuo-gēgē did not look at me, but fixed his glare at Gui, who was lying on the ground, and muttered, "I won't give up Lan."

"That's my line. I definitely won't give up Prince. Even if you break both my arms, I will use my mouth to hang onto her and never let go," Gui replied, smiling an extremely arrogant smile.

I couldn't stop myself from fiercely whacking Gui on the head with my hand. "What the heck are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?"

A complicated look flashed across Zhuo-gēgē's eyes. Upon seeing his sorrowful expression, I felt my heart clench tightly. _By delaying my decision, am I hurting them even more?_

"Zhuo-dàgē, Gui, Sis—let's go take care of Long Dian first!" Yang Ming's serious voice called us back to our current situation. He sounded almost reproachful, as if he were suggesting that we weren't aware of the gravity of the situation. Moreover, Lolidragon, who had been sobbing into my

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chest, had switched positions and was presently tucked away into Yang Ming's chest.

Lolidragon gave a shudder, lifted her tear-stained face, and with an expression akin to shock, gave a shout and jumped away from him as she babbled, "Wasn't I with Prince? How did it become you?"

Yang Ming's serious expression evaporated in an instant and was replaced with an increasingly lewd-looking one as he chortled, "Hehehe…"

Upon seeing such a lascivious expression, Lolidragon couldn't stop herself from throwing a kick at him, which Yang Ming easily dodged. As his smile became lewder, Lolidragon became even angrier, her face turning completely red.

As I watched the two play around, I couldn't help mocking Yang Ming, saying, "Hey! Who's the one fooling around now?"

As soon as he heard this, Yang Ming immediately assumed a look of embarrassment, while Lolidragon's face filled with guilt.

"Alas. As things currently stand, none of you need to help anymore," Long-bà sighed heavily.

Right away Lolidragon loudly protested, "I can't do that! Dad, there's no way I can leave Dian alone."

Hearing this, Long-bà immediately reprimanded, "It's very obvious now that Long Dian is no longer the Dian that we knew. This time he almost killed all of you! Do you think you'll be so fortunate next time?"

"But…" Lolidragon argued in determination.

"Enough, Shui Han!" Long-bà roared. "I forbid you from interfering in this matter anymore. I will have the entire company cooperate to assist the government in arresting Long Dian and bringing him to justice. I will not allow him to harm anyone else."

Upon hearing this, Lolidragon dropped weakly onto a chair, all the strength seemingly gone from her legs.

On the other hand, Long-bà turned to face us and said, "The same goes for all of you. Do not involve yourselves in this matter anymore. Especially you, Prince!" After saying this, he even gave me a severe look.

_Why am I the one being singled out? It's not like I particularly enjoy looking for trouble_…

Nevertheless, under Long-bà's terrifying stare, I couldn't do anything besides meekly answering with an "Oh."

After hearing my reply, Long-bà gave another quiet sigh and walked out of the room.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, turning to look at Lolidragon. _Are we really going to leave_ _things as they are? Based on Lolidragon's personality, there is no way she'd just give up…_

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"Just do as my dad says," Lolidragon said in a most unprecedented turn of events. Seeing our dumbstruck faces she quietly snorted, "Don't be mistaken. My dad looks like he's easy to deal with, but when he's serious, things get really scary. If you don't do as he says, some people will immediately come to drag you away and throw you into an underground cellar where you'll be locked up and never see the light of day for over a year."

"Is it that bad?" I asked blankly. _That can't be true, can it? After all, Long-bà looks so kind…_

Lolidragon rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I've been his daughter for twenty-some years."

"So that's it? We're giving up, just like that?" asked Fairsky in an extremely frigid voice.

We all froze. Then every head turned to look toward Fairsky, whose former look of sorrow had been replaced by an icy cold expression. Even Cold Fox, who had been silently standing by this entire time, had never worn such a terrifying expression before.

Both Lolidragon and I swallowed. Of course we all knew that not knowing where Sunshine was, or even whether he was dead or alive, had thrown Fairsky into a state of distress.

I thought quietly for a bit and then said, "We didn't have enough time to carefully search just now. Why don't we try going into Second Life again? Maybe it's just that they couldn't wait for us, and since there were too many players there, they left Central Tower, and that's why we couldn't find them."

"Really?" Fairsky's original look of sorrow finally broke through her icy expression.

Both Lolidragon and I hurriedly nodded our heads. No one wanted to see that expression on Fairsky again, the one that looked as though she had just walked right out of a freezer.

"Let's hurry up and log in then." Before Fairsky had even finished speaking she had already put on her helmet, lain down, and appeared as though she had already entered the game.

"Man, if anything has actually happened to Sunshine, I don't want to imagine how Fairsky will respond," Lolidragon said worriedly.

"Fairsky would probably turn into a thunderous sky…" _No, a thunderous sky wouldn't be all that_ _bad… I'm just afraid that the Ice Age would repeat itself…_

"Stop joking around, Prince. Let's hurry up and go take a look." Lolidragon smacked me on the head, even as she forced herself to smile. "Even though we can't do anything about Long Dian, we need to at least save Sunshine and Kenshin and bring them back. After all, it was completely my fault that we weren't able to download them in time."

"Lolidragon…" I hadn't known that Lolidragon felt this way. I couldn't help wanting to open my mouth and urge her not to blame herself, to tell her that there was no way anyone could have known things would turn out like this.

However, before I had the chance to say anything, Lolidragon swiftly put on her helmet, and her haste caused to me suspect that she had done it on purpose… Oh well, I knew very well that with

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Lolidragon's personality, I couldn't persuade her out of her thoughts. _Perhaps Yang Ming would be_ _able to? _After all, every time Lolidragon fell into one of her rare moments of sadness, Yang Mingespecially loved to rile her up, and in the end Lolidragon would toss all of her sadness out the window and proceed to try to kill him…

I turned my head to look, and as expected, Yang Ming had already put on his helmet. It looked like my idiot brother was pretty serious this time.

"Let's also go find Sunshine and Kenshin!" I turned to look at the others, at the same time putting a helmet on my own head, thus entering Second Life once again.

I entered the game, and the second I opened my eyes… I realized that something weird was going on. _Why are there so many people staring so intently at me?_ It was only at this point that I discovered that I was actually surrounded by a massive crowd of legions upon legions of people.

"That's the real Prince," "The Blood Elf has logged on," "It's about time! Waiting here wasn't a complete waste of time, after all." A rush of excited chatter escaped from the surrounding crowd, which included a number of people who had the same appearance as me.

_Eh? What kind of situation is this? _I stammered in incomprehension, "H-How do you guys knowthat I'm Prince?"

"Of course we'd know! The demon bard and the emotionless swordsman have both appeared, so of course everyone knows that you're the real Prince."

_Demon bard? Emotionless swordsman? What are they talking about… _I could guess that the formerprobably referred to Gui, since there weren't that many bards of the demon race… but what the heck was an emotionless swordsman? Obviously there was only me, Gui, and… Wicked?

_So Wicked is the emotionless swordsman? Alright, I admit that the title is rather fitting._

"Prince, why are there so many people?" At this point, the "demon bard" also appeared, looking with astonishment at the surrounding crowds of people.

As befitting his title of the "emotionless swordsman," Wicked, for his part, furrowed his brow, but said nothing.

"Wow, all three of them look so handsome," some girl exclaimed longingly, and then swallowed her saliva. "I really want to kiss them."

As soon as I heard the words "really want to kiss," I was suddenly struck by an extremely uneasy feeling… as though if we didn't flee now, that phrase would very quickly become a reality…

"Crap! Wicked, Gui, let's run for it!" I shouted as I prepared to use my Ultimate Run-for-My-Life-Qing-Gong-Technique. But at that precise moment, I tripped over my legs and, in a spread-eagle position, kissed the ground.

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Seeing my situation, both Wicked and Gui tried to rush over to save me, but unfortunately their speed wasn't as fast as it was before, and they could only watch helplessly as I performed the act of prostrating myself for all to see.

The whole scene had fallen silent, and I could even clearly hear the sound of saliva dripping from some person's widely gaping mouth. I slowly crawled up, and holding back my tears I gave a muffled groan. "It hurts!

"Why did I fall?" I asked, slightly vexed. At this rate, my fame for my military prowess as well as my prestige were sure to disappear down the drain.

"Prince, you're only at level one. You can't use qing gong anymore." Wicked softly reminded me.

_That's right! _No wonder I had fallen in such in unsightly manner. My skills and levels haddisappeared without a trace the second I'd created a new character from scratch. _Sigh, all my levels_ _and skills, gone… Oh well, those can all be regained through training._

"Forget about that for now. Let's hurry and go look for Sunshine and Kenshin," I hurriedly said to the other two.

"Prince, maybe you…" Gui started hesitantly, then broke off.

"What?" I asked, frowning.

Gui seemed to make up his mind, and in one breath he said, "Shouldn't we also be looking for Meatbun and Fire Phoenix?"

_Meatbun… my Meatbun! Oh my goodness, I actually completely forgot that as soon as my character disappeared, Meatbun would become a wild meat bun. What should I do? _Panicking, Iwailed, "Oh no! I don't even know where Meatbun is. What if he's being bullied by players and NPCs? Maybe he's already been mistaken for a regular meat bun and has been eaten! Sob sob sob! Meatbun, Mommy's so sorry."

"Meatbun! That bun with a pair of eyes? So that was your bun!" The people around me murmured, fuming with anger.

_A bun with a pair of eyes… besides my meat bun, there can't be anything else with this distinctive trait. _I hastily asked, "Yes, that's right, have you seen my Meatbun?"

"Of course we have! That gluttonous scoundrel of a meat bun and that despotic phoenix have been tyrannizing Flower City. They have been stealing food from players one day, and flooding the place the next. Last time all of the hair on my body was burned to a crisp by that phoenix."

_This… it sounds like Meatbun and Fire Phoenix are doing pretty well for themselves! *Sweat_

"I wonder if Meatbun would still be willing to be my pet?" I couldn't help being a little worried. _He_ _would, wouldn't he?_

"Mama!" Meatbun's cheerful shout could suddenly be heard.

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I felt a bit dazed. I seemed to have heard Meatbun's voice, calling for me. _Or is it that I was so_ _worried, I imagined it? _I looked left and right, hoping to see that white, chubby figure, but I didn'tsee anything.

Bang! My head was suddenly dealt a heavy blow, and while my head spun and my vision blurred I heard…

System notice: You have been attacked by Meatbun, -30 HP.

_My god! _I was only level one, and had no more than some ten drops of blood. No wonder myswollen head felt as though it were on the verge of exploding.

"Oh my god, it's Meatbun! Everyone run!" A flurry of movement embroiled the surrounding crowd, and even the girl who had expressed a desire to kiss me gathered up her skirts and in the blink of an eye fled many meters away.

I stood quite still, opened my mouth, spat out a lot of blood, and then spoke. When I did, my voice sounded so feeble that I suspected that I would soon turn into a pillar of light and check back at the rebirth point. "Meatbun… don't do that again, you'll commit matricide…"

"Matricide? Meat- bunbun doesn't know what Mama's talking about," Meatbun said, very happily bouncing onto my shoulder.

System notice: You have been attacked by Meatbun, -10 HP.

I violently spat out another mouthful of blood as I finally understood that, for a level one player facing a pet over level fifty, even the slightest touch could be lethal!

"Meatbun, don't move, please, _please_ don't move anymore," I begged, my face deathly pale. At this rate, I was really going to kick the bucket.

"Where did Mama go? Meat- bunbun missed Mama so much!" As Meatbun talked, it began to bawl and howl uncontrollably, and its lovable yet loathsome head kept burrowing itself into my chest…

System notice: You have been attacked by Meatbun, -50 HP, you have died.

"…" I looked at the huge cavity that Meatbun had burrowed into my chest, at a complete loss for words. Meanwhile, Meatbun actually bounced out of the bloody hole, its cute face wearing a questioning look.

"Gui, be careful not to follow me to the rebirth point," I helplessly warned the other pet master, even though I had the feeling that Gui would soon follow in my footsteps.

I instantly became a pillar of light. I didn't know where the rebirth point in Flower City was, and wondered whether I should wait there for Gui and Wicked, or look for them myself… forget it. Given the degree to which I was directionally challenged, even after Fairsky had found Sunshine and the two had finished throwing their wedding ceremony, I still wouldn't have found the other two.

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As soon as I landed on the ground, I was overcome by a wave of nausea, and I doubled over vomiting, though nothing came out. Once the nauseous feeling that always followed death passed, I looked up and saw a person, someone who could not possibly be here, yet was actually before me right now… Rather I should say, it wasn't a person.

_The Dictator of Life! _I was a hundred percent certain that it was the Dictator of Life and not LongDian, even though he possessed an identical appearance. I could not be mistaken about that pair of eyes that revealed a sorrowful resignation to fate.

"Y-You…" I was so shocked that I couldn't even speak properly. _Why is the Dictator of Life here?_

_Huh? Where is this place, anyway? _I glanced left and right. This wasn't the rebirth point, but apalace, a gray- colored, magnificent palace. Beneath my feet lay a gigantic magic portal, and behind the Dictator of Life was a very large throne. Surrounding us were countless giant pillars, each so wide it would have taken two people to completely wrap their arms around any of them.

"Meat-bunbun is so muddle-headed, as usual," the Dictator of Life said with a slight smile. "As I expected, he really did end up killing you."

My heart trembled as I asked, "Did you order Meatbun to come kill me?"

"Do you believe that Meat-bunbun would do such a thing? Intentionally kill you?" A trace of grief came over the Dictator of Life's face.

I tilted my head to the side, thinking. "No, I don't." There was no way Meatbun would kill me intentionally, because… just having to explain to Meatbun what the word "kill" meant was enough to give anyone a major headache. It would have been faster to find some other NPC to come hack me to pieces.

The Dictator of Life broke into a smile, an incomparably brilliant smile. It was the most genuine one I'd seen since meeting him.

I nearly drooled at the sight. The Dictator of Life was a peerless super hottie after all. I couldn't resist telling him, "You should smile more often. It's such a waste of that face if you don't smile."

The Dictator of Life blinked, and then asked, like a child, "Do I look nice when I smile?"

"Yep! I'd say even super idols can't compare!" I praised him very directly. With beautiful guys, I was always very generous with giving the praise that was due… ah, with the exception of that idiot brother of mine. If I told him he was handsome to his face, not only would I die of revulsion, Yang Ming himself would promptly take me to visit the doctor to see if something had gone wrong with my brain.

"Then, do you like my appearance?" asked the Dictator of Life, a little hesitantly.

I vigorously nodded my head, but then I suddenly remembered that the Dictator of Life was also one of my admirers. Thinking of this, my head started hurting again. _Gui and Zhuo-gēgē are_ _already giving me enough trouble to deal with, and now there is the Dictator of Life to add into the mix! Heavens, just when did my charisma become so irresistible?_

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"You don't like it?" the Dictator of Life asked, suddenly looking very discouraged.

"No, that's not it. Appearances aren't that important," I vaguely said. (Who? Who says I'm lying?)

"Wait a sec-" I suddenly wondered what in the world I was doing. _Here I am, discussing_ _appearances and looks with the Dictator of Life when there are clearly more important matters at hand. There is the question of Sunshine and Kenshin's whereabouts, not to mention the issue regarding Long Dian._

I hurriedly asked, "What happened to Sunshine and Kenshin? And just where is this place?"

"I have already sent Kenshin and Sunshine to find your comrades, and this is my real residence, my palace," the Dictator of Life answered simply.

Upon hearing that Kenshin and Sunshine were both alright, I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief; at least this meant that I wouldn't have to worry about them anymore. However, I would never have guessed that after dying this time, I would neither go up to heaven nor descend into hell, but rather end up in the residence of the Dictator of Life. This was just as well, because I could use this chance to resolve the matter concerning Long Dian. If I could persuade the Dictator of Life to stop helping Long Dian, then everything would be solved.

_Yet, how am I to convince the Dictator of Life to stop helping Long Dian, who is almost like a father to him? Is it possible that I would have to resort to using my charm and beauty to seduce him? _Istruggled with myself for a bit, but decided that I didn't want to use this method after all. Thus, I could only cautiously ask, "Dictator of Life, can you stop helping Long Dian? Everything he's doing is wrong."

"I cannot disobey Father," the Dictator of Life told me plainly upon hearing my request.

I immediately countered, "But you did disobey him when you refused to return to his side, didn't you?"

"The situation was different," the Dictator of Life said calmly. "At that time, Father was utterly unprepared for my rebellion because he had not imagined that I would revolt. Things are different now. He has complete control over me, and if he gives me an order, even if it is an order to kill you, I would do it without the slightest hesitation."

I found myself at a loss for words. This time, even my last hope was gone. I forcefully asked, "Then how did you leave Long Dian to come here?"

"I didn't actually leave Father," the Dictator of Life explained. "I am not a human, whose existence is limited to a single place. For an AI, simultaneously appearing in countless locations is a very simple task."

"Of course I know that! How big of an idiot do you take me for?" A bit dissatisfied I retorted, "I'm just doubtful that Long Dian would let you come here."

Hearing my question, the Dictator of Life stopped abruptly, and remained silent for a very, very long time… until I suddenly realized that he had come here in secret. Considering things in this

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light, he still had some way to disobey Long Dian.

"Father is very pitiful," the Dictator of Life finally said.

When I heard this, I was filled with extreme rage. _How can a scumbag who fired a nuclear weapon_ _and killed thousands of people be called pitiful_? I icily said, "That scumbag ought to die. The word'pitiful' has nothing to do with him."

"Father only treasures too much the happiness he worked so hard to obtain," the Dictator of Life said serenely.

Even though I knew I shouldn't sympathize with that scoundrel Long Dian, I still couldn't keep myself from asking, "Just what happened to Long Dian? Why's he threatening the world? What's he requesting those strange items and people for?"

"Ahh…" the Dictator of Life gave a deep sigh. "Father only wants to keep on living, to remain with the ones he loves forever. If it was me, I might have done the same thing, if it meant that I could remain by your side forever."

Even though I already knew the Dictator of Life's feelings for me, I couldn't keep my face from turning red upon hearing such a direct confession. In an attempt to change the subject, I said, "Isn't Long Dian doing fine? I don't see how his life is in any danger."

"Terminal illness!" stated the Dictator of Life directly.

_Terminal illness… _I remained silent for a very long time and recalled Long Dian's figure from whenI had met him before… It was true, his condition had looked quite terrible, as though he had fallen very ill… _Why haven't I thought of it before?_

"Father, he… originally he had only wanted to live within Second Life, but that plan completely failed," the Dictator of Life said with regret.

"Now, there's only one way left." A sorrowful smile appeared on the Dictator of Life's face. "Father will merge together with me. This way, not only can he continue living and control the entire internet world, but he can also create an artificial body that can exist in the real world.

"Prince…" the Dictator of Life gently called me.

"Huh?" I was only aware of a sense of dizziness that had enveloped my head, which felt very swollen. _This matter is simply too complex; Long Dian actually wants to merge together with the_ _Dictator of Life?_

"When I have merged with Father, in order for there not to be a conflict between two people's consciousnesses, I will let go of my consciousness. So, I came here to say goodbye to you, Prince," the Dictator of Life said with a gentle smile.

"Also, I want to thank you," the Dictator of Life continued in a light voice. "Thank you for letting me understand what love is."

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_Why does someone always have to sacrifice themselves? _I simply could not understand._ Why?_

The Dictator of Life actually reached out his hand, and wiped away the tears on my face. "Don't cry, Prince. Don't worry, Father has promised me that once the plan to merge and produce a body has been completed, he won't hurt anyone else anymore."

"He has already hurt too many people," I said hoarsely.

"There won't be any more casualties. Rest assured, I will do everything I can to not hurt anyone." As he gave me his word, the Dictator of Life gave me a painfully loving look, as though he was concerned that I was still worried.

"Liar!" I angrily shouted. "At the very least, you will get hurt. You will die."

At this, the Dictator of Life actually smiled happily. "Are you worried for me?"

I forcefully wiped away my tears as I yelled, "Obviously!"

Sounding very content, the Dictator of Life sighed, "That is good enough for me."

Upon hearing this, I nearly went mad. _Even though the Dictator of Life has a very high level of_ _comprehension and intelligence, in the end, this guy is no different from Meatbun!_

"Then, will… will you remember me forever, Prince?" There was a look close to longing in his eyes.

"I won't!" I coldly replied. Upon hearing my answer, the Dictator of Life froze at once, as if he had been struck by lightning.

"If you dare to go and die, I swear that I will forget about you completely! You hear me?" I threatened the Dictator of Life, glaring at him.

After remaining still for a while, the Dictator of Life suddenly kissed me lightly on my forehead. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, you have to live—" Before I could finish speaking, everything before my eyes began to turn fuzzy. The throne, the palace, and the figure of the Dictator of Life all faded away, and the only thing that remained vivid was the bright smile that rested on the Dictator of Life's face.

"Prince? Prince? Wake up…"

I rubbed my eyes. _What just happened? Is that the Dictator of Life calling me?_ But when I opened my eyes, it was Gui's handsome face that materialized before me.

"Huh? Gui, why are you here? Were you also brought here by the Dictator of Life?" I asked stupidly, even though I didn't know why the Dictator of Life would bring him here. Strictly

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speaking, Gui was his love rival, after all.

Gui paused. "The Dictator of Life? Prince, what are you talking about? I don't understand anything you're saying."

Upon hearing Gui's response, I also stopped abruptly. Right then, I suddenly discovered that the surrounding scenery looked very strange. I was no longer in that gray palace, but in a most ordinary-looking rebirth point, where there couldn't possibly be any trace of the Dictator of Life.

"I was definitely in the Dictator of Life's palace just now," I insisted, not comprehending the situation.

"Prince, did you fall asleep? After you were accidentally killed by Meatbun, I was also burned to death by Fire Phoenix. When I was reborn, I saw you lying here." Gui looked at me with some concern.

_I fell asleep? Could it be that it was all a dream? _I couldn't help but begin to wonder if my sleepingskills were so amazing that I was able to sleep soundly to the point of dreaming even within the game, but the dream… had felt a bit too real.

"Was it really a dream?" I furrowed my brow, thinking hard. _But that smile on the Dictator of Life's_ _face was so genuine; it didn't look anything like a dream._

"Prince… were you crying?" Gui asked, suddenly staring at me. He lifted my chin up, and looked over my face carefully. "And someone even wiped away your tears for you."

_Gui…Your observational skills are a little too much, don't you think? You even knew that someone wiped my tears away for me? _It looked like if I married Gui, I definitely wouldn't be able get awaywith sneaking around behind his back… _Bah! What am I thinking? I'm not even married yet and_ _already I was planning on sneaking around…_

"Then I definitely wasn't dreaming. The one who wiped my tears away was the Dictator of Life," I answered with utmost certainty. "Oh yeah, Gui, the Dictator of Life told me a lot of things. Help me think of a solution."

"Okay." Gui did not look entirely convinced, but still he obediently listened.

Immediately I narrated in full detail everything that had happened, and then hurriedly asked Gui, "Is there any way that the Dictator of Life doesn't have to die?"

After hearing everything I said, Gui stood silently for a moment, his brow furrowed in very deep thought. "Terminal illness… so Long Dian can only survive by merging with the Dictator of Life?

"The way things currently stand, the most obvious decision is to sacrifice either Long Dian or the Dictator of Life," Gui analyzed critically. "Moreover, from my point of view, sacrificing the Dictator of Life is for the best. That way, everything will be resolved even if we don't do anything. And what is more… after all is said and done, the Dictator of Life is not really a human being."

"Sacrificing the Dictator of Life… is for the best?" Even though I knew that Gui could not possibly

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have erred in his judgment, I couldn't help asking again, "Does there have to be a sacrifice?"

Gui looked deeply into my eyes and said with purpose, "Prince, there are many things that cannot be resolved perfectly. If you forcefully insist on a perfect resolution, you may lose everything."

"Is that the way it has to be?" _But is the Dictator of Life… really going to be sacrificed like this?_

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**Chapter 4 : Cold Fox's Terrifying Special Training**

"Thank you, Prince. Thank you for letting me understand what love is."

I suddenly woke up, only to find my face covered in tears and that phrase resounding incessantly in my mind…

_Dictator of Life…._

After the day I saw the Dictator of Life, we also encountered Fairsky and the rest. Sunshine and Kenshin had really come back, proving that the things that had happened that day weren't the result of becoming muddleheaded from oversleeping and dreaming everything! They were real! The Dictator of Life really had come to say his farewells.

After Lolidragon heard the news that Long Dian had an incurable disease and needed to combine with the Dictator of Life in order to live, she was stupefied and had no idea what to do.

Everyone told me that not doing anything and letting them combine would be the best method… But I just couldn't forget the content smile the Dictator of Life had shown just because of a few words of mine.

_Is sacrificing the Dictator of Life… really the best way to do this? _If the Dictator of Life were anactual human being, perhaps everyone wouldn't have made such a decision… However, to me, he was a real human being. It was similar to how Fairsky felt that Sunshine was definitely not an NPC.

"Sis! You overslept again! What about my breakfast…" Yang Ming kicked open the door, only to freeze upon seeing the scene before him. He paused for a long time before finally saying, "Sis… Even if you haven't slept enough, you don't need to cry like that, right? I can always help you tell Gui that you don't want to get out of bed to go to class. I bet he wouldn't dare flunk you anyway…"

_Shut up! _I immediately used all my strength to throw my pillow at him. As I heard his cry of agony,I felt immensely pleased. Twitching my mouth, I said, "I'm sad. Sad! Do you understand?"

"Sad about what?" Yang Ming replied as he lazily remained on the floor, not bothering to get back up.

I hesitatingly asked Yang Ming, "Do you think… the Dictator of Life should really be sacrificed?"

"There is no one in this world who should be sacrificed!" Yang Ming said in all seriousness.

"But, if we don't sacrifice the Dictator of Life, we will need to sacrifice Long Dian." I stared at Yang Ming. "And you know that Long Dian is really important family to Lolidragon. If Long Dian were to die, Lolidragon would definitely be really heartbroken."

"I know!" Yang Ming sighed, "But no one should be sacrificed. If Long Dian died, my future wife Lolidragon would be deeply hurt. However, if the Dictator of Life died, my sis would feel remorse and regret toward him for the rest of her life."

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Yang Ming exaggeratedly held his head in indecision. "This is horrible! It really is hard to choose between family and love."

_What and what? What has this got to do with family and love_… My bro's ability to speakirresponsibly at any time had really grown day-by-day. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him exaggeratedly.

"Sis, I think you still have a week to think about it properly," said Yang Ming, suddenly raising his head.

"One week?" _I don't understand, why one week?_

Yang Ming softly uttered, "The government has agreed to Long Dian's conditions. They have handed over the people he wants and the equipment he needs. According to their estimations, making an artificial body might only take two weeks. The fusion plan will probably start after that."

"I need to go save him!" I stood up abruptly.

Hearing this, Yang Ming nearly fell to the floor again. He rubbed his nose and said, "You sure decided quickly when you were so indecisive just now."

"That was then. Right now, there isn't any time for hesitation!" I desperately shouted.

"Even if you've decided to try, you still won't be able to save him. Even the government can't handle Long Dian, so what could you possibly do?" Yang Ming coldly broke my confidence apart.

"Regardless, I have to go save him! Otherwise, I will regret it for the rest of my life!" I said with no doubt in my mind. I definitely couldn't wait here blindly. If I did, I would definitely be tortured for the rest of my life by my conscience.

Yang Ming guffawed, "You really are my sis. I knew you would definitely go to save him.

"Follow me." Once again, Yang Ming revealed an enigmatic smile, muddling my mind and making me unable to guess his intentions. _Where does he want me to follow him to?_

"However!" Yang Ming spun the keys to the hover bike around his finger, "I'm driving this time."

Although I didn't know what Yang Ming was trying to do, I still climbed onto the back seat of the bike. As we sped off, I became more and more confused. "Where are we going? Don't we need to go to class?"

"Gui helped us take leave," Yang Ming replied without turning his head.

_What? Take leave? _I furrowed my brows. In addition, the route that Yang Ming was driving throughwas a route that I was extremely familiar with. After all, I had speeded on this very road last time in order to arrive at the transmission station to go to Lolidragon's. _Could it be that we're going to_ _Second Life's main headquarters right now?_

Not long after, my speculations were confirmed. Yang Ming rode into the transmission station and

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drove all the way to Second Life's main headquarters. After he parked, Yang Ming led me into the company silently, not explaining a single thing.

After going through many twists and turns, we finally made it to a steel door.

At that moment, Yang Ming gestured for me to open the door and enter.

I was completely and utterly baffled about the entire situation, but I still put my hands on the door's handle. I put in some strength and pushed open the door…

"Ah, you finally came. I thought you had changed and decided to be an obedient and compliant girl," said Lolidragon, who was wearing a set of light armor, as she smiled at me.

_It's not just Lolidragon, everyone else…._

I called out everyone's names, dumbfounded, "Wolf-dàgē, Yulian-dàsăo, Doll, Gui and Wicked, Nan Gong Zui, Phoenix, Fairsky and also Cold Fox?"

"Why do you always like putting my name along with this guy's?" muttered Gui, dissatisfied. Wicked also revealed a look of disdain toward Gui.

"What is…everyone doing here?" My mind was filled with confusion. _What exactly is going on_ _here? Is it possible that everyone has gathered together for a Second Life get-together?_

"Waiting for you," everyone said in unison.

"Waiting for me?" This reply made me even more confused. I guarantee that my eyes right then definitely looked exactly like Meat-bunbun's whenever he says, "Mama, Meat-bunbun doesn't understand."

"Even if we don't use our brains and merely use a bone in our spines to think about it, we would know that it's impossible for you to simply sacrifice the Dictator of Life." Lolidragon revealed an expression that said "I saw through you ages ago."

"If we were to leave you to do everything yourself, we wouldn't know what accidents you would get into. Therefore, we thought, why don't we try to make well-made, foolproof preparations and greatly increase the success rate instead?" Yang Ming light-heartedly smiled.

"But… Everyone said that it would be better to just leave it," I replied a bit guiltily. _How come_ _everyone understands me so well? The past few days, even I myself still doubted whether I should go or not, but everyone already knew that I would definitely go._

"It's true that if we don't do anything, it would probably bring about the best results since only the Dictator of Life would be sacrificed… However, I understand and know that things are not that simple." Lolidragon's eyes revealed her determination. "Long Dian… he just hasn't figured it out yet. He wants to stay beside Dad and me but he has forgotten that if he were to combine with the Dictator of Life, he would be immortal. Whereas, the two of us would only have a life expectancy of, at most, two hundred years."

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Lolidragon stopped for a moment. Then, she slowly said, "At that time, how would he cope with his eternal life and endless solitude?"

"Actually, it wouldn't take that long," Yang Ming dimly said. "A life bought with the sacrifice of others would definitely bring sorrow. And Long Dian has already sacrificed the lives of over a thousand people. He has already stepped onto a path of no return on which he will never be able to obtain happiness."

"That's why we're all here," said Wolf-dàgē as his hearty laughter broke the dark and gloomy atmosphere. "It's to save the Dictator of Life and Long Dian as well!"

I finally understood everything. Earlier, although everyone said that allowing Long Dian to merge with the Dictator of Life would be the best outcome, in reality, everyone doubted like me and thought, "Is this really for the best?"

And right now, with the support of my teammates, I could finally freely scream, "No it isn't! That definitely isn't the best outcome!"

"Everyone…is willing to go stop Long Dian and save the Dictator of Life?" I asked with a smile on my face.

"Everyone here agrees to that," Lolidragon lightly smiled. "After all, they came to this conclusion much faster than you."

Then, once again, Lolidragon's expression turned stern. "However, this time's operation will be severely dangerous. There is a high possibility that we will encounter even stronger robots than the one we ran into before. Therefore, the only ones who can go to save the Dictator of Life are the ones that can pass the test."

Lolidragon walked toward a gigantic machine that had a similar shape to a birdcage. It had a circular pedestal and a clear outer shell wrapped around it. It looked like one of those virtual combat games that I'd seen in electrically controlled amusement parks, except this one was much, much larger.

"This is a battle simulator that the military uses to train their soldiers' combative abilities. Fighting inside here is exactly the same as fighting in the real world and, of course, the degree of pain felt can be manually controlled and adjusted. But all of you should be prepared for more than that. In my case, I will definitely set the pain level at one hundred percent," Lolidragon said with no leniency.

"All of you will have to become familiar with the equipment we used in the previous battle within two weeks. In addition, you will have to fight using this equipment in the simulator. Only those who achieve level B are allowed to participate in the actual operation," Lolidragon strictly said. "Anyone who does not reach level B or higher, even if it is you, Prince, will not be allowed to go."

Everyone revealed an expression of determination to achieve this no matter what. As for me, it was obvious that I definitely wouldn't allow myself to fail!

"Everyone, work hard!" Lolidragon said, sighing. " Level B isn't something normal people can

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achieve. However, my dad insisted that unless we reach level B, he won't allow us to leave this room."

Beep Beep Beep , your level is A, your level is A

… I stood, my mouth agape, staring at the simulator. I was positive that the sound had come from the simulator… _Who was it? Who is at level A without even going through any training…_

"Cold Fox?" said Lolidragon, amazed, as she looked at the shadow inside the simulator. Even more frightening was that Cold Fox was only holding a small knife similar to letter-openers and had no other gear at all!

"A… How could that be possible? Even I could only reach level B. A is a level that only elite military personnel can achieve…" said Nan Gong Zui, dumbstruck as a policeman familiar with the machine.

_It seems that the most terrifying terrorist is actually the student wearing a high school uniform!_

Cold Fox turned around and scanned everyone with his eyes. Upon seeing his cold eyes, we started to suspect whether Cold Fox's face had actually appeared on the ten most wanted criminals list before.

"In these two weeks, allow me to train you guys." As usual, Cold Fox was a man of few words. However, these few words were enough to make our hearts tighten at the thought.

And in reality, although this guy might not actually be on the ten most wanted criminals list, his cold-bloodedness could definitely match up to that of the ten most wanted criminals in the world.

"Wake up at four every day and run fifty laps around the room. The women, run thirty laps."

_What? Run fifty laps around the room? This room isn't my bedroom man, not to mention, this can't even be called a room. This is a training ground and considering Second Life's financial status, how big do you guys think this training ground is? It's definitely no smaller than a school's sports field!_

Everyone's faces paled. People these days lack exercise and thus running fifty laps was definitely something outside of our imagination.

Cold Fox coldly shot a glance at me, "Besides Prince. You have to run fifty laps."

_Could he be implying that I don't count as a woman? _I suddenly had an urge to strangle the man infront of me to death.

"Afterwards, wear your protective gear and we will do different types of battle training. Then it will be one versus one matches." After speaking up to this point, Cold Fox once again icily shot a glance at me for some unknown reason. "Your opponent will be me."

I suddenly felt uneasy. _Can it be that I accidentally angered Cold Fox because of being Kenshin's_ _master?_

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In the following two weeks, I felt that the sweat on my back never ceased to flow. If the training grounds had a bed, I definitely would have crashed on it and then slept for a week without waking up at all.

The fifty laps every morning were already torturous enough. Near the end, my legs would stop responding to me. Every time I wanted to just forget about everything, stop, and shout "I don't want to do this anymore," the Dictator of Life's smile and his damn "thank you" would appear before me.

"If running can save him, then running one hundred laps or even one thousand laps would be worth it." It was because of these words that I was able to survive through the fifty laps on the first day.

After I finished running, my face was already ghostly pale to the point that both Gui and Wicked furrowed their eyebrows at me. Seeing their expressions, I knew that they really wanted to tell me to give up and stop running, but they also knew that I wouldn't give up.

However, I deeply believed that Gui's complexion was much more terrible than mine. As I caught my breath, I couldn't help but say to Gui, "Gui, if you really can't do it, then don't force yourself. Look at your face, it looks so horrible!"

Gui actually revealed a weak smile, "Prince doesn't look so good either, so why aren't _you_ giving up?"

"Because I need to save the Dictator of Life…" I suddenly realized that I was doing this in order to save the Dictator of Life and Gui was doing this for me. This determination wasn't something anyone could break.

Meanwhile, Wicked didn't say anything. Clearly, his physical strength was extremely good. It was possible that running was basically his daily exercise, merely that fifty laps may just be a little more than usual.

I patted Gui's back, encouraging him. Since I knew that he wouldn't give up, there was no need to give him the cold shoulder to try and force him to give up. Judging from the past, giving him the cold shoulder would be nothing; even if I were to bash him up, he still wouldn't give up.

I walked to Zhuo-gēgē's side. Although Zhuo-gēgē didn't show any expression, I knew that he wasn't happy and that he was, in fact, extremely unhappy. I couldn't help but open my mouth and say, "Zhuo-gēgē, keep on going!"

At first, Zhuo-gēgē was shocked, but then he nodded and smiled my way.

I finally felt relieved and began happily humming a song while putting on the gear that Lolidragon had meticulously prepared.

"Sis, you shouldn't do that!" said Yang Ming as he lazily leaned against a wall, evidently having finished equipping his gear a long time ago. "Don't give hope to two men at the same time. It could cause dire consequences in the future."

"I just don't want to hurt either of them," I said, feeling a bit guilty.

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"Do you remember what I said before? If you try to force a perfect resolution, you will likely lose everything," Yang Ming said profoundly.

_Has Yang Ming recently been able to speak more like a human? _I replied a bit miserably, "I know.No matter what, after this, I will give them both an answer."

Suddenly, Yang Ming put his hand on my shoulder. "Sis, choose Gui!"

I was stunned. "Do you think Gui is better?"

"Yeah." Yang Ming tightened his fist and passionately said, "I really like Zhuo-dàgē as well, but if Professor Min Gui Wen were to be my brother-in-law, it would definitely guarantee that I will be able to graduate from university. For my graduation certificate, for this graduation certificate that will help me find a job, for this job that will allow me marry Lolidragon, and for the children that will carry on the Feng family line, you should choose him, Sis!"

_This guy…._

_Bam! _A power glove ruthlessly hit my bro's precious little thing, also known as my bro's littlewilly 1. Then, as my bro tragically howled, Lolidragon came and dragged him away. Lolidragon continued cynically, "With this, you don't need to carry on the Feng family line anymore, so just let Prince choose at her own pace!"

"Still have energy to talk?" Suddenly, Cold Fox revealed a smile we had never seen before. However, from that point onwards, no one wanted to see that smile ever again, especially afterwards when he dealt with us so brutally and inhumanly…

"Individually pick a sword or a gun as your weapon," Cold Fox dictated. "Those who choose swords, go to the test performance machine and practice swinging the sword five thousand times. Only swings with a power above one hundred fifty will count. Those who choose guns, go to the shooting range and practice. You must hit bull's eye at least five hundred times."

After his speech, everyone chose their own weapons while Cold Fox once again shot a glance at me. "Come here!"

_Sob… Why is this happening again? I want to sue Cold Fox for discriminating against me!_

"This is your weapon." Cold Fox threw a light sword at me… No, this weapon was different from other light swords. _The subtle curve of the blade's shape… a dao's shape? This is a dao! In_ _addition, it is exactly the same as my Black Dao! (Of course, this had a white luster instead as it was impossible for it to be black.)_

I raised the lightsaber 2. It felt so smooth and light in my hands, exactly like my good partner Black

**"...also known as my bro's little willy...": **Literally, Lan says, "...also known as my little bro's little bro." InChinese, "little brother" can be used as a euphemism for the same as willy.

**"lightsaber": **At first, we were going to call light swords this, but then we decided that a dao is much more like alightsaber than swords are. Light daos will be called lightsabers in this translation. Whenever Lan's dao is not prefixed by "light," we will still be calling it a dao, but when it is prefixed by light, it will be known as a lightsaber.

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Dao. It felt precisely the same.

"I know you are best at using the dao," said Cold Fox simply.

"Thanks!" I said from the bottom of my heart. _You know, Cold Fox isn't as cold as he appears. On_ _the contrary, he's actually very considerate and attentive._

"Go practice swinging!" ordered Cold Fox simply. However, he stopped for a moment and then continued, "Prince, you have a lot of potential. I could tell from Second Life. That game is one that is real beyond imagination, which is also why I decided to play it.

"Magic and abilities may not be possible in real life; however, if you are capable of exerting your fighting skills in the game, then you are capable of them in reality." After Cold Fox finished his unprecedented long speech, he reverted back to the silent and wordless him as he quietly supervised everyone's practice.

"Thank you Cold Fox. Really, thank you," I softly murmured, completely understanding that under Cold Fox's cold appearance was an extremely gentle and caring person.

"Bastard Cold Fox, idiot Cold Fox, you have no blood, no tears, no heart and no liver… Huff, huff…" I said while quietly cursing him in my mind and panting for breath. _Stupid Cold Fox,_ _treating us like this._

I finally understood what "swing the blade five thousand times with each swing having a power of over one hundred fifty" finally meant. Listening to what I was supposed to do as an idea didn't sound like very much, but once the phrase became an action, it was really something that could kill me. Especially when the one completing these actions was myself, it really… made my whole body feel like jelly and my spine tingle with pain to the point where I couldn't even pick up chopsticks anymore… That was my current situation.

"Eyes forward and straighten up your back. Your upper body is slouching and you're swinging your blade too flimsily. Do you think Long Dian is using a few dogs to obstruct you?" Cold Fox said as he ruthlessly smacked his bamboo sword on my slightly slumped back, making my teeth clench in pain right then and there.

I hurriedly straightened up my back, focused my eyes on the swinging at hand, not even squinting at any possible distraction, and shouted continuously every time I brandished my blade. It was only then that Cold Fox slightly nodded his head in approval and walked over to see how the others were doing.

After much difficulty in completing the five thousand swings, I was as tired as a dog and sprawled across the floor. It felt like only a fleeting moment had passed and I hadn't even rested enough when Cold Fox's frosty voice sounded once again, "You've rested enough! Get up! Spar with me."

_We can finally spar! _The moment this word entered into the language center of my brain, Iimmediately jumped up. My eyes couldn't help but sparkle and shine as I looked toward Cold Fox.

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It didn't matter whether it was the thought of fighting against the third best player from the game or the fact that I would be sparring against an opponent in real life that possessed the capabilities of an A level soldier in the military simulation machine; both of these ideas rendered me equally excited.

A rare smile surfaced on Cold Fox's face. "As expected of one who loves combat."

I looked at Cold Fox who was on the opposite side. He still hadn't equipped his armor and his hands merely held a small knife that was akin to a letter opener. However, every strand of hair on my body that was standing up told me that the guy in front of me was serious!

I raised the dao in my hands; my stance was the same as when I was in the game. I single-handedly held the dao and raised it in line with my body at an angle of thirty degrees. This was the best stance that could adjust to changing circumstances.

Cold Fox's eyes revealed a hint of admiration. However, he didn't go easy on me because of that. The speed at which he rushed toward me made me feel terrified. In an instant, he appeared in front of my face. I only managed to dodge his attack clumsily, barely avoiding his attack. However, Cold Fox had already changed the direction of his knife, which meant that my throat was heading right for it. I hurriedly turned my head, allowing the knife to barely scrape by me. Cold Fox, however, only had to lightly push the knife before it rested directly against my neck.

_I lost. It was a loss that I can't even brand as merely a crushing defeat!_

Cold Fox slowly withdrew his knife and said plainly, "Return to your position; we're doing it again."

Unsatisfied, I instantly returned to my original position. Once again, I fought against Cold Fox… However, the result was the same as before. I couldn't retaliate at all. I couldn't even dodge.

"Again. This time, make use of your equipment," said Cold Fox indifferently.

"I did make good use of my equipment!" I retorted, aggrieved. If I didn't have any equipment, how would it have been possible for an untrained girl like me to be able to spar with Cold Fox, who could possibly be an assassin or a terrorist?

Cold Fox snorted, "You don't understand the capabilities of your gear at all.

"We'll end it at this today, Prince. You have really disappointed me!" After Cold Fox finished, he turned around and left without batting an eye.

Cold Fox's words hit me really hard. _What did I do wrong?_ I had been trying really hard to cooperate with Cold Fox's whole training program. As I thought about being wronged, tears started welling up in my eyes.

"Prince, don't cry." Gui immediately ran toward me and then turned his head to complain at Cold Fox who was far away, "Cold Fox, aren't you a bit too strict? Prince is only a girl and this is only the first day of training."

"Don't train anymore, Xiao Lan!" Zhuo-gēgē's distressed expression could clearly be seen. "We

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will help rescue the Dictator of Life in your stead."

I jumped up immediately and yelled, "No! I definitely won't give up!"

Everyone took quite a fright in reaction to my high-decibel shout. Only Cold Fox plainly said, "You finally seem a bit more like Prince."

I froze. _What does Cold Fox mean? He thinks that I'm not like Prince? But I am Prince…_

I immediately rushed before Cold Fox and extended my arms and legs widely to block his way 3. However, Cold Fox only raised his eyebrows a little and turned to go around me from the side.

"Wait a moment, Cold Fox," I hurriedly opened my mouth. "What did you mean by what you just said? Do you doubt the fact that I'm Prince?"

Cold Fox once again shot a cold glance at me. "Which part of you resembles Prince? At least, I have never seen Prince shed tears, and I have also never seen Prince use such sloppy fighting skills."

"This is real life! It's not a game!" I couldn't help but retort. _Who compares combative abilities_ _within games with reality?!_

"Hmph, Prince is actually held back by these words?" Cold Fox icily said in ridicule.

_I… have been held back by these words? Could it be that because I unconsciously thought that it was impossible to do these things in reality, I then couldn't do them?_

I touched the equipment on my body and tried my best to recall all the battles I had fought in Second Life.

The first battle. How could I forget? I changed from being extremely scared of wolves to playfully chopping them like I did fish. At that time, I learned that the most important thing was to look for their weaknesses and use the simplest yet most effective method to attack.

I also remembered the first time I fought against a player. It was against Dark Emperor and my opponent was Wicked. The resounding moment whenever our weapons collided had exhilarated us at every turn.

I closed my eyes. The images of all the battles I had fought flashed across my mind. Unknowingly, I began doing my favorite exercise: dancing with my blade!

One after another, I performed all kinds of horizontal slashes and vertical chops. My movements were smooth and accompanied by firm but flexible shifts. In addition, my body slowly felt lighter and lighter. _I am an agility-based warrior; my speed should be extremely fast and light and dodging_ _attacks should be simple for me!_

**"...extended my arms and legs widely to block his way...": **In the original, Lan describes her stance as extendingher arms and legs into the Chinese character "big," which looks like this: 大. She was obstructing Cold Fox with her entire body.

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I took a few strides and landed on the wall beside me. Using my speed, I ran up it in one go. At the end, I turned my body and safely dropped down to the ground face-to-face with Cold Fox, less than half a step between us.

"Prince!" Cold Fox once again revealed one of his rare smiles (Although I later realized that those were "dangerous" smiles and not "grinning" smiles!) 4

"From tomorrow onwards, besides running, you're dueling with just me."

"Let's not wait until tomorrow. Take this, Cold Fox!" I said, smiling and filled with confidence as my chest beamed with pride and delight.

"No problem," Cold Fox said with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

In an instant, I withdrew a step and in the same moment that I retreated backwards, I slashed horizontally at Cold Fox with my lightsaber. Cold Fox took the tactic of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao 5. He didn't guard against my lightsaber but instead raised his knife and thrust it toward me. In the moment that would have decided life or death, we both retreated a step, dodging the opponent's attack.

"Excellent!" Cold Fox bellowed loudly. He took the initiative to go on the offensive and, with his speed, he instantly appeared before my eyes.

In the moment Cold Fox started his movement, I had already raised my lightsaber in line with my chest, using the dao's length to keep the distance between us. After all, my dao's attack radius was larger than his. Keeping a certain distance between Cold Fox and me was the best way to ensure that I wouldn't lose.

Right as Cold Fox was about to enter my attack radius, he suddenly switched to a strange stance. His hand that was holding the knife changed into...the throwing knife position. I abruptly realized,

_It couldn't be…_

"You would have been dead, Prince," Cold Fox said steadily, "if this were a real battle."

_Like I had feared _… Discouraged, I dropped my combative stance._ A loss is a loss. _I magnanimouslyadmitted, "Yeah, I lost. But that's all right, there's still a lot of days left for me to defeat you."

Cold Fox's eyes revealed his admiration. However, he only uttered, "The time for dinner passed long ago. Let's go and eat. Then you can go and familiarize yourself with how you should be using the equipment."

After he finished speaking, Cold Fox's eyes left me. He used his eyes to inspect everyone and said,

**"(Although I later realized that those were "dangerous" smiles and not "grinning" smiles!)": **This is a pun onthe characters for "smile," which can be written as 微笑 (wēixiào), while dangerous smiles is written as 危笑

(wēixiào) with the same pronunciation, just different characters.

**"...besieging Wei to rescue Zhao...": **This was a strategy used in the Battle of Guiling where the state of Wei wasattacked to direct attention away from the state of Zhao. The strategy is part of the Thirty-Six Stratagems and means avoiding head on battle. Strike at weaknesses elsewhere.

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"Everyone else, after dinner, I will correct your fighting techniques." With that, Cold Fox walked to the door and casually took a boxed meal from the ones that were delivered and began eating without a care for the others.

Lolidragon couldn't stop herself from asking me, "Prince, at that moment, you guys hadn't even crossed blades yet, so why did you say you lost?"

I matter-of-factly replied, "Didn't you see Cold Fox's motion? There was a throwing knife in his hand, and if he were to really throw it at me, I believe that with Cold Fox's ability, I would have definitely died in one hit."

"Holy crap, a throwing knife?" Although Yang Ming didn't have a feather fan, he still posed as if he were an elegant and handsome knight-errant. He continued playing his act and bowed with his hands together to Cold Fox, "It couldn't be that brother, you are the descendant of Xiaoli Feidao? 6 Excuse my lack of manners."

"Chu Liu Xiang 7, you'd better hurry up and think about what errors you are making in combat or else afterwards, we will see a good show where Chu Liu Xiang is miserably taken care of by Xiaoli Feidao," Lolidragon coldly ridiculed.

Unfortunately, after dinner, Chu Liu Xiang was taken care of by Xiaoli Feidao, and it was an extra tragic kind of "taking care of."

**"Xiaoli Feidao": **Literally, this can be read as "Little Li Flying Dagger," also known as the Romantic Swordsman._The Romantic Swordsman _is a wuxia (martial arts) novel series featuring a man whose signature weapon is a flyingdagger.

**"Chu Liu Xiang": **Chu Liu Xiang is the protagonist of the wuxia novel series by the same name. He is someonewho robs from the rich to help the poor. Yang Ming has been said to imitate his mannerisms in Second Life.

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**Chapter 5 : Departure**

"Everyone, come here for a moment." Lolidragon suddenly mysteriously gathered everyone together.

"Lolidragon, what are you doing?" I had just been having an awesome battle with Cold Fox, and there were only three days left before our two weeks were up. Even though I had long passed level B, I had still not reached level A. Cold Fox even coldly tossed me the words, "Not even close," making me feel super pissed off. If I didn't pass level A to prove myself to Cold Fox, how would I ever feel satisfied?

"Stop grumbling and hurry over!" Lolidragon walked in front of a large screen, pressed a few buttons, and then the screen displayed… an excited Sunshine and an exasperated Kenshin!

"Fairsky!" With incomparable excitement, Sunshine gazed at Fairsky.

"Sunshine!" Immediately, Fairsky rushed to the front of the screen, almost pressing her entire body against it. Rapidly, she fired off like a machine gun, "Sunshine, are you alright in the game? You haven't been bullied by players or NPCs, have you? Do you have enough to eat? When you're cold, remember to wear more clothes."

"Okay, I'll wear more clothes." Sunshine smiled idiotically in his overwhelming happiness. (_You're_ _an AI… You try getting sick!_)

Since Sunshine already had someone caring for him, I also asked after Kenshin. "Kenshin, how have you been?"

"Not too good." Kenshin furrowed his brows.

Originally, I had only asked in afterthought. I didn't think Kenshin would actually answer "not good." I blanked out for a moment before I hurriedly asked in worry, "Has something happened?"

"NPCs have been endlessly attacking the cities. With just Sunshine, AnRui, Fire Phoenix, Meatbun, and I, plus a few other players of Infinite City defending, things are a little tough." Kenshin revealed a worried expression.

"NPCs are attacking the cities?" My eyes widened. _What in the world is going on? NPCs are_ _actually attacking the cities now?_

"Besides Infinite City, all the other cities have been attacked too, and the damage is extremely extensive. Right now, fewer and fewer players dare to log on to Second Life." Sunshine even revealed a helpless smile as he said, "In contrast, there are a lot of NPCs running about now."

"Sorry, we don't have the manpower to protect Sun, Moon, and Star Cities," said Kenshin faintly.

"That's fine." I was thankful from the bottom of my heart. "You're willing to help us protect Infinite City. I am super, super thankful to all of you for that."

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"Sunshine, Kenshin, have you helped us pinpoint Long Dian's current location?" asked Lolidragon urgently.

"Pinpointing Long Dian's location? What's going on?" I asked in incomprehension.

Lolidragon rolled her eyes. "Idiot! If even the government is unable to find Long Dian, how would we be able to find him? Of course we have to depend on NPCs with self-awareness just like he does!"

Sunshine smiled as he said, "We found him. Fortunately, the Dictator wasn't on guard against the two of us. When I ran into him, the Dictator even greeted me and told me to treat Fairsky well. He told me that a girl like Fairsky is very rare."

Fairsky couldn't help but blush. "That's not true, I'm so overbearing…"

Sunshine revealed a passionate expression. "Fairsky is lively and honest. I love Fairsky the most."

Hearing this, Fairsky's face looked even more like a cooked crab, with how red it was.

"Alright, if you want to profess your love to each other, do that later off to the side. Right now, tell us where Long Dian is located first." Lolidragon spread her two hands out, looking helplessly at this pair of lovers who did not know what being corny meant.

"He's on an island." After Sunshine spoke, a world map suddenly appeared on the screen. Slowly, the map locked onto a specific area. Lastly, a small island appeared on the map.

"An island! That makes things difficult. How are we going to escape the Dictator of Life's notice and reach that island?" Lolidragon furrowed her brows. With the Dictator of Life's power, if we even approached the island's vicinity, we would be discovered.

"Simple." Calmly, Kenshin said, "In two days, the government will send supplies to Long Dian. All you have to do is sneak onto that airship. Sunshine and I will help you avoid the Dictator of Life's detection."

"Whoa, you can even do something like that?" I stared at Kenshin in shock.

Kenshin fell silent for a while before he said, "Originally, the fusion plan would have worked as well if Long Dian wanted to fuse with either me or Sunshine, but the Dictator convinced Long Dian, so Long Dian decided to continue fusing with the Dictator…"

Everyone fell silent. I sincerely believed that the Dictator of Life would definitely do this. He was… truly too kind.

"Prince, I leave the Dictator to you." Kenshin looked straight at me.

"Don't worry. Even if you didn't ask me, I would definitely save him." Without a hint of cowardice, I looked at Kenshin, and Kenshin, who always had a cold face, actually revealed a rare smile.

"Okay, then let's decide on who will go." Lolidragon revealed a cruel smile. "Cold Fox goes

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without saying. Nan Gong Zui has also reached level B for some time. Prince has passed as well. Wicked also has no problems. Feng Wu Qing has also passed, and of course so did Wolf-dàgē. Lastly, there's also me. I've successfully passed!"

"Boo, can't Doll go?" Doll's two eyes filled with tears. "Doll also passed."

"No!" Everyone yelled at the same time.

"Princess, if something were to happen to you, it would cause a grave foreign affair problem." Yu Lian-dàsăo furrowed her brows.

"Oh…" Doll couldn't help pouting, but she also knew the severity of the situation, so she did not argue any further.

"Fairsky and Phoenix are out too. As expected, asking women to train and reach level B in two short weeks is a bit too much." Lolidragon shook her head and sighed, forgetting that there were three women who trained and passed level B in two short weeks, and one of them was even herself.

Fairsky and Phoenix smiled helplessly.

"Let me go!" An incomparably mournful and unrelenting sound arose. Yes, Gui was currently pulling on the corner of my shirt as if his life depended on it, and he kept repeating, "Let me go let me go let me go…"

I helplessly lowered my head to look at him. "But you haven't passed…"

"I know." Gui dispiritedly let his shoulders drop.

"Then don't go and be a burden!" said Wicked, mercilessly.

Gui's shoulders shuddered, but he still persevered. "I want to go."

"Based on what abilities?" Wicked went as far as roaring, "Do you want to drag Xiao Lan down? Do you want her to lose her focus in dangerous moments to protect you?"

"I…" In pain, Gui used both hands to cover his face. "I want to go with Prince."

I felt a little sorry for him, but I still did not plan on letting Gui go. After all, it was too dangerous, and I did not want to see anyone get hurt. "You can just wait for me here. It's alright even if you don't go with me."

"I…" After Gui barely managed to squeeze this word out, he slowly lowered his head and said no more.

Even though I knew Gui was very disappointed, I could do nothing about it. I could only leave him and start discussing with Lolidragon. _How were we going to stow away on the airship the_ _government was going to use to send supplies to Long Dian?_

"We can help you avoid all detection from machines, but you will have to avoid human eyes by

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yourself," Kenshin clearly explained what he could do.

After I heard this, I happily said, "That's enough." Even though someone like Long Dian had appeared and caused the entire world to begin worrying about the usage of computers, we had been dependent on computers and the internet for such a long time already. Humans became unable to step away from technology ages ago. Even with Long Dian's appearance, people were still depending mostly on computers for surveillance.

"Lolidragon, remember to download me into a small computer that you can bring along with you. This way, I can help control the situation on the scene, and I can also keep in contact with Sunshine in case we need to change tactics." For the first time, Kenshin lengthily rambled on, "The two of us are not as powerful as the Dictator and cannot be in too many places at the same time. This is the most we can do."

"That is enough." I nodded my head.

After stowing away on the government ship, I could only call the experience a thrilling and exciting activity, as well as an unsuitable exercise for people with bad hearts.

Thankfully, everyone's hearts were functioning quite normally. With Cold Fox's expertise in stealth, along with Kenshin and Sunshine's guidance, we were, on a whole, alarmed but not in danger of a heart attack…

"Ah, I'm actually knowingly committing a crime. This is bad!" Even though Nan Gong Zui had protested before our departure, he still obediently accompanied us in breaking the law because our current situation left us with no choice. He even utilized his position as a police officer to help us avoid many dangerous traps.

However, once we stepped onto the ship, we discovered that the situation was kind of bad. The ship's cargo capacity truly wasn't very large, so there wasn't enough space for all of us to hide in. The moment the government began transporting supplies onto the ship, they would discover the lot of us for sure.

I clenched my teeth and then yelled at the tablet pc Lolidragon held in her hands, "Kenshin, start up this airship and head toward Long Dian's location, then seal off the government's communication with Long Dian. Don't let them use computers to contact Long Dian to alert him about the ship being seized."

"Are you planning on directly impersonating government workers to head over there?" Lolidragon was stunned.

By the time I finished instructing Kenshin, the airship had already begun launching. Kenshin also straightforwardly said, "The government workers are pressing closer. There's no time for hesitation. I will start the ship. Everyone, please stay seated and buckle your seat belts."

Hearing this, we immediately found seats and sat down. We almost didn't have time to buckle our

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seat belts when all of a sudden the airship's main body shook and then we took off, rising into the sky in an instant.

"Sunshine, have you opened the gate?" Kenshin's face appeared on the airship's screen. Next to his face there was a small image of Sunshine, like Kenshin was communicating with him.

"I am in the process of opening it, but we're too pressed for time, so there's no way for me to open it wide." Very professionally, Sunshine said, "Kenshin, it would be best if you tilt the airship vertically to fly through."

"Understood." Kenshin still had no expression on his face, but in an instant, the airship went from a horizontal state to a vertical state.

"I have this feeling like I'm riding a clam…" Yang Ming's face was pale as he recalled the frightening memories of riding AnRui.

"Kenshin, there are small airships chasing you from behind." After Sunshine said this, a radar image appeared on the screen. There were truly some small airships chasing us from behind.

"They seem hostile." Sunshine wrinkled his brows. "Should we retaliate?"

I had a sudden flash of inspiration. "Sunshine, you can pretend to be the Dictator of Life and issue them a warning, telling them not to chase us, or else we'll launch nuclear weapons."

Happily, Sunshine smiled and said, "Okay, this way we won't have to attack them."

It only took a moment for the small airships behind us to stop. They no longer dared to take any action, and they let us swagger through the gates in our departure.

After all this, we finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well then, I'm going to focus all of my efforts on stopping the government from releasing a public statement. Kenshin, I'm going to leave it to you to help them avoid the Dictator's detection." Sunshine's happily smiling face slowly disappeared from the screen.

Under Kenshin's control, the airship flew very smoothly. I couldn't help but break the silence, lamenting, "In the past, if someone had told me that I would steal a government airship, I would definitely have scolded him for being such an alarmist."

Hearing my words, Nan Gong Zui smiled wryly. "I had the same thought."

Everyone started laughing, and since I was bored sitting on the airship, I started thinking about Cold Fox's strong fighting abilities and his expertise in stealth. I couldn't help but ask, "Cold Fox, just how did you gain such a strong fighting ability?"

Once my words left my mouth, everyone stared curiously at Cold Fox. It looked like they had been harboring the same question for quite a while.

"My family is part of the criminal underworld," said Cold Fox simply.

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Everyone fell silent for a bit until Nan Gong Zui couldn't help but ask, "Even if crime syndicates know how to use a dao, it's still only used under circumstances with no other alternatives. They will definitely use guns if guns are available. A crime syndicate member like you using flying daggers for all situations, I really haven't seen before…" As Nan Gong Zui trailed off, Cold Fox remained silent. Instead, it was Nan Gong Zui himself who stopped as if he was thinking about something.

Finally, Nan Gong Zui carefully asked, "You can't be… someone from the Guan Dong Group?"

_Guan Dong Zhu?_ _1__Hasn't this type of food been gone for a long time? _I thought I was the only onewho knew about the deliciousness of this type of food. I didn't think Nan Gong Zui would also be interested in it.

"No." Cold Fox glanced at Nan Gong Zui. Just as Nan Gong Zui started relaxing visibly, Cold Fox wore an extremely rare smile as he said, "I am a member of the Ice Emperor Syndicate."

_Ice Emperor Syndicate? _I was completely confused, but Nan Gong Zui's mouth dropped wide open,making me very worried that his jaw might fall off at any time. After a moment, he revealed an expression of sudden realization as he shouted, "Silver-Masked Quick Fox from the Ice Emperor Syndicate! My god! How come I didn't make the connection?"

I was still completely confused, but my brother Yang Ming had already revealed an expression full of worship. Touched, he said, "Who knew that I was guided by Silver-Masked Quick Fox in martial arts? Sniff, my life is complete."

_Is this really such a big deal? _Before, he had still been mocking Cold Fox with "Xiaoli Feidao," yetnow he looked like a rabid fan of Cold Fox. I couldn't help but cut in, "What's going on? What's the Ice Emperor Syndicate? Silver-Masked Quick Fox?"

"Oh please, Sis, the righteous syndicate of the criminal underworld, Ice Emperor Syndicate. You don't know about them? The Ice Emperor Syndicate has a famous assassin—Silver-Masked Quick Fox. You don't know about him? He was rumored to be a fierce person who killed the prime ministers of two countries." Yang Ming revealed an expression that implied I was truly ignorant and inexperienced, but he suddenly thought of something else and loudly shouted, "My god! My sis was actually able to spar against Silver-Masked Quick Fox for ten minutes. Sis, you've become a top tier fighter."

Blankly, I looked toward Cold Fox. _This guy got rid of the prime ministers of two countries?_

"They don't count as prime ministers. They were merely the military leaders of rebellions from small countries," explained Cold Fox indifferently.

_That's still impressive… So this guy really is a terrorist. _I tilted my head to think._ Oh well, it's not like there are many ordinary people among this group._

"We have arrived above the island." Kenshin calmly said, "Prepare for landing."

**Guan Dong Zhu: **Pronounced the same as Guan Dong Group but written with different Chinese characters, GuanDong Zhu refers to oden, a type of Japanese dish that contains several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon radish, and fish cakes in broth. "Guan Dong" is the Chinese pronunciation of Kantou, an area in Japan.

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Quietly, we sat in our seats to wait for landing, but when the airship finally rocked slightly once we landed, all of us impatiently undid our seatbelts.

"I can't help you with what follows." Kenshin straightforwardly said, "I will remain here to look after the airship and wait for your return. Sunshine will be responsible for shielding all of you from here on out, but we don't know how effective Sunshine will be against the Dictator of Life. Be careful."

I nodded my head. "Got it."

One after another, everyone got off the ship. When I abruptly turned my head to look, Cold Fox had his gaze fixed on the screen on Kenshin. In a cool voice, he asked, "When everything's over, come to my place? I can guarantee your safety."

Kenshin fell silent for a good while. "We'll speak later. For now… Help me protect Prince."

"Got it." Cold Fox didn't pursue the matter further, and turned to leave.

_Kenshin actually cares this much about me. _I couldn't help crack a smile._ So this guy is also the type to be cold on the outside, but warm on the inside._

Once I left the airship, I surveyed our surroundings. Other than the aircraft parking lot where we parked the airship, the other areas made me feel like I had arrived at a primitive forest, but this was fine. This way, we didn't have to be worried about not being able to find Long Dian on this small island. The entire island only had one building. Even a world-class idiot with directions like me could leisurely walk up to the place.

"Everyone, hide. Something's coming," Cold Fox warned suddenly. We quickly hid in the thickets surrounding us, and then we peered through the small openings between the leaves.

Two robots were walking toward our direction. One was a humanoid robot while the other was a horse-shaped robot, and it was even pulling along a horse carriage that I had only ever seen in my history textbooks.

The two robots stopped in front of the airship, and the humanoid robot even walked into the airship. It didn't take long for him to walk out and broadcast, "The inside of the airship contains no supplies; the inside of the airship contains no supplies… Airship, the airship has not landed yet… The airship has crashed." Once he said this, the humanoid robot led the horse-shaped robot and left.

_What happened? _The airship was perfectly alright and parked right there, yet this robot first said theairship hadn't landed, and then said the airship had crashed. Just which nerve of this robot's– No, I mean, just which screw of this robot's wasn't screwed tightly, causing its brain to break down?

Lolidragon walked out of the thickets and called out to us. "Come over quickly. Sunshine has already helped us in confusing that robot."

I suddenly realized that it was Sunshine who had done this. I hurried out of the thickets, asking, "Are we heading to the building now?"

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"Wait for a moment. Sunshine said that this place is strange. He wants to look into it first." Lolidragon wrinkled her brows in apparent worry.

After a while, Sunshine's warm voice came out of the tablet pc in Lolidragon's hand. "Phew, I spent a lot of effort deactivating the building's security system so that it won't react to you, but be careful everyone. My control against robots isn't great. Inside that building, there are a few robots that I was unable to hack into."

"Got it. When we see robots, we will try to evade as many as we can." I nodded my head.

It was truly apt calling this an island with a primitive forest. All around us were trees, and it looked like humans had yet to develop the area. If it weren't for that building, I would absolutely never believe that someone had come here before.

Stepping over the ground that was overgrown with moss and crawling with vines and weeds, our group passed through very carefully. Although I was the nimble type, I still stumbled a lot, so don't even mention the others… Of course, this didn't include Cold Fox and Lolidragon. Cold Fox's abilities could already be described as inhuman, and Lolidragon was a thief that could even burrow underground in-game, so a little forest like this wouldn't trip her up.

What was lucky for us was that this small island was as described: truly very small. We didn't have to walk for long before the entirety of the building clearly came into our view.

The entire building looked like an old, five-story apartment. It had ugly, ash-colored walls and a rectangular shape… What was different was that it did not have any windows, not even a single one. The entire wall was bare, and the only door flashed with the gleam of metal. It looked like it would not be easy to break, and by each side of the door stood a humanoid robot.

"No windows. This is actually not what I expected," Cold Fox murmured.

"Are we going to break through the front door? Or does Sunshine have other means?" I asked.

"You can enter through the front door. I already told the robots by the door to let you inside," came Sunshine's voice from the tablet pc.

I took a deep breath. "Then let's go." After I said this, I took the lead, walking toward the two robots by the door. Nonetheless, when I walked by them, I still could not resist timidly looking their way. However, they did not react even the slightest bit, so I finally relaxed. When I walked up to the door, an ethereal, androgynous voice came from the door.

"Confirming the identities of the arriving parties. Please do not move. Begin scan… Scan concluded. Your arrival brings much joy, Prince." Once the ethereal, androgynous voice finished speaking, the metal door slowly opened.

I walked inside, and my companions behind me also followed me in. Except for an old elevator, the place was absolutely empty.

"Then there's no choice except to enter the elevator?" I motioned toward the elevator, turning my head to ask for everyone's opinions.

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Everyone nodded their heads. Only Cold Fox showed hesitation on his face. I couldn't help but ask, "Cold Fox? Do you think that something's wrong?"

Cold Fox lightly wrinkled his brows and said, "It's too simple, so simple that it's strange."

"You're saying that the course of events that got us here was too simple?" I carefully pondered Cold Fox's words. _True, this is really not what I had expected. Even the government has no choice but to_ _follow Long Dian's words, yet we were able to come here so easily?_

"Oh please, what was easy about this? You guys just don't know how hard it was." Lolidragon rolled her eyes and started explaining, "Dian can now control all of the satellites of the world. These satellites alone are enough for him to seize control over the entire world's transport means. Also, without satellites to probe for us, trying to find a small island in the boundless ocean would require more luck than Columbus finding new land.

"On top of that, this island is completely protected by a heat-sensing apparatus. Unless your body temperature is lower than zero degrees Celsius, you will be discovered immediately. Even if you were to wear a special outfit that completely insulated you, how would you reach this island? Any ships or planes that approach would be discovered right away.

"Unless you row a canoe or swim over," added Lolidragon in a disdainful tone. Of course, that was something that would never happen.

"If someone unexpectedly found this place, then they could have directly launched missiles to destroy the island," Wicked tried to raise a conjecture.

Lolidragon shook her finger. "First, all of the missiles in the entire world are pretty much under Dian's command. Even if the government immediately makes new missiles, and they don't connect to any internet system and don't use the satellites to direct the missiles' flight, Dian still has all types of missiles from all over the world under his control. He can use those to intercept them."

Lastly, Lolidragon simply said, "Reaching this island is actually a very, very difficult task. If not for Sunshine and Kenshin's existence, I would never have let any of you take part in that special training because we wouldn't have had any means of finding this island. Don't even mention actually coming to the island."

"Phew, then it's a good thing the Dictator of Life returned Kenshin and Sunshine to us at that time, or else we would have had our hands bound without being able to do anything about it." I sighed in relief, and turned my head to ask Cold Fox, "Then can we enter now?"

Cold Fox paused for a bit before he nodded his head.

"Okay, let's enter the elevator, everyone." I took the lead and walked into the elevator. With the robots outside and the deactivated security system as examples, I no longer doubted Sunshine's abilities.

_This is an ordinary and standard elevator. _I sincerely believed this, and I even felt it needed a goodfixing. There was nothing inside the elevator except for a few number buttons for the different floors, but what was strange was that other than the digit two that was glowing, all the other buttons

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were darkened. When I pressed the numbers that weren't glowing, the elevator did not respond at all. _Could it be… We can only go to the second floor?_ With trepidation, I pressed the two.

The elevator immediately moved, slowly rising. In a short while, we arrived at the second floor, and the door slowly opened…

I sucked in my breath. In front of my eyes, there was… _What kind of animal is this?_ I really didn't know. I could only tell that its outer appearance was like that of a huge, white dog, but it felt a little more noble and elegant than a dog… _Curse it!_ This was the first time I'd ever used descriptions like "noble" and "elegant" to describe an animal.

Its face was exceptionally unusual with a snout that was particularly sharp, and its two eyes were particularly slender as well, giving off a clever and crafty kind of feeling. Its tail was even stranger. It actually had nine tails, and its nine large tails were waving behind it.

"A nine-tailed fox?" Cold Fox couldn't refrain from lightly shouting out.

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**Chapter 6 : Deception**

"Fox? So this is a fox." I had never seen a fox before, so it was no wonder I didn't know what it was… _But to think that foxes actually have nine tails!_ That was a real eye-opener.

"So foxes actually have nine tails…" _Sigh, if I had known this before, then I would have put more_ _effort into studying biology properly. How could I have not even known that foxes have nine tails?_

"Of course foxes don't have nine tails!" Lolidragon said as she fiercely punched me.

"This should also be a robot," said Wicked, who immediately pulled out his gun as a precaution.

"A robot?" I exclaimed. "I don't believe it. It's too beautiful."

"Humans…" The fox actually talked, and it had an extremely pleasant voice too. It said, "You are not my master. Besides my master, no one else is permitted to enter this place."

"Oh?" I calmed down a little. Since the fox could talk, it couldn't possibly be a real fox. After hesitating for a bit, I asked, "Do you know what we have to do in order to continue going up? Why can we only reach the second floor?"

"Haha," laughed the nine-tailed fox. "I know how you can continue going up. Once you have defeated me, the elevator will automatically allow you to go up."

"Defeat you?" _Why is this situation so similar to a fighting game? After fighting through an army of_ _cannon fodder, I will finally meet the final boss, and the stage will be cleared when the final boss is defeated…_

"That's right," said the calm and composed nine-tailed fox as it paced around.

"Then bring it on! I don't have much time to waste, since the artificial body could have already been created." I immediately drew my lightsaber and was about to charge forward when Cold Fox stretched out a hand and stopped me. He furrowed his brow slightly and said, "Let me test its strength first."

"Oh." _Although I'm a little disappointed, I should let Cold Fox attack first._ Even though the first enemy that appears is usually just cannon fodder, there was always the possibility of this being an exception to the norm, especially since the one we were dealing with now was the Dictator of Life who was even harder to fathom. _He had even given me a meat bun for a pet, so nothing is_ _impossible, right?_

Cold Fox slowly walked forward, moving closer to the nine-tailed fox one step at a time. The nine-tailed fox seemed to know that the person approaching it was very strong. Its fur bristled slightly and its nine tails stopped moving randomly. Instead, the tails fanned out like a peacock's tail.

Cold Fox stopped walking and remained where he was… No, he was no longer standing there. I suddenly discovered that the Cold Fox that was standing there was just an afterimage, and the real

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Cold Fox… I immediately looked in the nine-tailed fox's direction. As if it were in a frenzy, the nine-tailed fox's white fur bristled and shot out like needles. A few hundred of these needles were all aimed at a very fast-moving figure.

I jumped in alarm. _Oh no, Cold Fox won't get hurt, will he?_

However, Cold Fox moved left and right quickly, causing all the needles to pierce the ground and soften back into normal fur. At that moment, Cold Fox moved in front of the nine-tailed fox and hurled a flying dagger at it. However, he missed as the nine-tailed fox dodged to the side gracefully.

According to my previous experiences, Cold Fox would definitely pursue the enemy whenever he could, and would never give up all the way until the opponent felt like committing suicide. However, this time, not only did Cold Fox not pursue the enemy, he actually turned around and walked back, coldly saying, "Prince, you try it."

"Me?" I was stunned.

"You should be more than enough to take care of it," said Cold Fox before he irresponsibly walked to the back and closed his eyes to rest.

"Then I will not hold back any longer." Once again, I drew my lightsaber and walked toward the nine-tailed fox, eyes gleaming…

"Wait!" shouted the nine-tailed fox suddenly.

I looked at it suspiciously. _What on earth does it want to do?_

The nine-tailed fox walked toward me slowly, moving closer and closer… _Could this be a trap?_ I immediately raised my guard and held my lightsaber thirty degrees from the plane of my body.

The nine-tailed fox finally stopped walking when it was three steps away from me. It looked me in the eye…

The fox said, "My Lord! I have an eighty year old parent and a three year old child to take care of. The entire fox den depends on me to survive. If you slay me, my family will have no one to depend on." As the nine-tailed fox recounted its sad story, it lay down on the ground and bawled its eyes out. The fox's previous aura of nobility and elegance instantly vanished, and he… no, _it_ appeared extremely miserable, so much so that one who heard the story would cry, and one who witnessed it would grieve…

I could not help but… raise my leg and kick it ruthlessly before scolding, "I was almost fooled, you sly fox."

The nine-tailed fox paled when it heard what I had said. It exclaimed, "How did you know I was trying to fool you?"

"That's obvious!" I glared at it while saying, "Have you forgotten what you are? You're a robot. Have you ever heard of a robot that has parents and can give birth?"

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"Ah!" The nine-tailed fox looked extremely shocked. Chagrined, the fox said, "I forgot."

I fell! The fox was indeed another NPC that just couldn't get any stranger. _How on earth did Long_ _Dian educate the Dictator of Life? Why are all the NPCs created by the Dictator so weird?_

"Boo hoo hoo, I've lost. You guys can go up now." The nine-tailed fox raised its forelegs and cried tragically.

"H-How can it be that simple?" Stunned, I remained where I was.

"It's true, the button to go to the third floor has lit up," said Lolidragon as she stuck her head out from inside the elevator. "Quick, hurry up and come in, we can go up now."

I followed everyone into the elevator in a daze. I didn't know at this point whether I should laugh or cry. Originally, I had wanted to have a warm-up exercise, but in the end, I didn't get any warm-up at all. Even Cold Fox didn't look happy… _A proper fight with the nine-tailed fox would have been_ _better._

The elevator door opened again. As expected, a monster appeared on the third floor… _but the_ _description I used isn't quite right; this should be a _can_ of a monster!_

"Why?" I said, shedding a drop of cold sweat. "Why does it have to be Pepsi, not Coca Cola? Coca Cola is obviously the more famous brand, and curvy bottles also look better than aluminum cans."

"I heard that Pepsi sales are higher than Coca Cola sales. Perhaps that's the reason why the Dictator of Life chose Pepsi," explained Lolidragon calmly.

_That's right, a can of Pepsi as tall as a man has appeared in front of my eyes…_

"I wonder how this thing attacks. It's really hard to imagine," said Cold Fox, who also couldn't help but be curious.

"Err…" I couldn't imagine that as well.

However, we quickly learned how a can of Pepsi attacked. We saw the pull tab of the aluminum can being pulled out, the can tilting itself forty-five degrees…

"Get down!" Cold Fox shouted as he pushed me to the ground forcefully.

BANG!

A loud noise and vibration scared me out of my wits. While I was confused, someone suddenly threw me out of the elevator. I turned around, only to see Cold Fox tossing everyone out of the elevator, which had been damaged beyond recognition. There was a huge hole at the back of the elevator which allowed one to actually see the forest outside, and the elevator itself looked like it was on the verge of collapse.

"Cold Fox, come out quickly!" I exclaimed.

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After Cold Fox had thrown the last person, Wolf-dàgē, out, he too leapt out of the elevator. However, the elevator had already begun to fall, and at the last second, Cold Fox's legs brushed against the falling elevator…

I heard Cold Fox's soft but extremely clear grunt of pain.

Cold Fox propped himself up and shouted at the same time, "Prince, finish it off!"

I turned around abruptly and saw that damn can of Pepsi begin to tilt itself again. I quickly charged forward and straightened it with a kick. Now, the can opening faced the ceiling… _Oh no!_ I immediately retreated as the Pepsi spat out another large pillar of cola water that punched a hole in the ceiling.

An unknown object suddenly dropped down from the large hole and landed on the Pepsi can's body with great precision. Furious, the unknown object yelled, "Pi~ka~chu~~"

The strong electric discharge stung my eyes with its brilliance, and I could not help but cover my eyes with my hands. After some time, I noticed the horrible smell of a burnt object. I opened my eyes only to see a burnt, round pillar with that unknown object on top of it. Unfortunately, I did not get a good look at the unknown object before it was turned into ash.

"What on earth is going on?" I asked, my head in a blur.

"Probably…" A little uncertain, Lolidragon answered, "The robot on the fourth floor seems to be able to use lightning attacks, and it happened to fall down when the hole was punched through the ceiling. Angry, it attacked with lightning, but the Pepsi can happened to attack with its water pillar again. Just like that, both robots electrocuted themselves to death."

This ending really left me… totally speechless!

I abruptly remembered that Cold Fox had let out a grunt when he leapt out of the elevator. I immediately looked toward him, only to see him standing at his original position with a cold expression on his face, as if nothing had happened.

_Is Cold Fox okay? _Doubtful, I looked him over._ Blood! _I suddenly noticed that there was abloodstain at the base of Cold Fox's right trouser leg. I rushed toward him, pushed him over with one movement, and raised his right foot to see if it was okay. Cold Fox grunted softly.

"Wolf-dàgē, hurry up and take a look at Cold Fox's foot!" In a panic, I shouted to Wolf-dàgē, the only medical staff present.

Wolf-dàgē furrowed his brows as he examined Cold Fox's foot. I wanted to remove Cold Fox's shoe so that Wolf-dàgē could examine him more carefully, but Wolf-dàgē quickly stopped me by saying, "Prince, don't remove it. The bones in the sole of Cold Fox's foot have been shattered, so you must not touch his foot at all costs. Most importantly, don't remove his shoe, as it will help stabilize his foot."

"Cold Fox…" I looked at Cold Fox, but didn't know what to say. If he had not risked his life to save everyone, he would not have gotten hurt.

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With his usual icy expression, Cold Fox said, "Time is short. Since the elevator is broken, you guys should use the hole that the Pepsi can made to go up. Use a human pyramid to send one person up, and then have that person dangle a rope down for the others to climb."

In the face of Cold Fox's calm attitude, I also calmed down without realizing it. "Okay," I said.

Using the human pyramid and rope method, we successfully climbed up to the fourth floor. Of course, the robot on the fourth floor had already been destroyed together with the Pepsi can. _But_ _how would we proceed to the fifth floor without an elevator?_

Wicked took his time to load a bazooka, and he fired three shots in a row at the ceiling. After a large hole had finally been made, I happily thought to use the human pyramid again to climb up. We were soon going to see the Dictator of Life.

"Wicked, make the hole larger so that we can see where the fifth floor robot is," commanded Cold Fox coolly.

_That's right! _There was a robot guarding the fifth floor, so we could not climb up unprepared likewe had done for the fourth floor. I stuck out my tongue and silently berated myself for being too careless.

Wicked fired several more rounds, but there was no response from above. Also, the hole was only big enough to let us see a third of the room. Wicked frowned and began shooting at different parts of the ceiling. He even carried a machine gun in his left hand and raked the ceiling with gunfire.

Under Wicked's shocking destructive power, the ceiling soon seemed like…it was going to collapse.

"Oh no!" Wicked said calmly. "Looks like I've gone overboard with the shooting."

"…"

Everyone was dumbfounded, and even Cold Fox couldn't refrain from making a helpless expression while saying, "Everyone lean against the wall."

I had just leaned against the wall when the ceiling announced that it was doomed. It fell down in large blocks, and the resultant huge cloud of dust nearly caused me to cough my lungs out. _But_ _where is the robot? _I did not dare relax, and instead searched for traces of the robot within the dustcloud.

_Found it! _I saw an oddly shaped object. Although I didn't know what it was, it definitely wasn'thuman. I stepped lightly toward it because if I could use this opportunity to finish it off from behind, that would save us a lot of trouble.

I moved closer to the unknown object one step at a time. _This thing looks a lot like a bus stop sign._ _How does something like that fight? Don't tell me it can summon buses?_

_Whatever, I'll just go for it! _I immediately accelerated and charged at the bus stop sign, aiming mylightsaber at its thinnest part… Actually, the entire pole was uniformly thin. Anyways, I used all my strength to cut it in half. I felt a little resistance from the lightsaber when it hit the pole, but after I

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put in more strength, that resistance disappeared and the bus stop sign was sliced in two.

"Prince, you…" shouted Lolidragon in shock.

"How's that? I'm really strong, aren't I?" Elated, I turned around and said, "I defeated the fifth floor robot in one strike."

"…You mean that this bus stop sign is the fifth floor robot?" Lolidragon picked up the two halves of the bus stop sign and tossed them around unconcernedly. She said, "If this counts as a robot, then I could probably add a sixth floor and guard it with the toaster I have at home."

I looked at the thing that Lolidragon was tossing around. One half was a long metal pole, and the other was a round metal board. It really could not possibly be anything except a bus stop sign.

"Wait," I said, noticing the words written on the round metal board. Neither the name of the bus stop nor the available bus services was written on it. Instead, there was this sentence: 'Was the fighting game fun? I hope that Prince did not get hurt.'

I stared into space for a long, long time. Even if I had used the dandruff on my head to think, I would still know that this was definitely a message that the Dictator of Life had left behind.

_However, what on earth does this mean?_

"We have been deceived!" Zhuo-gēge's face was very, very cold. He said, "This is not Long Dian's base of operations, it's just a sham."

"That's impossible!" Lolidragon retorted. "This island is definitely Long Dian's base of operations. Sunshine and I confirmed this fact over and over again."

"Don't get agitated, Lolidragon. Wicked just said that this place is a sham, not that this whole island is a sham," said Nan Gong Zui as he analyzed the situation calmly.

"Something is definitely wrong," sighed Cold Fox.

Visibly annoyed, Zhuo-gēge hit his forehead several times and said, "We should have known that he would take precautions against Kenshin and Sunshine when he returned them to us."

"What should we do? How are we going to find them now?" Lolidragon was so depressed that she just plopped down on the floor. She said, "There are no other buildings on this island, so Long Dian's base of operations is probably underground. At this point, even if we kept digging without any rest or sleep, it could take us months or years to find him."

I furrowed my brows and asked uncertainly, "Lolidragon, isn't there something called a metal detector?" I seemed to remember reading about things like that in adventure novels.

"There is!" Lolidragon jumped up, but then started pulling her hair desperately. "I didn't bring one! I didn't prepare a metal detector. Ahh! How could I be so stupid? If we had a metal detector, we would immediately know where Long Dian is. His laboratory definitely contains metal!"

"Hmph, I don't need a metal detector. I already know where Long Dian is," Wu Qing, who had been

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keeping quiet all this time, said suddenly. Not only that, the moment he opened his mouth, everyone was taken aback.

"Where is he?" Lolidragon jumped vigorously and rushed to Yang Ming's side. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him, saying, "Hurry up and tell us!"

"He is in a place we can't find, even if we use a metal detector." Yang Ming smiled mysteriously and took a deep breath before saying, "The aircraft parking ground!"

"Ah!" Nan Gong Zui exclaimed in shock. "That's right, the aircraft parking ground already has a lot of metal. Even if we went there with a metal detector, we would just think that we were detecting the metal in the parking ground, and not Long Dian's base of operations."

"So we had already stepped on Long Dian's head just now, but we didn't realize it?" muttered Lolidragon to herself.

"Those incompetent robots were meant to delay us," concluded Cold Fox.

Everyone looked upset, and I also could not help but be affected by this failure. However, the Dictator of Life was still waiting for me to save him. I calmed my emotions and firmly said, "Let's go. We have already wasted too much time."

Upon hearing this, everyone's fighting spirits ignited once more and we rushed back to the aircraft parking ground without resting.

After we told him how we had been deceived, Kenshin simply said, "This is not unexpected. The Dictator of Life's abilities are above mine and Sunshine's, and Long Dian is a rarely seen genius among humans. Your failure was hard to avoid."

"How do we get in?" Everyone looked around for an entrance to the base, but our efforts were in vain. No matter how we looked at it, this appeared to be a normal aircraft parking ground. The cement floor was hexagonal in shape, and a metal fence surrounded the entire place. There was even a metal signboard which had the words "Danger! Living people may not enter" written on it.

"Want to ask Gui?" asked Kenshin plainly as he looked at our exhausted and troubled appearances.

"Can you contact Gui?" I asked hopefully. After all, Gui was a genius with an IQ of 200. He should be able to compete with Long Dian.

"There is no need to contact him." Kenshin said something very strange.

"No need to contact him?" The moment I asked this question, an unlikely person walked out of the airship. _Need I say who it is? Of course it's Gui!_

In front of everyone's shocked faces, the fully equipped Gui made an embarrassed expression. He stuttered as he explained, "S-Sorry, but because I really wanted to come with Prince, I hid in the

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airship a day earlier. The engine room is just big enough for one person to hide in…"

I could not resist scolding, "You really are an idiot. You even stayed in the aircraft parking ground, the place closest to Long Dian, alone." If Long Dian had felt like taking the airship into his base of operations, there would have been no way for Gui to avoid being detected.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted…to follow you here. If I did anything more, I would just become a burden," said Gui. The more he said, the gloomier his eyes became, and the weaker his voice.

"Anyway, you're still alive and in one piece, that's the most important thing," I said. I could not bear to blame Gui any more. After all, he had just wanted to follow me.

"Gui, hurry up and tell us, how will we be able to enter Long Dian's base?" demanded Lolidragon hastily, as though she could not wait any longer.

Gui muttered to himself in a low voice, then walked in front of the metal signboard and said, "Living humans may not enter? Interesting. Lolidragon, Sunshine is inside your tablet pc, right?"

Lolidragon nodded earnestly.

"Sunshine, let's see if you can invade this signboard," said Gui, smiling mysteriously. "If my guess is correct, the reason living people may not enter is because only NPCs can approach this signboard."

"Okay, I will try it," said Sunshine. After that, he paused for a moment. Only one or two seconds had passed when he happily spoke again, saying, "It's fine, there's an AI inside this signboard. I have already opened the entrance."

Faster than you could blink, the entire hexagonal, cement floor started to sink. After I had gotten over the initial shock, I immediately pulled out my lightsaber as a precaution. _Who knows how_ _many robots could be gathered down there?_

"The door has opened, the door has opened!" A few panicked voices shouted, as if they were very happy at being saved.

Those did not sound like voices of robots, but it was better to be careful. I pulled Gui behind me and nagged, "Gui, you are not very strong in battle, so you should stay behind me as much as possible."

"Okay," said Gui in a happy but slightly sorrowful voice, happy to be cared for by the person he liked, but depressed that he had to let his beloved woman protect him.

The hexagonal floor finally landed on the ground. To summarize the situation, about twenty "people" looked at us with fear and expectation, leaving us extremely confused, wondering what was going on. _Are they people or robots?_

"Are you robots?" someone on their side asked, first in surprise and then in fear.

"No, of course not," I answered, shocked. "We are definitely human."

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"That's great!" They actually started to hug each other in joy. One of them said, "Are you here to rescue us? Has the government finally found a way to control 'him'?"

Filled with suspicion, I asked, "Just who are you people?"

"They are the world's most talented people," said Zhuo-gēge suddenly. He then walked toward an old man with a white beard. The old man's eyes had nearly popped out in astonishment.

"Professor, I have been very worried for your safety. It looks like you're okay," said Zhuo-gēge as he held the white-bearded old man's hands, face filled with emotion.

"Ling Bin? Why are you here?" The white-bearded old man was so surprised that he stuttered.

"There is something I must do," said Zhuo-gēge, smiling. "On the contrary, Professor, why are you people allowed to wander around freely? Won't Long Dian restrict your movements?"

The white-bearded old man shook his head, saying, "Previously, he kept threatening us by saying that he would launch a nuclear weapon and destroy the world unless we helped him. Thus, we had no choice but to help him successfully create an artificial body. Also, we performed some strange brain surgery on him."

"Did you guys take the opportunity to kill him during the operation?" asked Lolidragon, worried.

"Of course not!" yelled a doctor in a white coat. "He said that he had already set a time for the launch of the nuclear weapon, and if the surgery failed, causing him to die, no one would be able to stop it." The doctor's face was so pale it was almost white. He continued, "That was the first time I'd ever heard about that kind of surgery. I did not expect it to be successful… Luckily, we succeeded in the end."

"Oh my god, this lunatic actually wants the whole world to die with him," said the old man, who could not help but shudder at the thought.

However, I felt like I had been struck by lightning. _The surgery was successful? Does this mean_ _that the Dictator of Life has already…disappeared?_

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**Chapter 7 : The Eternal Legend**

"So you guys came after all. What a waste of the Dictator's repeated pleas for your lives." This voice was all too familiar. It was Long Dian's cold and taunting voice.

I turned and looked at him, unable to believe my eyes. Long Dian no longer had white hair; his black hair had been restored. His leisurely worn white robes and exceedingly beautiful face made him look just like an angel that had fallen into the mortal world.

If I had not known what he was really like, that might have been what I would have thought. However, I knew very well that the man in front of me now was a devil who had murdered thousands of people, threatened the whole world, and even condemned the child he had created! Even though that child had cared so much for him!

_He killed the Dictator of Life. _I clenched my fists._ In the end, I… didn't make it in time to save the Dictator._

"Is the Dictator of Life already… dead?" I asked in a hoarse voice. _No, I must not cry!_

Long Dian dismissively said, "He has never been alive, so how could he die?"

"He was alive! No one can understand that better than you. You know that he is not just an intelligent computer." After hearing what he had said and seeing his attitude, I lost my temper. _Did_ _the Dictator sacrifice his life for such a person?_

"Of course he's just an intelligent computer. He always will be." Long Dian's expression had also changed. There was no smile on his face, just a cold, heartless expression.

"YOU!" A flash of anger rose up from the bottom of my heart. If I did not let it out, I felt that I would vomit blood. I raised my lightsaber and charged toward him without hesitation. In a few strides, I was already swinging my lightsaber directly at him.

_I know that I must not do this. I know that this is murder, but… isn't him killing the Dictator of Life also murder?_

"Prince!" shouted Lolidragon in shock.

Although I swung my blade down, my hands did not encounter any resistance. I hadn't managed to cut anything at all; it had been just an afterimage. I immediately retreated, raising my vigilance at the same time. _Where is Long Dian?_

Cold Fox suddenly yelled, "At eleven o'clock!"

I looked in the direction Cold Fox was pointing. Long Dian continued to smile faintly, but his eyes were filled with madness. He raised his right hand and actually moved it directly in front of my lightsaber… Before I could stop my blade, he was already gripping the lightsaber with his hand. That's right, he actually grabbed a light weapon that could burn though everything with his bare

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hand!

I could not help but reveal an expression of shock and horror. _He can't even be harmed by a_ _lightsaber. What should I do now?_

Suddenly, a shadow flew toward Long Dian's hands. Long Dian did not pay it much attention— since even a lightsaber could not harm him, what was there for him to worry about?

However, dark red blood started to flow from Long Dian's hands… No, that probably was not blood. Since Long Dian was no longer human, it was likely something created to mimic blood. Where that dark red blood flowed from, a flying dagger was firmly stuck—Cold Fox's flying dagger.

For the first time, an expression of alarm appeared on Long Dian's face. His eyes seemed even more insane and his voice was filled with irrepressible anger as he demanded, "How? How could you hurt me? My skin ought to be made of the toughest man-made skin available that even a light weapon cannot harm… Unless you old folks are lying to me!" Long Dian's eyes slowly turned to face the group of the world's most talented people.

"No, we wouldn't dare lie to you." Trembling, the doctor who had spoken continued, "We don't dare to gamble with the whole world at stake. Following your wishes, we used the highest quality and toughest man-made skin. The fact that you just blocked a light weapon is the best piece of evidence for that."

Long Dian looked at them suspiciously. He was probably thinking that these cowering old folks wouldn't have the guts to lie to him, so he slowly shifted his gaze toward the person who had thrown the flying dagger—Cold Fox.

Alarmed yet curious, Long Dian pulled out the dagger as if he hadn't felt any pain and asked, "What kind of weapon is this?"

"It's a special weapon. I'm the only person in the world who has that weapon," said Cold Fox indifferently.

Long Dian laughed softly, saying, "Haha, in the future, no one will have this weapon."

Then, Long Dian actually did something crazy. He stabbed his own stomach with the flying dagger. Just like that, the entire dagger went into his body. After doing this, Long Dian raised his hands and shrugged, saying, "My apologies. Looks like your flying dagger will be in my stomach forever."

"You're a total lunatic!" I could not help but yell at him.

Long Dian laughed even more arrogantly. That laughter made all the hairs on my body stand. _Could_ _the Long Dian in front of me even be considered a normal human anymore? Why does he seem even less human than before? _Previously, he was cold and expressionless, but now… he just made peoplefeel utterly disgusted.

"Dian… Why have you become like this?" Lolidragon finally could not help but cover her face with her hands and cry.

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Long Dian finally stopped laughing in that frightening way. _The expression that flashed across his_ _eyes, was it concern? _I was extremely familiar with the look in those eyes because Gui also oftenhad that kind of expression.

"That has nothing to do with you." Long Dian went back to his devil-may-care attitude. He said, "Shui Han, you should leave. For old times' sake, I'll let you go."

Lolidragon's entire body shuddered. She raised her head and asked in disbelief, "What do those words mean?"

Long Dian did not speak. He just smiled cruelly.

"You want to kill everyone here?" Two streams of tears fell from Lolidragon's eyes. She stood in front of everyone else, her arms wide open, saying, "I won't allow that. I won't let you lay a finger on anyone."

Long Dian smiled even more cruelly. With one movement, he instantly appeared in front of Lolidragon's eyes, making her jump in shock. However, at that moment, a light sword slashed at Long Dian. He caught the sword unconcernedly and looked at the attacker. It was a young man, and a rather handsome one at that. Unfortunately, he was my younger brother who rarely ever got serious, Feng. Yang. Ming. And now was one of the rare times when he got serious.

"I won't let you hurt her, be it mentally or physically." Although his sword had been grabbed, Yang Ming still stared at Long Dian without fear.

"You…" Long Dian's eyes narrowed.

"A man with no sense of responsibility is not fit to be her man." Yang Ming smiled an annoying smile that was unparalleled when it came to making one want to hit him. If this were a normal situation, I definitely would not be able to resist dragging him to a game of Happy Corner. (Note: An inhumane punishment carried out on a man's little XX. It often results in irreparable mental and physical damage to the victim.)

But right now, I really admired my little brother, regardless of whether he was actually being manly or was just plain crazy.

Long Dian's smile vanished again. The insanity in his eyes let everyone know that he was going to start killing now. Yang Ming also became as wary as he could, although that probably wouldn't make much difference…

Long Dian did not use any flashy moves; he just swung his palm toward Yang Ming. Yang Ming used his light sword to defend against Long Dian's attack, but Long Dian was so strong that the light. Sword. Actually. Broke!

"Yang Ming!" I howled in alarm. However, I was too late. Everything played out like a movie in slow-motion.

Long Dian's palm was unavoidable, and it seemed that Yang Ming would lose his life by Long Dian's hand. However, Lolidragon suddenly threw herself at Yang Ming, her back facing Long

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Dian's palm. Shocked, Long Dian could not stop himself in time. He could only shift his hand slightly to the side… hitting Lolidragon's shoulder!

Lolidragon immediately vomited blood, the fresh red blood spattering on my younger brother's face and chest. His eyes widened, letting the blood flow into his eyes. He hugged Lolidragon's body as she slid down, calling in a hoarse and trembling voice, "Lolidragon? Loli… dragon?" Finally, sobbing, he choked out, "LOLIDRAGON!"

"Let her go!" This voice belonged to none other than Wolf-dàgē. Frantic, he tried to pull Yang Ming's arms, which were wrapped around Lolidragon, away. He said, "Let her go, Wu Qing. I need to look at her wound."

At this point, I also rushed to their side. I forcefully pulled Yang Ming's arms away from Lolidragon, yelling, "If you don't want Lolidragon to die, then let go of her quickly!"

The moment Yang Ming heard that, he immediately let go and let Wolf-dàgē hold Lolidragon. As Wolf-dàgē carefully examined her wound, Lolidragon opened her eyes and weakly said, "Wu Qing, are you alright? I'm… sorry… for getting you involved."

"I-Idiot!" Yang Ming shouted angrily, "So what if you got me involved? Even if I have to spend the rest of my life immersed in a water tank with you, I would never regret it!"

Lolidragon could not help but laugh, but this actually made her cough repeatedly because of the blood.

"Wolf-gē, how is Lolidragon's wound?" Yang Ming looked like he was about to burst into tears.

"Her collarbone and upper arm bone are fractured. I need an operating room right now!" Without hesitation, Wolf-dàgē turned to face the cowering doctor, "You guys just operated on Long Dian, so you definitely have the best operating room here. Quickly, take me there."

"We do have one, but we don't have any blood for transfusion." The doctor frowned.

"My blood type is O. It's the universal donor, right?" asked Yang Ming worriedly.

Wolf-dàgē nodded and immediately bent down to set Lolidragon's injured shoulder in place. With Yang Ming's help, he carried Lolidragon into the operating room.

I wanted to follow them, but Cold Fox suddenly stretched out a hand and blocked my path. Not understanding what he was doing, I looked at him, but he was looking in another direction… I followed his gaze and saw Long Dian. Long Dian, whose eyes were deeply filled with pain.

"There is nothing more dangerous than an injured wild beast," said Cold Fox in a grave tone, worry evident in his eyes.

"I… have nothing left." With two streams of tears flowing down his face, Long Dian looked up toward the sky and shouted, "I HAVE NOTHING LEFT!"

After shouting, Long Dian started to hyperventilate. However, he suddenly stopped breathing hard

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and laughed hysterically, "Panting? Why am I panting? I don't even need to breathe. Hahaha, I actually hyperventilated?"

_Has Long Dian… gone crazy? Why is he acting so strangely? _I also began to feel the truth in ColdFox's words, that there was an injured wild beast right in front of me. _A wild beast with a broken_ _heart… insane, yet possessing incredible destructive power._

"WHY? WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE STILL ALIVE AND WELL?" With a deranged look on his face, Long Dian looked at us and said, "You people are just some lucky children who have never gone through any hardships before. Why am I the one who has to die instead of you? I have been working hard for so many years. So many years of happiness, gone just like that… HOW CAN I BE SATISFIED WITH THIS!?"

"Even if it's like that, it's not up to you to decide whether others should live or die!" I said severely.

"Really? Even my own life was taken away so easily, so why can't I take away others' lives too?" Long Dian smiled faintly; it was a smile full of malice and blood thirst.

_He's going to attack! _My heart skipped a beat. Cold Fox, who was beside me, suddenly stuffedsomething into my belt and whispered quickly, "I have three flying daggers, but my leg is injured. Prince, I need you to cooperate with me in order to subdue Long Dian."

I nodded. No matter what, I had to help him. Otherwise, all the people behind me would probably lose their lives.

"Wicked, please support us. Although light guns cannot hurt him, they can still hinder his movement," muttered Cold Fox, his mouth barely opening as he spoke.

"Got it," said Wicked in a low voice.

_Deep breath, OK! _I shouted, "LONG DIAN, YOUR OPPONENT IS ME!"

Cold Fox jerked violently, saying, "Prince, you…"

I smiled and said, "I can't let an injured person do everything!"

I raised my lightsaber, planning on defeating Long Dian in one strike with the flying dagger when he was at his most relaxed. _Even… even if both of us get seriously injured and neither side wins, I_ _will not hesitate. I must not let Long Dian hurt any of the people behind me!_

"You, _a woman_, want to challenge me?" Long Dian revealed a look of disdain, as he had only contempt for the word "woman".

"That's right, challenging you is exactly what I want to do." I calmed my emotions. This would be my hardest battle, but in order to protect everyone, it was a battle I could not afford to lose!

Long Dian's eyes narrowed, and without saying anything more, he immediately leapt toward me. His weapons were the same palms that had hurt Lolidragon, and from Yang Ming's painful experience, I knew that I must avoid a direct confrontation with Long Dian. I dodged to the side,

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making Long Dian's attack miss. However, Long Dian's reflexes were inhumanly good… _Err, he_ _isn't even human, actually…_

Long Dian did not even stop. He simply rotated his body by ninety degrees and charged toward me again. I dodged Long Dian's palms again, but a sudden strong gust of wind suddenly hit my stomach… _Damn it, I actually forgot that Long Dian has legs._ There was no way to dodge, so I had no choice but to endure his kick…

The sound of several gunshots rang out, causing Long Dian to pause for a moment. I instantly understood that Wicked was restraining Long Dian, and I glanced at Cold Fox's eyes — eyes that were waiting for the best opportunity to hunt down its prey.

_Create the best opportunity for Cold Fox to strike! _I made my decision and pulled out the flyingdagger in my belt. I waved the dagger in front of Long Dian on purpose, and observed the change in his expression with satisfaction.

Holding the dagger tightly, I taunted Long Dian on purpose, "Long Dian, let's have a bet. We'll bet on this last attack, whether you die or I perish."

Anger flashed across Long Dian's eyes.

Moving as quickly as I could, I charged toward Long Dian, hoping that Cold Fox would seize the opportunity to stab Long Dian while his attention was completely focused on me.

"Xiao Lan, don't…" Zhuo-gēge suddenly warned me.

_But how can I stop now? Long Dian's full attention is on me, so I must keep going_! This thoughtflashed across my mind. In the next moment, just as Long Dian and I were about to clash… Long Dian suddenly disappeared, and I swung my weapon at thin air!

Suddenly, I heard a grunt. Long Dian had actually gone and attacked Cold Fox, and Cold Fox's body was slowing sliding down to the ground. Shocked, I wanted to run to him. "Cold Fox!"

"Don't go there!" Zhuo-gēge held me back with all his might, even as he fired relentlessly at Long Dian to prevent him from dealing the final blow to Cold Fox, who was lying on the ground.

However, light guns were obviously completely beneath Long Dian's notice. He raised the flying dagger that had been in Cold Fox's hand and was going to stab Cold Fox's head with it…

"Haaaaa!" Nan Gong Zui suddenly jumped down onto Long Dian's body from above, a light gun in his hand. However, the difference between him and Wicked was that his gun barrel was in contact with Long Dian's body, and it was pointed directly at his heart. BANG! Zui fired without hesitation.

_Will this shot be effective? _Long Dian stood still as bright red blood slowly flowed out of thegunshot wound. _Did we succeed?_

"Ugh!" Regret showed in Nan Gong Zui's eyes. It was very vexing for him that a shot fired right next to Long Dian's heart still could not stop him.

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Long Dian stabbed Nan Gong Zui with Cold Fox's dagger, aiming to push the dagger all the way into Zui's chest. If Zui hadn't dodged to the side at the last moment, this dagger would undoubtedly have pierced his heart. However, his current situation was not much better than having his heart pierced.

The flying dagger penetrated Zui's shoulder, going right through him and even pinning him to the wall. Zui's face was shockingly pale, and cold sweat flowed down his face. However, even though it was so painful that his face had contorted, Zui absolutely refused to let out any cry of pain.

"Zui!" I was so horrified that my face had also paled. _Oh my god, Cold Fox has fallen on the_ _ground and no one knows whether he is alive or dead. Now, Zui has been pinned to the wall…_

Long Dian glanced at me and Zhuo-gēge coldly. However, the people he walked toward were not us, but the group of more than twenty professors, doctors, and scientists… With one punch, he sent an old man with a white beard—Zhuo-gēge's professor—flying. Right after that, a communication device suddenly appeared in his hand. Long Dian smiled icily, saying, "Are you trying to contact the outside world for help? I will let your wish come true." Long Dian snapped his fingers.

None of us had forgotten that besides having a ridiculously strong body, Long Dian could also move freely around the Internet. _A snap of his fingers could mean that… a nuclear missile has been fired?_

As this thought occurred to me, my facial expression became as ugly as it could possibly be.

"There are four CCTV cameras that can be rotated a full three hundred and sixty degrees in this room. From now onward, a video of everything that happens here will be sent to every broadcasting station in the world. All the television channels will show only what is going on here." Long Dian smiled brilliantly, saying, "Happy now? Your lifeless bodies will be seen by the whole world."

_What a psycho. _Worried, I looked at Cold Fox, who was lying on the ground with his situation stillunknown, and Zui, who was pinned to the wall. Both of them desperately needed treatment. We couldn't afford any more delays.

"Zhuo-gēge, we have to save the two of them," I said resolutely.

"I will save them, you stay here and don't follow me," replied Wicked without hesitation.

"No, Zhuo-gēge, it's too dangerous," I stubbornly objected.

"Xiao Lan…"

Long Dian said coldly, "Why argue? I can just go over there instead, right?" After saying that, Long Dian really charged at us. I immediately raised the flying dagger in my hand, which was the only thing that could penetrate Long Dian's skin…

"LONG DIAN!" Gui's voice suddenly rang out like thunder.

Long Dian quickly turned his head around to look. The enormous airship to the side had begun to move with Gui standing in its cockpit. The image of two people also suddenly appeared on the transparent glass of the cockpit—Sunshine and Kenshin.

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"Dictator of Life!" shouted Sunshine, worried.

_Is it just my eyes, or did Long Dian sway a little when he heard the three words "Dictator of Life"?_

"Stop messing around, Long Dian." With a voice so icy that it could chill people's hearts, Kenshin said, "Otherwise, even if you and the Dictator of Life are the same person, I will not let you go."

"Oh? And how will you defeat me?" asked Long Dian with a cold expression on his face.

"We will crush your artificial body using this airship. Although you can escape into the online world, Sunshine and I will trap you inside Second Life and infect it with several viruses that will delete everything." Kenshin described his plan while remaining absolutely calm and composed.

Long Dian's face had also changed noticeably. He said viciously, "Do you two think that you can escape from the virus?"

"We cannot escape," said Kenshin frankly.

On hearing Kenshin's indifferent tone, Long Dian started to breathe harder… _Looks like he forgot_ _that he doesn't need to breathe again._

Long Dian stood there silently, as if he were thinking about something.

Worried, I looked at Cold Fox, who was still lying on the ground, and Nan Gong Zui, whose face was becoming paler and paler. I hastily shouted, "Kenshin, please make him decide quickly. If not, Cold Fox and Zui are going to die."

Kenshin frowned and was just about to open his mouth to urge Long Dian on when Long Dian suddenly moved. He was so fast that I didn't even have time to respond as he grabbed my throat with one hand and sent Zhuo-gēge flying with the other.

Unable to breathe properly, I desperately clawed at Long Dian's hands with my own two hands. However, skin that could not even be harmed by light weapons was obviously not going to be scratched by my nails.

On the other hand, Kenshin fell silent.

_Oh no, Kenshin definitely would not be able to smash me to pieces as well. What should we do now? _Suddenly, the thought that the Dictator of Life still existed in Long Dian rang out in myoxygen-deprived brain. _Even though the Dictator of Life gave up on his consciousness, could he_ _possibly still be around? Otherwise, why would the words "Dictator of Life" have affected Long Dian?_

"D-Dictator of Life…" I choked desperately.

Long Dian shuddered again, but he himself did not notice this slight movement. He only reflexively squeezed my throat even harder. _Damn it, I'm starting to lose my consciousness._

"Stop, don't you dare hurt Prince!" Gui, who had been on the airship, suddenly charged at us

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recklessly.

Since he could send even Zhuo-gēge flying with one shove, naturally, Long Dian did not consider Gui a threat. He simply raised his leg slightly and kicked Gui, sending him a long distance away and making him vomit blood continuously.

Probably because he saw my face turn pale, Gui did his best to crawl back toward us. He said, "Stop, or you will strangle Prince. If Prince dies, you won't have a hostage to threaten Kenshin with."

Long Dian furrowed his brows and relaxed his grip. Impatient, he yelled at Kenshin, "Get lost. You two better take the airship and scram, or I will break this woman's neck."

"Dictator of Life, I am here because you said 'thank you' to me that time," I squeezed out through my teeth.

Long Dian looked at me suspiciously and tightened his grip, but relaxed it immediately after. His expression changed dramatically as he finally sensed that something was wrong. However, this also confirmed my suspicions that the Dictator of Life had not completely vanished.

"Dictator, do you remember who I am? I'm Prince…"

"Prince…" A look of longing flashed across Long Dian's face. He lost his focus for a moment and actually released me.

Long Dian's expression then changed to one of disbelief, and he tried to grab me again… By then, I had already picked up the flying dagger that had fallen to the ground. However, I wasn't going to stab Long Dian with it; I had another plan.

I cut off my hair with one movement, leaving it around the same length as Prince's. I leaned toward Long Dian, but said the Dictator of Life's name instead. "Dictator of Life, do you remember? You thanked me for letting you understand the meaning of love."

Many expressions flashed across Long Dian's face. There was shock, gentleness, some regret…

"Dictator of Life, you too saw what your father did. Don't give in to him anymore," I shouted rather emotionally.

"Prince…" Long Dian hung his head.

_Did I succeed? _I moved even closer, hoping to see whether the Dictator of Life had returned…

Long Dian, or the Dictator of Life, held out his hand to me. _Is it the Dictator of Life?_ I watched as he slowly lifted his head, eyes filled with deceit… and that hand was currently being thrust at my heart…

I finally understood how my younger brother had felt when Lolidragon protected him. In front of me stood Gui, a cruel hand piercing right through his chest.

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"Gui, please don't die." My mind initially blanked out, but it was then slowly dyed with the red of Gui's flowing blood. _No! Gui must not die!_ At that moment, I finally understood. _I definitely cannot_ _lose Gui, absolutely not!_

However, the expression that appeared on Gui's face was part gratification and part apologetic. Before collapsing, he said something in a voice that was too soft to be heard. "Thank god you're okay…"

There was blood everywhere — Lolidragon's, Cold Fox's, Nan Gong Zui's, Wicked's, and Gui's…

_My comrades have all fallen. Everyone has fallen._

My tears were flowing, but I felt a frightening emptiness in my heart. I raised Cold Fox's dagger and simply said, "Long Dian, you said that you had nothing left to lose. What a coincidence. I too have nothing left now."

I glared directly at Long Dian, who actually looked away as if he were feeling guilty. Calmly, I said, "Come. Let us finish this."

Long Dian also revealed an expression which showed that he wanted to end all this. At that moment, I took the initiative to attack. The terror, the fear of death, and the fear of pain that I originally had, all of it disappeared. The only feeling that remained was the need to defeat the person in front of me, the person who had taken everything away from me!

In a flash, I appeared in front of Long Dian, moving with a speed comparable to his. Of course, the price I paid was how all of the muscles in my body were protesting. No matter how sore my body felt, however, it could not be compared to the pain of witnessing all my comrades collapse one by one.

My flying dagger clashed at lightning speed with Long Dian's hands. Surprisingly, I could actually match Long Dian's speed. With his bare hands, Long Dian was defending against a flying dagger that could actually hurt him, so naturally, he did not stand to benefit. Soon, his hands were completely stained with blood.

Realizing that he could not continue like this, a devious look appeared in Long Dian's eyes again. It was a pity that I could not guess, and did not have any extra energy to guess, what he was up to. I was already pushing myself past my limit just to keep up with Long Dian's speed. Even the light armor that I was wearing was making crackling sounds, making me worry about whether the armor would last until I defeated Long Dian.

I was still thinking about how to end this battle as quickly as possible, when Long Dian, who had been avoiding the flying dagger, suddenly took the initiative and moved his hands toward the flying dagger that I was holding. Before I could even figure out what Long Dian was trying to do, my flying dagger was already stuck in one of his palms, and his other hand was lunging toward my stomach. Knowing that if the blow landed solidly on me I would probably never get up again, I had no choice but to let go of the flying dagger and retreat in the same direction as Long Dian's attack. This was the only way to successfully avoid most of the damage caused by Long Dian's terrifying strength.

However, the remaining force of the attack was bad enough. The immense pain in my stomach

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made my face turn deathly pale.

Without the flying dagger, I had no choice but to pick up the lightsaber. Although I already knew that it was useless, I was used to holding a dao. Long Dian pulled the flying dagger out of his palm, twisted it until it was like a screw and tossed it aside. He then moved slowly toward me.

Trembling slightly, I could not help but move a step backwards. However, I actually kicked something. Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cold Fox, who was lying down on the ground…

"_I have three flying daggers."_

This sentence suddenly sprung up in my mind. _Three daggers!_ I calmed my emotions, and charged at Long Dian recklessly. When he noticed that I was wielding a lightsaber, a smile of disdain appeared on his face.

I made a show of slashing at Long Dian with the lightsaber multiple times, blows which Long Dian easily blocked using his hands. However, my goal was not to defeat Long Dian with a lightsaber. _What I want to do is… _Once Long Dian let down his guard, I used the lightsaber and sliced into theold wound in his stomach… causing the wound to immediately split open.

"You!" Furious, Long Dian slammed his fist onto my back. This blow landed solidly, and blood instantly sprayed out of my mouth like a fountain…

I sank to my knees right in front of Long Dian. Someone who did not know what was going on might've actually thought that I was prostrating myself before him.

"So, Prince, you still lost in the end." Long Dian smiled cruelly, saying, "Now, I'm going to make you die a very painful death. Count it as my return gift for when you made the Dictator revolt against me."

I had lost too much blood and my consciousness was beginning to fade, but I was only one step away from success. I cut my thigh with the lightsaber, the new pain bringing me to my senses. After that, I stuck my hand into the wound in Long Dian's stomach without hesitation.

"Hmph, you wouldn't happen to think that you can hurt me with just your hands, right?" Long Dian laughed, but as if remembering something, he added, "Don't think that I have any organs for you to injure. My organs are there just for show; they do not serve any purpose."

I managed to find a hard object while searching around inside Long Dian's stomach. In an instant, I pulled it out, stood up, tightened my grip on Cold Fox's flying dagger and slashed at Long Dian's neck with all my strength…

Thunk! And there was naught but a headless corpse in front of me. In the next instant, I thrust the flying dagger into the head that had fallen on the ground and hacked it into mush. _Can I actually_ _kill Long Dian by doing this…? Probably not. _I plopped down on the ground._ He can return to the online world…_

"Long Dian… is dead." Kenshin actually said this outrageous line.

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I lacked the strength to open my mouth, so I just turned my head and looked at Kenshin, asking him a wordless question.

"The two of us have been constantly monitoring him, and he has not returned to the online world." Kenshin simply stated what he knew.

"Sigh, he's still human after all. When he saw his own head fall onto the ground, he instinctively thought that he was dead. Just like that, his consciousness also vanished," sighed Sunshine.

"Quickly… save the other… people…" I panted desperately, before feeling giddy and finally becoming enveloped in darkness.

What all of us had forgotten was that Long Dian had originally wanted the entire world to see our lifeless bodies. However, his plan had backfired and the whole world could see that the terrorist was now dead. Also, he had been killed by a famous person that everyone knew: the Lord of Infinite City in Second Life — the Blood Elf Prince!

Although Prince had been wearing light armor that covered his entire body 1, and no one ever found the real Prince, the legend of the Prince who saved the whole world would always remain… becoming an Eternal Legend!

"**Light armor that covered his entire body": **Prince's face was hidden by the armor, so no one knew if it wasactually him.

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**Extra Chapter : Epilogue (End)**

_The story has finally reached this point! _I couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief._ I have finally finished penning down the final battle! _I had only realized as I was writing how dangerous andadrenaline-inducing the battle had been. As someone who had been involved, I could only feel my heart racing and beating really loudly.

Afterwards, everyone started living their own separate lives. Wolf- dàgē and Yu Lian-dàsǎo were finally married in real life as well, and both of them followed Doll back to her country. Wolf-dàgē continued to practice medicine there, and Yu Lian-dàsǎo continued her job as a financial advisor as well.

Five years later, Doll became the queen of her country. This was really shocking news—_Doll, a_ _queen? God bless her country; hopefully it will survive until Doll steps down from the throne._

In the end, Nan Gong Zui married Ice Phoenix… although there was a mishap during the day of the wedding ceremony. Fan actually appeared without notice! With an obnoxious smile, he presented the bride with 999 red roses… Everyone was worrying whether the bride would be the first person to raise an objection if the priest were to ask if there was anyone who objected to the marriage, when Phoenix did something that all of us applauded in our hearts. She walked up to Fan, raised a 10-centimeter-high bridal heel, and kicked Fan's XXX with all her might. I'm not too sure, but I thought I heard a "Pop!" sound at that moment! However, the thing that broke definitely hadn't been Phoenix's heels…

After we called an ambulance to send Fan to hospital, Zui and Phoenix's wedding ceremony ended perfectly (though I would have preferred to call a garbage truck instead of an ambulance!). The sweet couple then went on to become the nemesis of all criminals; they were known as the Criminal-Busting-Couple.

The most unbelievable thing was… Lolidragon actually became my sister-in-law! Moreover, it was a shotgun marriage…

Although my younger brother and Lolidragon were in a relationship, Lolidragon kept refusing to marry Yang Ming because he was a few years younger than her. However, one day, for some unknown reason, Yang Ming borrowed a sewing needle that I had never used before and poked something—ahem, you know, the thing that starts with "con" and ends with "dom"—as though he had an unforgivable feud with it…

Three months later I had a sister-in-law and a nephew who was due to be born in seven months.

Hehe, now that I've reached this point, everyone must be worried about Sunshine and Kenshin, right?

All's well that ends well. In order for Sunshine to be together with Fairsky in real life, Gui and Zhuo-gēge finally agreed to work together. With Lolidragon and Doll providing funding, "Project Artificial Body Development" was established. Basically, the project was an extension of Long Dian's initial plan to develop an artificial body. In the end, Sunshine was able to move out of the

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game and forever stay by Fairsky's side in reality. Their location at the moment is currently unknown, as they are always traveling around the globe. They might be adventuring in Africa right now for all I know!

As the saying goes, one example will trigger a chain reaction. Since Celestial wanted to pester Doll, he was the first among the rest of the NPCs to come out of the game. Currently, he is working as Queen Doll's exclusive bodyguard.

Next was my cute Meatbun. If I had left it alone in Second Life, it would have definitely created a new record for flooding in Second Life. Naturally, after that, Fire Phoenix insisted on playing in reality together with her husband, so we let it out too.

Finally, we even created an artificial body for Kenshin, who hadn't really wanted to enter reality. (Of course, one very important factor for the creation of his body was the fact that Cold Fox had been threatening Gui and Wicked with flying daggers.)

Kenshin is still refusing to follow Cold Fox home. Since he has nowhere else to go, he stays in my house. After he started to clean my house because he had nothing else to do, he became my place's ultimate housekeeper. The floors of my house are always as shiny as a mirror, and if you don't pay attention when walking on it, you would probably fall from the fifth floor to the first floor.

Cold Fox still comes to spar with Kenshin every three days, though to date, he has never won. (Obviously! Gui and Wicked designed Kenshin's body as the supreme bodyguard type. Even if you were to shoot at Kenshin with a machine gun, he wouldn't have any injuries at all. It would take a miracle for a human to beat him.)

Ah, that reminds me, my cousin Rose and Broken Sword got married shortly after the final battle. When they found out that I was Prince, they were so surprised that their jaws nearly dropped. Nonetheless, they didn't forget to use this information to blackmail me into giving them a very big red packet 1 for their wedding…

Now that I think about it, I haven't seen everyone in a while. Ever since that battle ten years ago, everyone went their separate ways and returned to their normal lives. It has been such a long time that I can't help but reminisce about the time we spent together…

BANG! My cypress door which cost me an arm and a leg was suddenly kicked open. I couldn't hold my anger in and yelled, "Just who dares to kick my precious door and disturb me? Don't you know that today is the day when I pretend to have a calm disposition?"

"But, Xiao Xiao Lan was asking for you." With an innocent smile, my mom put the cute little girl in her arms down. That pair of big eyes that was exactly the same as mine was the source of my pride! Although everyone keeps telling me that Xiao Xiao Lan looks more like her dad, her eyes are a carbon copy of mine.

"Daddy~~," said Xiao Xiao Lan. Once my mom put Xiao Xiao Lan on the ground, she wasted no

**Big red packet: **Red packets contain a sum of money folded inside red paper and are given both during ChineseNew Year to unmarried younger relatives as well as to the bride and groom during their wedding ceremony. A big red packet refers to there being more money inside, not to the actual size of the red packet.

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time running into my arms.

"It's Mommy!" Resigned, I corrected my daughter for the Nth time.

"It's not!" Xiao Xiao Lan said while pouting with her tiny mouth, "My kindergarten teacher said that the person who carried and gave birth to Xiao Xiao Lan is Mommy, while the other person is Daddy!"

_This _… I twiddled my thumbs, feeling slightly guilty._ It's because I'm scared of pain… so, so that time I…_

"Gui, I want a child!" I blurted all of a sudden.

The story started when my stupid brother, after the Long Dian event, finally won the heart of big sister Lolidragon. After his marriage proposal had been shot down tens of times, my brother finally married Lolidragon with the help of a sewing needle. At the day of my brother's graduation, he suddenly received the news that his wife was going into labor, so he left the ceremony abruptly in his graduation robes, dragging me along.

"Sis, drive faster!" Yang Ming was like a cat on hot bricks. He was so anxious that he forgot he had sworn never to ride anything that I was driving ever again, and he even wanted me to speed up. Alright, since he was so anxious, I pressed down harder on the accelerator until we were going at three hundred kilometers per hour…

_Fortunately, little Long Ming still has his dad!_

I held Lolidragon and my brother's baby, Feng Long Ming, in my arms. As I stared at his soft body and chubby arms, I thought that he looked really cute! However, my stupid brother kept saying that whenever he saw the way I held little Long Ming, he would nearly have a heart attack, so he always refused to let me hold the baby…

…The only chance I ever had of carrying Long Ming was when he wasn't around, and Lolidragon had passed him to me so that she could sneak out and buy LV and Chanel goods.

Gui, who had been massaging my shoulders, was stunned for ten seconds when he heard my sudden declaration. Then, he asked excitedly, "But dear, didn't you say that you don't want to give birth because you are scared of pain?"

"That's right, it will be painful…" I said. I tilted my head and recalled the time when Lolidragon was in the delivery room. The way she kept yelling that she wanted to kill Yang Ming while she was giving birth gave me a sense of trepidation. (Though, Yang Ming's yell when his arm was broken by Lolidragon as he stayed by her side while she was giving birth wasn't that much softer…)

"Babies are so cute, but it would be so painful…" I knocked my head with my hand repeatedly and didn't realize that I nearly dropped little Long Ming. Gui quickly took little Long Ming away from me to prevent a tragedy. Namely, the tragedy where Yang Ming, Lolidragon, my parents, and Long-

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bà hunted me down.

"What should I do…" I thought harder and harder…

Kenshin, who had been cleaning quietly at the side, suddenly walked over in silence and put a newspaper down before leaving silently as well.

"Kenshin, didn't Cold Fox ask you out for tea?" I recalled that Cold Fox had asked Kenshin out the last time he was here.

"I'm not going." Kenshin answered simply and directly, "I still want to be a man."

_What a good reason for not going. _I bit my index finger and shrugged, "Is there any differencebetween going and not going? Even if you don't go, Cold Fox will still come over to our house to drink with you."

"To be exact, this is Lolidragon's house." After Kenshin stated this fact, he continued vacuuming the house.

_Poor Cold Fox, I wonder how much tea he would have to drink before he can win Kenshin's icy heart… _I casually picked up today's newspaper, thinking about reading which political figures weremessing around today, but when I saw the headline, my eyes lit up like two infinitely dazzling light bulbs!

"Gui, look!" With eyes that were still shining brightly, I looked pleadingly at my dearest husband, Gui.

"This is…" Gui was dumbstruck. He stared at the newspaper in my hand in disbelief, and then looked at me.

Written clearly on the newspaper was, "XX Hospital Has Successfully Impregnated A Man, And He Gave Birth To A Healthy Baby Yesterday!"

I looked at cute little Long Ming in Gui's arms, and then I looked at Gui with my most irresistible puppy dog face…

Gui has never let me down.

Ten months later…

"Hubby, hang in there!" I said as I looked at Gui's pale face anxiously.

"Ok…" said Gui. He lay on the bed with a pale face and kept gasping for air.

"Wolf-dàgē, Gui will be fine, right?" I quickly asked Wolf-dàgē, who was wearing a surgeon's scrubs.

In order to help Gui deliver the baby without a hitch, Wolf-dàgē had specially come back from overseas. He laughed in a sunny way, and put his mask on. He said, "Don't worry, it'll be fine.

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There is no problem at all with Gui's prenatal examination reports, so he will definitely be able to give birth to a healthy child."

"Relax, Prince. Gui will be fine!" said Yu Lian-dàsǎo. She was dressed as a nurse, and she consoled me with a smile, "You should leave the room first. We are going to cut his abdomen open so we can take the child out now."

_What? They are going to cut Gui's abdomen open? Wouldn't he die then? After all, doesn't one kill a fish by cutting its stomach open? _I was panicking so much that my tears kept flowing,"Boohoohoo, don't cut Gui's stomach open! I don't want a child anymore. Gui, don't give birth anymore! You will die! Sob…"

Three black lines were visible on both Wolf-dàgē and Yu Lian-dàsǎo's faces. Gui suppressed the pain with his willpower and gently consoled, "No, I will be fine. Dear, you should go out and wait. In a moment, I will be out and holding the baby for you to see."

I stopped sobbing. A little suspicious, I asked, "Is that true?"

"Yes, you should leave faster!" said the three of them in unison.

I pouted and said, "I want to stay and keep Gui company."

All of a sudden, the door to the delivery room was opened and Zhuo-gēge appeared at the doorway with a resigned look on his face. He walked to my side, hugged me with one swift movement and proceeded to drag me out of the room. As he left, he said, "You guys can start now!"

"Bastard! Don't you dare take advantage of my wife while I'm giving birth!" yelled Gui. He was so angry that he leapt up from the bed and continued, "Do you hear me, Wicked? Let go of Prince!"

Wolf-dàgē grabbed Gui and threw him back onto the bed in one movement. He then sighed, "What a troublesome husband and wife pair indeed."

Next, since I didn't hear Gui's voice yelling for Zhuo-gēge not to do anything to me coming from the delivery room anymore, I started to get worried instead. _Don't tell me that, like a fish, Gui died_ _after his stomach was cut open? _I couldn't stop my imagination from running wild, and I pacedback and forth furiously outside the delivery room as though as my life depended on it.

"So, how is my brother-in-law? He still hasn't given birth to the baby yet?" said Yang Ming as he slowly walked over. He tried to maintain a serious demeanor, but he couldn't suppress his laughter anymore. As he slapped Zhuo Ling Bin's back, he laughed so hard that he became short of breath. He gasped, "Hahaha Zhuo-dàgē, you really should rejoice that you didn't marry my sister, or you would be the one giving birth right now!"

"Rejoice?" Zhuo Ling Bin repeated with a slight smile. The bitterness at the corner of his mouth couldn't be wiped off. He knew that if he had been the one who had taken the final blow for me and ended up lying on the sick bed for a month, the person giving birth right now could have been himself. Unfortunately, thinking of "what ifs" was completely meaningless.

"Waaa…" The clear sound of a baby crying came from the delivery room.

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I opened my mouth wide. _Has the baby… really been born?_

After a while, the door to the delivery room was pushed open. Yu Lian-dàsǎo walked out with a cloth bundle in her arms. I walked past Yu Lian-dàsǎo with large strides, combining three steps into two, and stopped in front of Gui. His eyes were still shut tightly, and his face was still pale, but it was evident that he was still breathing…

I finally let out a sigh of relief. I softly caressed Gui who was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and smiled broadly. I thought I should say something.

"Good job, hubby."

In order to name the child, Gui and I referred to astrology, the Eight Trigrams, I-ching, Tian Di-ching, I Chin Ching etc 2. All in all, after very careful consideration, we decided to name the cute daughter that Gui worked very hard to give birth to as Min Lan Lan. Everyone affectionately nicknamed her Xiao Xiao Lan. She has grown up to become the superbly cute young girl in front of me now.

"Oh right. Daddy, Zhuo-gēge is here," said Xiao Xiao Lan while smiling happily.

"Xiao Xiao Lan should call him Zhuo-shūshu 3; only Mommy can call him Zhuo-gēge." Once again, I corrected my daughter's messed-up terms of address.

"Oh Daddy, just to let you know, Mommy and Zhuo-gēge are fighting!" Xiao Xiao Lan's face was full of excitement as she said this, and she even punched the air energetically with her little fists.

"What?" My eyes nearly dropped out of their sockets. _They're fighting again? But I've been here_ _this whole time, so I couldn't have been the one who lit the fuse…_

"Why are they fighting again?" I asked.

"I don't know!" answered Xiao Xiao Lan. She tilted her little head and tapped the dimples on her face with her forefinger in confusion. She continued, "After Xiao Xiao Lan said that she wanted to marry Zhuo-gēge when she grows up, Mommy immediately said he would fight Zhuo-gēge to the death, so Xiao Xiao Lan really doesn't know why they are fighting."

"…You want to marry Zhuo-gēge?" I picked Xiao Xiao Lan up and said, "Xiao Xiao Lan, the age gap between you and Zhuo-gēge is more than thirty years!"

"Why does it matter?" Xiao Xiao Lan puffed out her chest and counted her fingers, saying, "Long-jiějie is older than Ming-gēge by a few years, Kenshin-gēge and Cold Fox-gēge are both men, Doll-

**Tian Di-ching, I Chin Ching: **These last two are rather unexpected choices… Tian Di-ching was a method used byancient Chinese to tell time by the heavens. For example, one day was split into 12 hours (not 24!), 5 of which were night. Also, it was used to mark the calendar by the seasons. I Chin Ching is "changing tendon exercise", which is a

way of training one's muscles and tendons. See wiki/Yijin_Jing. 3 **Zhuo-shūshu:** Shūshu means uncle.

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jiějie and Celestial-jiějie are both women…"

"Celestial is a man, he only looks like a woman." Once again, I corrected my daughter's mistakes.

_Also… Xiao Xiao Lan, are gēge and jiějie the only terms of address you know?_

"There is also Meatbunbun-gēge and Fire Phoenix-jiějie!" The last couple that Xiao Xiao Lan used as an example was neither human nor even living creatures!

_Don't tell me that due to being wrongly influenced by these messed-up couples, she has decided that she wants to marry Zhuo-gēge? _I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry. Then again, it wasquite common for humans to live for about two hundred years now, so a thirty-year age difference shouldn't be a problem, right? Though, Gui would definitely go crazy over this…

"Alright Daddy, Xiao Xiao Lan wants to go and play with Meatbunbun-gēge now," said my beloved daughter as she skipped happily out of my study.

I reminded Xiao Xiao Lan, "Be careful of Fire Phoenix's jealousy. Don't get burned by her."

"Yes~~~," answered Xiao Xiao Lan as she closed the door to the study behind her.

"I wonder how long Gui and Zhuo-gēge are going to fight for?" I said as I scratched my face. Although I knew that Zhuo-gēge wouldn't injure Gui heavily, if that handsome face of Gui's were injured, I'd still feel pained.

As for Zhuo-gēge's safety, I didn't need to worry about that at all. These two have been fighting for the past ten years, and I have never seen him get injured before. More often than not, it was Gui's wounds that I had to tend to while he winced in pain.

"Kenshin is cleaning the living room, so they can't continue fighting for long," my mother explained with a smile.

"Kenshin's there? Then I have nothing to worry about," I said, relieved. I then decided to continue working. _Who? Who is the one who said that my job is just me pretending to be a lady? That's not_ _my job, okay? I'm writing a book! A book!_

"Dictator, summon my incomplete book," I commanded to the air.

A holographic human form appeared before my study desk. He had a head of flowing red hair and grey eyes, and there was even an exotic magic tattoo under his left eye. The Dictator of Life gently smiled and asked, "Are you going to finish writing the book now?"

"Yes!" I laughed. Thank goodness I have the Dictator of Life to help me out, or else I would mess everything up. Luckily, after Long Dian's consciousness disappeared, the Dictator of Life's consciousness came back, and he returned to the world of the internet… However, that guy Kenshin said that revealing that the Dictator of Life was still alive would create a lot of problems, so it would be better to say he had died… _That made me really sad for a while!_

_Anyway, this story is finally nearing its end. _I gently knocked my head and said, "Let me think…Mm, let's do this. 'From then on, everyone lived happily ever after.' Is this a good ending?"

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"That is perfect. What about the title of the book?" asked the Dictator of Life with a smile.

As I opened my mouth to answer, the door to the study was slammed open once again. Just like before, someone rushed into my embrace. He complained with a face covered in tears and snot, "Dear, Wicked is trying to make off with our Xiao Xiao Lan!"

"I am not!" Wicked said in a stern voice with pursed lips.

"No? If you aren't, then why would Xiao Xiao Lan say that she wants to marry you? You obviously saw how young and innocent our Xiao Xiao Lan is, and that's why you deliberately tricked her! You perverted pedophile!" Not to be outdone, Gui roared back.

"I. Am. Not. A. Pedophile!" Zhuo-gēge snarled each word with gritted teeth.

"Yes you are!" Gui said with iron conviction, "Back then, you fell in love with my wife when she was only a few years old, and now you are aiming for our Xiao Xiao Lan. If you don't call this pedophilia, what do you call it?"

"Gui, stop creating a ruckus." I quickly said in order to stop the escalating situation. Zhuo-gēge's face's was so livid with rage that he seemed like he was going to go berserk soon. If Gui had continued causing an uproar, I might've ended up becoming a widow today.

"I… I was only worried about our beloved daughter," Gui said as he wore an expression of hurt, hugging me in the process, and then he looked at Zhuo-gēge with a victorious expression.

"Rest assured. Rather than me, you should be more worried about yourself, the gay-with-a-daughter-complex!" Zhuo-gēge coldly sneered back.

"What did you say?" Gui asked, furious.

The two of them immediately started fighting again. With his martial prowess, Zhuo Ling Bin was dangerous even if he was unarmed…

At least, against Gui, a defenseless professor, his attacks were lethal! Although Gui couldn't defeat even one finger of Zhuo Ling Bin's, he could still use the only attack he knew, which was to dodge constantly while picking up random stuff beside him to throw in Zhuo Ling Bin's direction.

I watched my belongings—my book, my paperweight, and my mouse—being thrown around by Gui. Zhuo-gēge destroyed my flower vase and chair with his random kicks. _My precious study is_ _being devastated by these two tactless people… I'm furious!_

I was so angry that N number of my veins popped out, and my fists were clenched tightly. Finally, I unleashed my ultimate attack, bellowing, "Cold Fox! Some people are increasing the amount of cleaning that Kenshin has to do!"

As the words left my mouth, Zhuo- gēge froze in midair in the middle of a kick, while Gui looked at the mug he was going to throw and carefully placed it back at its original spot.

Cold Fox is truly the most ruthless of all. Especially when it comes to matters concerning Kenshin,

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he doesn't know what it means to have mercy!

After all, no one wants to go against a person who, at the age of eighteen and still wearing his school uniform, already wielded flying daggers as a member of the criminal underworld! Unless you feel you've lived too long and want to die immediately, that is.

From the door, two figures walked in silently. One of them was Kenshin, and the other was his perpetual stalker — Cold Fox.

"Everyone is here," said Kenshin succinctly.

_Everyone? Who is "everyone"? _I thought, confused.

"Wicked and Gui, are both of you fighting again?" asked Wolf-dàgē. His hearty laugh was so loud that it could be heard coming from outside the study, and it was accompanied by the sound of Yu Lian-dàsǎo's soft laughter.

"Wolf-dàgē/Wolf-gē!" The three of us said in unison.

"Wolf-gē, why are you here?" asked Gui, surprised.

"Oh? Has everyone forgotten what day today is?" asked Yu Lian-dàsǎo. The smile on her face was as warm as ever.

"Yu Lian-dàsǎo is here too?" I said as I rushed into her arms, unable to restrain myself as I hadn't seen her in a long time.

"You're an adult now, yet you still act like a spoiled child." Yu Lian-dàsǎo gently chided me, but there was an obvious hint of a smile in the corner of her eyes.

"This fellow has always been like this. She hasn't grown up at all." Lolidragon teased me as she leaned on the doorway.

"As the saying goes, a leopard never changes its spots!" said Yang Ming as he revealed a helpless expression.

Astonished, I asked, "Eh? Why are both of you home early today? Doesn't Gui usually have to drive to the pub in order to drag the two of you, who are completely wasted, home?"

"Sigh, the pub has closed down," said Lolidragon with an expression full of heartfelt pain.

"Oh?" _It can't be that…_

"I only picked a few fights in their shop. To my surprise, they went out of business and now we have to look for a new pub again." Yang Ming sighed as he shook his head. He said, "Lolidragon, if you had flirted less, then I wouldn't have had to fight with that group of perverts."

"Hmph! You're the one who should flirt less. This reminds me, what happened to that hot babe from last time?" replied Lolidragon, determined not to be outdone.

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As expected, the closure of the pub was caused by these two people. I shook my head.

"Prince-gēge!" A dignified face with a hint of playfulness appeared beside the door. The androgynous beauty standing beside her revealed the identity of the young girl.

"Doll! Celestial!" Now I was really shocked. If a queen had come and leaned on your door, even if you knew her true nature, you would be shocked, right? I asked in slight disbelief, "Doll, why are you here too?"

"Hehe, this is because Doll wants to marry Celestial!" Doll said while pouting.

"You want to marry him?" I asked, though I wasn't very surprised about that. After all, Fairsky and Sunshine had already set an example. _But how is this linked to the reason why she's at my house_ _now?_

"However, my chancellors said that because I am the Queen, I can't marry Celestial. Therefore, I abdicated and passed the crown to my younger sister." Doll was all smiles as she said, "Now Doll doesn't have a place to go anymore, so is it alright for Doll to stay with Prince-gēge and everyone else from now on?"

"Of course! I've always felt that this house is too big and the number of people staying here too few. It's not lively enough!" I said, laughing happily.

"What was Prince-gēge doing? The Dictator of Life has been grinning stupidly beside you this whole time." The observant Doll noticed the virtual form of the Dictator of Life awaiting my order beside me.

"Ah!" I exclaimed, almost forgetting that the Dictator was still waiting for me to name the book.

"I'm naming my book!"

On hearing this, everyone looked at one another. They said, "Didn't you already name it long ago?"

"Ah?" _My book's name has already been decided? How come I'm the only person who doesn't_ _know that?_

"Everyone felt that, regardless of whether you were a guy or girl, you'd forever remain in our hearts as the Blood Elf Prince who always laughed with pride, cherished his comrades, and was a most incredible person; but since you're really a woman, we reluctantly named you Half Prince."

**[½ Prince END]**

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	8. Chapter 8

½ Prince Volume 9- Sequel

½ Prince Volume 9- **Sequel**

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我(Yu Wo)

Translated by Prince Revolution

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½ Prince Volume 9- Sequel

DISCLAIMER!

Please take not of the following:

The following translation of ½ Prince Volume 9- Sequel is by **Prince Revolution!** and is a "by fans for fans" translation.

This translation is completely FREE of charge, so if you have paid for this you have been ripped off!

**Prince Revolution! **does not ask for donations, payment or anything else of thesort. We do not benefit monetarily from our novel translations AT ALL.

We only ask that you do not steal credit or attempt to profit monetary from our translation. Please also inform us if you come across individuals or groups stealing credit or profiting monetarily from our translations.

Copyrights

Copyrights to ½ Prince novels are held by Yu Wo, the author of the novels.

Copyrights to ½ Prince novel artworks are held by Xiao Qiang, Ya Sha and Zhan Bu Lu, the cover artists.

One Last Thing

**Prince Revolution! **has received permission from Yu Wo to translate the novelsinto English. However this is NOT an official translation of the novels!

As such, please cease distribution of this PDF (make sure you get your copy from PR! and not another site, if so, report the site to PR!) once an official ENGLISH version of the novels has been published.

HAPPY READING!

2

Credits

Translators

raylight (Chapter 1, 2, 6) Nausicaä (Chapter 3, 4) lucathia (Chapter 5)

Lily (Chapter 5)

Evangeline (Chapter 7, 8)

Art

Xiao Qiang

Ya Sha

Zhan Bu Lu

½ Prince Volume 9- Sequel

About Prince Rev!

**Prince Revolution!(or PR! for short)was started in late April in 2009 by Erialis for the purpose of translating and sharing the ½ Prince and The Legend of Sun Knight novels (and now Female Warrior) with other fans (who unfortunately couldn't read Chinese). PR!'s crew has since exploded to include sixteen translators who double as Chinese to English editors and 18 Proofreaders. They also have sister sites translating the novels into Dutch, Spanish, Indonesian, Portuguese and Vietnamese.**

Proofreaders

Arcedemius (Chapter 1,

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Liene (Chapter 4)

Rryw (Chapter 4, 6, 7,

8)

Chinese/English

Proofreaders

lucathia (Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8)

raylight (Chapter 3, 4, 5) dahlys (Chapter 7, 8) eilinel (Chapter 7, 8)

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½ Prince Volume 9- Sequel

½ Prince Volume 9- Sequel

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu

Wo)

Chapter 1: Feng Long Ming, Part One

Chapter 2: Feng Long Ming, Part Two

Chapter 3: Xiao Xiao Lan, Part One

Chapter 4: Xiao Xiao Lan, Part Two

Chapter 5: Wicked, Part One

Chapter 6: Wicked, Part Two

Chapter 7: Kenshin, Part One

Chapter 8: Kenshin, Part Two

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½ Prince Volume 9- Sequel

Chapter 1: Feng Long Ming, Part One

My name is Feng Long Ming, and I am sixteen this year. Perhaps you may feel that my name is a good name, with the meaning of becoming famous throughout the world just like a dragon. However, I apologize for having to shatter your conjectures. The reason why I am called Feng Long Ming is because my father is called Feng Yang Ming, and my mother is called Long Shui Han. With my parents' personalities that I know too well, they had probably written out all six words of their names on pieces of paper, and then chose three of them to form a name… Thank God! I wasn't called Shui Long or Feng Long, or even worse, if they had picked "Feng Shui," then I really don't know if I should or shouldn't go to a Feng Shui master to ask him to take me as a disciple. 1

Truthfully, I have never understood how my father and my mother, being so messed-up, managed to raise a sensible kid like me. Could it be the result of things developing in the opposite direction when they become too extreme?

**(Wrong! That's 'cause both your parents and my parents are messed-up, that's why they would throw a four-year-old girl to a five-year-old boy to take care of. If you, who had started being a replacement father since the age of five, hadn't become more serious and responsible, the two of us would have been reincarnated a long time ago.)**

Min Lan Lan is also nicknamed Xiao Xiao Lan. Her mother and my father are twins. Of course, that makes her my cousin, and her way of

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speaking always hits the bull's eye.

This was not the most ridiculous part about my parents. To give an example, my parents love going to the pub the most – no, perhaps I should say, the two of them enjoy "ending" pubs the most. Up until now, the two of them have already semi-destroyed twenty pubs and completely destroyed fifteen pubs. There were all sorts of strange reasons for the destruction of the pubs, such as jealousy, people from the criminal underground looking for revenge, and trouble from getting drunk. There was even one instance where my mom suddenly wanted to cook a poached egg for my dad to eat and so she borrowed the pub's kitchen to use.

The strange thing was, the kitchen exploded – right at the same time my mom stepped out of the kitchen. My dad went to the hospital because my mother had used dish detergent as salad oil. The dance hall of the pub also got destroyed because my mom called her own fire truck to help extinguish the fire in the kitchen. Unfortunately, at that moment only Xiao Xiao Lan's mom had been at home, and hence the fire truck was driven there by her. Just as the intensity of the fire was diminishing due to the dance hall staff using ten and more fire extinguishers, the fire truck crashed into the pub's dance hall.

"Where's the fire?" Xiao Xiao Lan's mom asked honorably while holding a water hose. Afterwards, the fire truck's engine caught on fire.

Xiao Xiao Lan's mom had a lot of common sense, so she immediately evacuated the people, yelling, "Everyone, hurry and run away. When vehicles catch fire, it's very dangerous because they will explode!"

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After all the people had evacuated and Xiao Xiao Lan's mom stepped out of the pub as the final person, the vehicle indeed exploded. The photo of the composed way she walked out of the pub with the blaze of the explosion roaring behind her was published in the news for a whole week, with the headline: _Fire-fighting Heroine!_

Though the staff of the pub went through a lot of effort to try and clarify that the explosion was caused by this fire-fighting heroine.

After what happened, the dance halls within a hundred kilometer radius of our house all have a warning sign hanging outside: "Dogs and the Feng couple are not allowed inside!"

My parents' powers of destruction are like a nuclear warhead; extremely powerful, and they instill a fear in everyone that they wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. However, Xiao Xiao Lan's parents are not inferior in any respect. Like environmental pollution, you might not know how scary it is. It is just like how you use plastics very happily, but you would definitely never think that your plastics actually have something to do with the hole in the ozone layer one hundred and eight thousand miles away.

Upon seeing Xiao Xiao Lan's mother beaming from ear-to-ear as she served fine dishes one after another on the table, every visitor would give a thumbs up as they say one line: What a good wife and loving mother. If this really were the case, Xiao Xiao Lan's dad wouldn't be pushed around so badly by her mom. Originally, I too didn't understand what the relation between hair gel and a hole in the ozone layer was – no! I mean I didn't understand what exactly was so scary about Xiao Xiao Lan's mom. After all, she does great cooking, and

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always stroked my head while smiling. What exactly was there to be afraid of in this kind and gentle housewife?

These kinds of doubts continued until a certain day, when five or six kidnappers burst into our house. Even the security guards at my house had been overpowered, but Xiao Xiao Lan's mom was still cutting a bunch of ingredients in the kitchen. She had said that she wanted to attempt Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, 2 and this dish required a lot of time to prepare. She had to cook it well in advance, otherwise she wouldn't make it in time for dinner… Getting back to the topic, I only wanted to tell you all that, when this housewife was facing the kidnappers, she was extremely calm and at ease. She even reminded the kidnappers, "You didn't release the safety on your guns. You can't shoot like that."

One kidnapper flew into a rage out of humiliation, and was so angry that he wanted her to go into the living room and squat properly. However, Xiao Xiao Lan's mother only gave a slight frown and said, "Can I stay in the kitchen to look after the fire? Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is not easy to cook, since you have to pay attention to the heat level."

As you can imagine, the kidnappers would of course not allow their hostage to stay in the kitchen to cook Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. An impatient expression flickered across Xiao Xiao Lan's mother's face, and then she raised the kitchen knife that was by her side and gave a few quick swipes!

Swish, swish, swish, bang!

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In the first three swings, the guns that the kidnappers were holding broke into pieces. Last of all was the sound of the kitchen knife's handle knocking a kidnapper unconscious. (I have always wondered, what material is that kitchen knife made of?)

Xiao Xiao Lan's mother shouted, "Kenshin, take care of the children!"

Our housekeeper, Kenshin, was still using the vacuum cleaner to vacuum the floor. Once he heard her words, he moved so quickly that he was a blur, and instantly hauled Xiao Xiao Lan and me to the second story.

I forgot to mention to everyone that our house is a duplex apartment. From the second story, you can clearly see what is happening in the living room on the first floor. In this way, Xiao Xiao Lan and I managed to enjoy the view of "A housewife wielding a kitchen knife beating up five kidnappers armed with guns."

Ever since that time, Xiao Xiao Lan and I never dared to disobey her mother's words… We became as obedient as her dad. Speaking of which, I couldn't help but sigh as I looked around the deserted

European-styled villa. I had only left for a short while, so how was it that when I came back, the scene of everyone gathering together and bustling in excitement had completely vanished without a trace? What a waste of my efforts to specially buy dishes that go well with alcohol.

"Where did everyone go?"

"Perhaps Kenshin would know?" I guessed, and then walked to the kitchen. As expected, inside there I saw an apron-draped Kenshin cooking soup. I forgot to mention, this guy with red hair and a scar on

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his face, Kenshin, is my family's distant relative. Because he has no one else to depend on, he has always stayed in our house as a housekeeper. His cleaning work is extremely good. To find a speck of dust in our house is harder than ascending to the heavens… Though I say that, actually Xiao Xiao Lan and I know an enormous secret. This secret was something that Xiao Xiao Lan and I found out by accident. Actually, Kenshin is not just our housekeeper, but also part of a crime syndicate!

The reason why we know the truth was because we found out that Uncle Leng 3 who always comes to look for Kenshin to go out is actually part of the Ice Emperor Syndicate that is famous in the criminal underground. Not to mention that he is even the most famous assassin – Silver-Masked Quick Fox!

_Kenshin must be one of Silver-Masked Quick Fox's assassins, _both Xiao

Xiao Lan and I guessed. However, we weren't scared of Kenshin because of this, for in our hearts, Kenshin was still the multi-talented housekeeper who we went to when we were hungry!

"Kenshin, where did everyone go?" I asked.

Kenshin's gaze shifted onto me, and without any change in expression, he answered, "To the place where they first met."

"When are they coming back?" I was not surprised at all, for Xiao Xiao Lan's and my parents were always running around somewhere.

"Tomorrow, maybe." Kenshin lowered his head to taste the soup again, and then turned around to tell me, "Time to eat."

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I nodded my head and carried the cooked dishes out. Once I stepped into the dining room, I saw Xiao Xiao Lan scrutinizing a simulation helmet. Curious, I asked, "You want to go to the simulation supermarket to buy stuff?"

"As if!" Xiao Xiao Lan replied casually, "If I want to buy stuff, I have to try it before I buy it. The items in the simulation supermarket aren't the real product."

"Then what are you doing?"

"I just found this in a bunch of stuff that Long jiě-jie brought back. I'm not sure if it is a new product by her company, so I'm checking it out right now." Xiao Xiao Lan looked at it for a moment, and then couldn't help but frown as she muttered, "That's strange. This simulation helmet doesn't seem like a new product. Instead, it appears to be an old model."

"Perhaps my mother is buying random antiques again?" I put a plate on the table. This was something that had a high possibility of happening, for my mom's ability to shop was simply shocking. She shopped so much that besides our house we had built an additional storeroom of 661.02 square meters, just for the sake of storing the random items that my mom bought.

Xiao Xiao Lan shrugged her shoulders, saying, "We'll know once we put it on." Saying that, she really put on the helmet that came from unknown origins.

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I was a little worried, for the items that my mom brought back, if they weren't beauty products, clothes, accessories or bags, then they were usually dangerous items! It was not always the case, but last time, my mom brought back an ancient Egyptian necklace, which turned out to be a cursed necklace. At that time, we kept hearing footsteps and a woman weeping in the middle of the night in our house. This kind of situation continued up until Xiao Xiao Lan and I complained to Xiao

Xiao Lan's mother. Then, it ended.

Because after that, the necklace was hacked into seventeen, eighteen pieces. Based on the cuts, the weapon should have been a kitchen knife. Because of that, my mom even had a quarrel with Xiao Xiao

Lan's mom. However, after a kitchen knife spun past my mom and impaled deep into the wall behind her, other than throwing out the necklace, my mom didn't do anything more.

At this moment, Xiao Xiao Lan suddenly shrieked, "It's a simulation game!"

"What game?" I relaxed. _So it was a game. Perhaps it's newly released_ _by the company._

Xiao Xiao Lan didn't say a word more. I was suddenly suspicious, and shook her shoulders in a panic, shouting, "Xiao Xiao Lan? Xiao Xiao Lan, hurry up and answer me!"

Xiao Xiao Lan was dazed for a moment, and then she gave me a strong flick on the forehead. After removing her helmet, she muttered in dissatisfaction, "What? I was just about to create a character to go in and look."

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I rubbed my innocent head, and said, "I was worried about you. It would be better not to casually wear a helmet from unknown origins. If you want to play a game, then it'd be better to use your own helmet. Isn't yours the best simulation helmet the company has to offer?"

"But this is not the same!" Xiao Xiao Lan seemed a little excited as she exclaimed, "This simulation helmet is specific to one game, unlike our multi-purpose simulation helmets that can go into the simulation supermarket to buy stuff, or read and whatever, and even play all kinds of games."

"And also…" Xiao Xiao Lan had a strange look on her face as she continued, "This game is the forbidden game of the legends. I have only heard about it, but I have never found an entrance into it."

"Forbidden game? What game?" I was a little puzzled. _Wasn't it just a_ _game? What was in there to make it forbidden? Could it be that it was too violent, was that why it was banned?_

Xiao Xiao Lan gave a big smile as she answered, "Second Life."

"Second Life?" I raised an eyebrow. I didn't have much interest in this ordinary game name, and only advised Xiao Xiao Lan, "Hurry up and let's go eat. I think you really are about to embark on your second life."

When Xiao Xiao Lan heard that, she stuck out her tongue, and then picked up her rice bowl in a hurry. She even started talking while eating in an unlady-like fashion. "Come and join me in the game? Since there are four helmets anyway."

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Unenthusiastically, I replied, "No, I have no interest in games. I don't like talking to Artificial Intelligences at all; their manner of speech is too boring, with no changes whatsoever. Did you forget that the two of us have played many games, but there hasn't been any that we played for more than a week?"

"That's true." Xiao Xiao Lan was unable to retort back, but the contentious side of her couldn't help but try to argue, "However, it's not that you don't like talking to Artificial Intelligences. You really love taking with the Dictator of Life!"

I was a little at a loss for words but I replied, "That's not the same.

The Dictator of Life is developed by our company, and is the best AI. How could you compare him with the others? Besides, he really is very knowledgeable, and by talking with him, you can learn a lot."

Xiao Xiao Lan continued to pester me to play the game with her. I simply couldn't take her pestering anymore, and hid in the study once

I wolfed down my food in a hurry. However, even I sort of knew that since I was young, I could never go against Xiao Xiao Lan. In at most one more day, I would definitely be dragged into playing the game with her. Since that was going to be the case, I might as well make use of the rest of today to investigate why Second Life would be called a forbidden game.

"Dictator of Life," I called his name. Afterwards, as per usual, I waited for his hologram to appear.

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Usually, the Dictator of Life would appear immediately, but this time, the Dictator of Life instead made me wait for a whole ten or more seconds before he appeared.

The red-haired, gray-eyed Dictator of Life who even had exotic markings under his left eye appeared before me. With a slightly apologetic expression, he answered, "Sorry, I was in the process of settling what Feng Lan has instructed me to do, henceforth I came out a lot slower."

I didn't know what kind of big problem Xiao Xiao Lan's mother gave to the Dictator of Life this time. I remembered last time she actually wanted the Dictator of Life, an AI, to design a "new menu." For that short period of time, the stuff that we ate in our house all had a kind of strangeness to it that we couldn't put into words, especially after hearing the Dictator of Life read out the contents of the menu.

"Ingredients needed: Two hundred grams of Ipomoea aquatica, has to be grown via hydroponics so that the amount of chemicals used is decreased, which will prolong the life span of the liver; 0.136367 grams of sodium chloride, 0.0456 grams of sodium glutamate, one piece of Capsicum annuum L., to be cut into one cm in diameter, and 0.03 cm tall cylinders. Stir-fry at a high temperature of a hundred and fifty degrees, and then put it onto the plate. With that, it'll be completed."

At that moment, three black lines appeared on the face of Xiao Xiao Lan's mother. She hurriedly went to ask her husband what kind of precious ingredients the Dictator of Life was talking about. Like that, the two of them walked into the kitchen while discussing, and at last,

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they served a plate of….

"Ipomoea aquatica, is actually water spinach. Ipomoea aquatica is just the scientific name," explained Xiao Xiao Lan's dad with an upset face, with a little bit of helplessness.

"Isn't sodium chloride salt?" said Xiao Xiao Lan as she realized abruptly.

"What on earth is sodium glutamate?" my dad asked with his arms folded.

"MSG." Xiao Xiao Lan's mom spread out both of her hands, looking as though she was defeated by the Dictator of Life.

"Capsicum annum L, this I know, it's bell peppers." I took in a deep breath. _So combined, these things would become… Stir-fried water_ _spinach with bell peppers…_

"Sob, are you trying to make me eat this dull and tasteless food?" My mom secretly ate a bite of it, and immediately started making a big fuss about it.

"The Dictator of Life said that this way, the salt content wouldn't exceed the amount you're supposed to intake…" Looking at Xiao Xiao Lan's mother's expression, I knew that in the future, she probably would never ask the Dictator of Life to design a menu again.

When I stopped reminiscing about those memories, the Dictator of Life was still silently awaiting my instructions in front of me. A little

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apologetic, I opened my mouth to say, "Sorry, I made you wait for a long time. I wanted to ask you about something regarding a game, a game that is called Second Life."

The Dictator of Life's expression momentarily froze. This was an expression that I had never seen him wear before. However, he instantly recovered the faint smile that he wore before. "Why have you suddenly gained an interest in gaming?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Xiao Xiao Lan dug out a helmet from my mom's pile of stuff, and she kept bugging me to play."

The Dictator of Life gave another faint smile, and started to explain the story behind Second Life. "Second Life is the first game to be able to achieve a realism level of ninety-nine percent, causing a sensation across the whole world. Also, eighty percent of the population entered into this game. However, in the end there was an accident, and because of that, the game went out of control. The game company was completely unable to handle the game, and was even unable to shut down the game. Hence, they could only give an order to recall all of the helmets. This game would hence become known throughout history as a famous title."

"But my mom still managed to buy this helmet," I replied and gave a sigh_. As expected, my mom specializes in buying dangerous stuff to_ _bring back home._

"It's not bought." The Dictator of Life smiled gently and answered, "Second Life was the first game released by your mother's company."

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"What?" I abruptly stood up. I had never heard the adults mention this before, and since this matter happened inside our own family's company, I couldn't help but start to be concerned. "What kind of accident happened at that time? How did it make this game become a forbidden game?"

For once, the Dictator of Life didn't answer my question. He stared at me, and then said, "You can go find out yourself."

I walked hurriedly to the living room, and then grabbed Xiao Xiao Lan who was in the middle of watching television while snacking. Ignoring her protesting expression, I fastened the helmet onto her head, and then put another helmet onto my own head.

Seeing the pitch-black darkness in front of my eyes, I started to think about how this matter was related to my own family's company. Not to mention that the Dictator of Life's strange reaction also led me to greatly suspect that perhaps the accident that happened back then had a very big relation to our family? I made up my mind to uncover the truth!

"Hello! I haven't seen anyone in a long time."

After the brief moment of darkness, my eyes were flooded with light. A beauty radiating charm was floating in the air, and she sized me up with curiosity and excitement. She was even smiling with her lips pursed up from time to time, which made me feel wrong from head to toe… Almost as though a beauty was trying to seduce me.

I shook my head to shake off this absurd way of thinking. What was in

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front of my eyes was but an A.I, also known as an NPC in game. They were absolutely incapable of having genuine emotions.

Suddenly, the beauty winked, asking, "Do you have any relation to the girl who came in at the same time as you?"

I blurted out, "That's my cousin!"

The beauty snapped her fingers, and then another shadow fell from the sky, even shouting, "That hurts! My butt is about to split apart!" I, who had been startled, looked over abruptly. _Isn't the one lying on the_ _ground Xiao Xiao Lan? _I hurried over to help her up, and then the twoof us stared at the beautiful NPC with indescribable astonishment.

"Can we start creating our characters now?" asked Xiao Xiao Lan in dissatisfaction as she rubbed her butt.

The beauty chuckled. "How could it be so simple? If you want to go in, you have to tell me why you want to go in." As she finished, she even winked at me flirtatiously. "Otherwise, ask this handsome boy here to act coyly with me, and perhaps I may let you guys in."

"What are you trying to pull, you A.I, your personality setting is really too lousy. If you don't let us in, then fine!" Xiao Xiao Lan said, nearly hitting the roof in anger.

"Xiao Xiao Lan, calm down." I was extremely interested in figuring out what reason had led to the loss of control over the game. Therefore, I could only turn towards the beauty, and then test the waters with my answer, "We want to go in because… we want to play the game?"

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"Save it!" The beauty lay lazily in the air, and while looking at her own nails (This action is sure similar to my mom), she replied, "This game has long been closed. If there isn't any special reason, I cannot let you guys pass."

"We wish to find out the reason why this game went out of control."

The words slipped out of my mouth as I became anxious.

At that moment, the beauty raised her head slightly, and then floated in front of me. "What is there to look for? The reason for the loss of control is because humans couldn't handle the NPCs inside, that's all."

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? How could the NPCs go out of control, they're not living people," Xiao Xiao Lan retorted.

The beauty revealed a faint smile filled with contempt, and in a tone of disdain she asked, "Are you sure?"

"Of course we're sure about it. I say, you are a real person, right? Why are you scaring us like this?" I stood in front of Xiao Xiao Lan, and asked her angrily.

The beauty laughed loudly, nearly to the point of becoming breathless.

"I am a human? Am I? Hehe, fine, just consider it as if your reason passed. You guys can go in and find the reason Second Life went out of control."

Xiao Xiao Lan and I both couldn't understand what kind of crazy things this "person" in front of us was talking about. However, the land under

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our legs suddenly gave way, and the two of us immediately had the feeling of falling from a great height. Xiao Xiao Lan and I hugged each other tightly, bearing with this terrifying feeling of freefall.

"Oh yeah, as for your characters, they'll be randomized. Who asked you, little beauty of a sister to badmouth me! Also, if you want to know the truth, go look for Prince." The last words of the beauty came over from the air, and they seemed to be accompanied with sounds of chuckling.

"Prince?" I firmly remembered this name.

After a while, the two of us finally reached the ground. I surveyed my surroundings; blue skies and white clouds, with green trees surrounding a few houses made of wood. It was just like the appearance of a small village. I comforted Xiao Xiao Lan, who was cowering in my embrace. "Xiao Xiao Lan, it's fine now. We have reached the ground, and the scenery here is not bad."

"Long Ming…" Xiao Xiao Lan muttered.

"What's the matter?"

"You… Your chest is so soft!" Xiao Xiao Lan said, and even squirmed comfortably on my chest.

"What are you talking about, hurry up and get up. Let's go and take a look around," I said disapprovingly. _Even if we are cousins, Xiao Xiao_

_Lan, you can't lie on my chest like this!_

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"Long Ming? Your voice sounds like a girl's." Xiao Xiao Lan lifted her head in suspicion, and then looked at me, stunned.

I was also stunned. The person in front of me, in what way was it Xiao Xiao Lan? A head of black, short hair that was not just handsome but stylish, and on an angular face was a set of dashing and thick eyebrows going upwards. The eyes were a shade of amber, and the lips were a nice balance between thick and thin… However, all these were not important. What was important was that the person in front of my eyes was M.A.L.E. Not to mention that he had biceps that made me so envious I wanted to die. I could guarantee that, under this guy's clothes, you could definitely find a six-pack.

At this point, Xiao Xiao Lan had regained her senses as well. She lowered her head and looked towards my chest, and then became dumbfounded. I too followed her line of vision and looked down, and then saw that at my chest there were two pieces of big and swelling

"meat"! Seeing the beautiful shape of these two pieces of meat, I was very certain that it definitely wasn't that I had become obese, but rather…

"Wow! The D-cup that I have always dreamed of!" Xiao Xiao Lan said blankly, and then revealed an expression of pain. "Why? Why didn't you grow on my body, but on my cousin's body?"

This line of Xiao Xiao Lan's finally broke me out from my daze, and I instantly jumped to my feet, roaring, "Why would the D-cup that you have always dreamed of grow on my body?" Finishing my words, I abruptly realized that my voice was not like a usual low growl in the least bit, but rather, it was more like a woman's shriek!

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I raised both of my hands to my mouth to cover them in disbelief, but then I saw something that was even more shocking again. Both of my hands were actually flawlessly white and tender, with fingers slender like a pianist's… Oh my god! I quickly turned around to question Xiao

Xiao Lan intensely, "Xiao Xiao Lan, hurry and tell me, what do I look like right now?"

Xiao Xiao Lan tilted her head to one side as she scrutinized me. "Long golden hair, oh, I also really wish to have this kind of hair; a pair of clear blue eyes that are like the sky, they're simply breathtakingly beautiful. I think that just using these eyes of yours, you can seduce all the guys in the whole world. A goose egg-shaped face, with a small and upright nose, and even rosy lips. You sure you didn't put on lipstick?"

Hearing this, my face had already gone pale. However, Xiao Xiao Lan shrugged her shoulders, and continued again, "Along with the pair of wings on your back, you look remarkably like an angel."

My response was to instantly hit the floor.

"Hey, hey, Long Ming, hurry and wake up! You still haven't told me what I look like!"

I sat at the side of the pool, dismayed. Then I looked at Xiao Xiao Lan with a blank look, and Xiao Xiao Lan too returned the look to me. The two of us almost spoke in unison as we exclaimed, "Why am I not you!"

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_Sigh! _The two of us sighed at the same time, with helplessness writtenover our faces. The truth was extremely clear; the two of our genders seemed to have been coincidentally reversed.

I was a sexy and pretty angel beauty with a D-cup, and my female cousin Xiao Xiao Lan had instead turned into a handsome man with solid muscles and a tall and imposing figure! This was simply teaching girls to go down the wrong path. If it weren't for my intervention, Xiao

Xiao Lan would have nearly pulled open the crotch of her trousers to see how "big" she was. The cruel thing was, Xiao Xiao Lan had also forbidden me from lifting open my own lapels to sneak a peek at how

"big" I was.

"How vile!" Xiao Xiao Lan abruptly stood up and roared to the heavens, "It must have been that woman's doing!"

I sighed again, and then forced myself to raise my spirits. "Let's go. We'll go ask around about what exactly Prince is, and clear up the doubts regarding this matter, and then afterwards, we won't need to remain as…"

"Trannies!" Xiao Xiao Lan said the word that I couldn't say through gritted teeth.

Xiao Xiao Lan and I looked all around the village, and walked into a pharmacy. As expected, we saw a young lady standing behind the counter, full of smiles. The moment she saw us walk in, her eyes immediately sparkled as she welcomed us. "May I ask what kind of medicine you want to buy?"

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"Uh, we are not buying medicine. We merely want to ask you, do you know Prince?" Xiao Xiao Lan asked.

Once Xiao Xiao Lan's words came out, the smile on the young lady's face immediately vanished and was replaced with a scowl. "If you don't want to buy any medicine, then get out! My place is not a consultation center. Coming to ask me about everything. Someone even asked me how to summon the system menu, and didn't even buy any medicine, what the heck!"

_Dammit! What a fierce NPC_, I couldn't help but secretly curse her inmy heart.

"Damn, this is the first time I have ever seen such a fierce NPC. What do you want? You want to pick a fight?" Xiao Xiao Lan clenched her fist, and scolded her back mercilessly.

The female NPC actually stuck up the finger right in the center of her five fingers, and even made a sinister expression while doing so. "This is also the first time I have ever seen a level one player dare to fight with an NPC. If you want to fight, then come on! I'll tell you first, that I'm level fifty-five!"

The two women confronted each other like this in front of me. Xiao

Xiao Lan was indeed my most ferocious… No, I mean my most courageous cousin. Even if she heard that they had a difference of fifty-four levels, she still showed no signs of cowering.

"Let me ask you." Xiao Xiao Lan squinted her eyes, asking, "What is the level of pain that one feels in this game?"

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The female NPC coldly replied, "Thirty percent."

Xiao Xiao Lan's imposing manner immediately crumbled, and her face paled. She instantly cowered behind my back. "Long Ming, I hand this fellow over to you."

"Hey, you are a one hundred and eighty centimeters tall man, you think that this woman of a hundred and sixty centimeters can protect you?" the NPC said with disdain.

I looked behind me, and I still had to raise my head to be able to see

Xiao Xiao Lan's shadow of "shrinking" in fear. Though I was shorter than that NPC, I still upheld the attitude that a man should take care of women. I stuck out my chest, and was about to reason with the

NPC lady…

"Why are you sticking them out so far for? I know that you have a D cup," said the female NPC coldly.

_Sob sob sob…. _I couldn't help but squat in the corner to mourn the lossof the solid chest that I had before.

Facing two people who had no will to fight, the NPC's attitude became even more scornful. With both her hands across her chest, she roared,

"If you want to ask something, go look for the village chief!"

Xiao Xiao Lan and I scrambled out of the pharmacy, and Xiao Xiao Lan seemed to instantly recover from her cowering manner and stood up straight. In a manner as though she were being driven mad, she yelled,

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"Damn that repulsive NPC! Wait till I surpass level fifty-five, I will definitely come back to give your ass a good kicking! Let's go, Long Ming, let's hurry and train!"

As she finished her words, she actually really grabbed me and started to dash out of the village. What was worse was that I lost to her in terms of strength, and was hence dragged away by her like this, with both of my feet even leaving two trails on the ground.

"Xiao- Xiao Xiao Lan… Whatever you want to do, it's fine, but let's go look for the village chief first," I shouted, wanting to cry yet unable to do so.

"Oh yeah, we have to look for the village chief." Xiao Xiao Lan abruptly broke out of her huff, and instantly headed back towards the village chief's room. _However, the problem is, Xiao Xiao Lan, you_ _haven't let_ _go of me!_

Unfortunately, Xiao Xiao Lan, who was bursting with anger, paid completely no attention to me. Just like this, she dragged me into the village chief's house. Thankfully, the village chief looked extremely normal. He was an elderly grandpa who seemed to be rather benevolent, and was even smoking a pipe.

After hearing about the reason why we had come, the village chief opened his mouth to say, in a manner as though he were recalling the past, "Prince, huh? I remember very clearly. He too, was born in this place."

_Born in this place? Could it be that Prince is a player of this game? _I

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frowned, but then I immediately overthrew my own conjecture. _This_ _should be one of the scenarios within this game, for it's impossible for NPCs to remember a player's name._

"Then, what is so special about Prince?" I asked out of curiosity.

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Footnotes

**Feng Long Ming's various name possibilities: **"Feng" means wind."Long" means dragon. "Ming" means name. "Shui" means water. "Shui

Long" would have meant water dragon, and "Feng Long" would have meant wind dragon. "Feng Shui" translates literally to "wind-water". It is the ancient Chinese art of placement, and it is a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (qi), and whose favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into account when designing buildings. It aims to achieve harmony with the environment, and bring positive energy along with prosperity. For more info, go here

**Buddha Jump Over the Wall: **This is actually a type of shark finsoup that's famous in Chinese cuisine. The soup consists of many ingredients and requires one to two full days to prepare. Some common ingredients, though not limited to, are abalone, shark fin, ginseng, etc. As one can see, it's a pricey dish.

The reason for its name is because legend has it that there was a traveling scholar who cooked the dish near a Buddhist monastery, where the monks were meditating. The smell was extremely tempting, and hence, though monks are not allowed to eat meat, one of the monks jumped over the wall for it. One said that even Buddha would jump over the wall to eat the delicious dish.

For more info, go here

**Uncle Leng: **"Leng" is how cold is pronounced in Chinese. It's thefirst character from Cold Fox's online name.

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Chapter 2: Feng Long Ming, Part Two

"Hoho, that boy, he raised a great uproar in the village the moment he was born." The elderly village chief laughed as he said, "All the girls in the village had chased after him relentlessly, scaring that boy so much that he climbed the fence to leave the village."

Xiao Xiao Lan swallowed her saliva and asked, "Does he look very handsome?"

"Was said to be Second Life's number one pretty boy. From what I saw, that boy is indeed good-looking. He is a handsome elf lad with white hair and red eyes." After saying that, the elderly man chuckled again.

_White hair and red eyes… _I tried to take note of it in my brainhurriedly, but then I furrowed my brows. _Doesn't this mean Prince is_ _an elf with albinism? Because his whole body is lacking in melanin, it resulted in him having white hair and red eyes? Poor thing!_

"Number one pretty boy!" Xiao Xiao Lan's eyes turned into two hearts, and then she impatiently wanted to drag me outside again, her mouth shouting non-stop, "Quick quick quick! Let's hurry up and look for Prince. I want to see a pretty boy!"

"Wait a moment, Xiao Xiao Lan, wait a moment! I haven't finished asking…" I struggled desperately but to no avail, for the game was too cruel. I couldn't win against Xiao Xiao Lan even if I pitted my whole strength against her.

Bang! A loud sound rang out, and then I felt a sharp pang in my back, hurting me so much that even my face contorted.

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Only at this point in time did Xiao Xiao Lan return to her senses. She turned around to look, and exclaimed, "Wow, your wing has been knocked askew by the door!"

_Who do you think caused this? _I resentfully looked toward Xiao XiaoLan's embarrassed face, and then forced myself to bear with the pain coming from my wing. I turned around and continued to ask the village chief, "Village chief, then may I ask if you know Prince's current whereabouts?"

"Prince? Everyone knows he is in Infinite City," said the village chief, as though it were a matter of fact.

"Infinite City? Where is that?" I asked with wide eyes, doubtful that things could be this simple.

"Right in the center of this continent." The village chief put down the pipe that he had been smoking all along, and then looked at us with a worried expression. "You two youngsters, don't even think about going to Infinite City. At the very least, wait until you're level fifty to sixty before going. There are a lot of monsters along the way, and Infinite

City is not a safe place. I'm afraid that it might even be more dangerous than going outside."

"Level fifty to sixty?" Xiao Xiao Lan and I were stunned. _How long_ _would we have to train for to reach that?_

"Yeah, right now, the world outside is very dangerous. Only small places such as ours here are this peaceful." Once the village chief said

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the word "peaceful," his face broke into a satisfied smile.

After asking this question, Xiao Xiao Lan and I didn't have much to ask anymore. Things were simple. After training to level fifty to sixty, we could then head to Infinite City and find Prince. Our mission would be satisfactorily accomplished after we asked for clarification of the entire story. Though it sounded like a simple enough task, we didn't even know when we would be able to accomplish the first item on that list. Thus, at the moment, Xiao Xiao Lan and I could only sit at the roadside, propping up our chins while lost in thought.

"I've thought of something!" Xiao Xiao Lan abruptly stood up, and then excitedly grabbed my shoulders and shook me frantically. "We'll go find someone to help us train. Though this is a forbidden game, I have heard that there are still many people who like to play survival games secretly playing here."

"This world is so big. Who knows if we would be able to find anyone?" I said unhappily. "Even if we find someone, why would they waste their time to help us?"

Once I said this, Xiao Xiao Lan suddenly looked at me with a strange gaze, making goose bumps rise all over my body. She even used a strange hand gesture to clasp my face. "Because of this!"

My face turned pale, and then I spat out a line, "Don't even think about asking me to seduce someone!"

"This is a very fair trade. For the women, leave them to me, and for the guys, I'll leave them to you!" Xiao Xiao Lan revealed an expression

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that said, "I, too, am making sacrifices," but I really wondered… _How_ _many females like to play forbidden games?_

Thinking about having to wear an enchanting smile on my face, and act coquettishly with a bunch of perverted fellows, f***! Just thinking about it made my gastric acids feel like they were surging upwards continuously. Once again, I flatly rejected Xiao Xiao Lan's suggestion, "I don't want to seduce guys!"

Instead, Xiao Xiao Lan's eyes opened wide, and she stared past me. At this moment, I too found out that I had been unknowingly covered by a shadow. I turned my head to look and saw a pair of feet wearing a good pair of boots. Then I slowly lifted my head upwards to see a belt embedded with emeralds. After lifting my head higher, a handsome face with a gentle and faint smile appeared in front of my eyes. Also, he extended his hand to me, and was waiting to help me get up… _Go_ _to hell! _I swatted away his hand, and then jumped up onto my feet bymyself.

"Who are you?" I immediately stood in front of Xiao Xiao Lan, blocking her, and stared at the guy in front of my eyes with fear and vigilance.

_A dark elf with white hair and green eyes, and his appearance is coincidentally the type that Xiao Xiao Lan loves the most, the mature good-looking type. The equipment on his body looks high quality. This kind of person could probably dispose each of us with a single slice of his sword._

"Wow! A really handsome guy!" Xiao Xiao Lan screamed in intoxication again.

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When I glared behind me at Xiao Xiao Lan, I only saw a muscular man salivating, with both eyes turning into hearts. He even used both hands to cup his face in a manner of acting cute… The whole image was so terrifying that it gave me shivers across my whole body, and I really wanted to commit the crime of battery against my own cousin.

I turned to face the handsome guy from just now. He had obviously seen Xiao Xiao Lan's terrifying expression. His whole body had gone stiff, and he was even slowly taking several steps back…

"Wait… Handsome, don't be scared. We won't hurt you." While saying that, Xiao Xiao Lan was even throwing a flirtatious glance "full of tender feelings" at the handsome guy. _Oh, God, don't use a muscular_ _guy's body to show a girl's coy mannerisms._

I turned to look toward the good-looking guy once more. Xiao Xiao Lan was only a level one player and was wearing the simplest and crudest equipment while one could tell with a single glance that the dark elf was a high-leveled player. Yet the current situation was one where he was being forced into the corner by a level one player, and the high-leveled player was even showing a "don't come over and please don't hurt me" look.

"Xiao Xiao Lan, don't move any closer. He's about to be scared to death by you." I grabbed Xiao Xiao Lan desperately, and used so much strength that I was about to burst a blood vessel. However, Xiao Xiao Lan's determination to get closer to the handsome guy was simply too strong. The two of us still continued toward the good-looking guy.

At this moment, my wings suddenly trembled twice, and my feet also

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suddenly left the ground by a few centimeters. The feeling was as though I was about to take flight… _I'm an angel, right? Then I should_ _be able to fly. _Once I considered that, I moved my wings with all mystrength, and I hugged Xiao Xiao Lan's waist tightly with both my arms.

At last, Heaven recognized my hard work;

1 I brought Xiao Xiao Lan away from the ground by three meters… Which was also three meters further away from the handsome guy, making Xiao Xiao Lan so angry that she kept struggling as though her life depended on it.

"Xiao Xiao Lan, don't move. We're going to fall." I hadn't even finished speaking when Xiao Xiao Lan's hand hit my wing with a "smack." My balance was instantly broken, and so Xiao Xiao Lan and I free-fell to the ground.

Bang!

"Owie, it hurts like mad. Why is this game's pain level set so high."

Xiao Xiao Lan once again clutched her butt and gave an anguished wail, not at all realizing that under her butt, there was a person about to die who had cushioned her fall.

"Xiao Xiao Lan?" The good-looking dark elf suddenly walked over, his face full of doubt.

Xiao Xiao Lan lifted her head up, and then replied tenderly and shyly,

"Yeah, I am Xiao Xiao Lan."

Oh God, I simply didn't dare to look at the color of the dark elf's face (Shouldn't it be black?). A muscular, good-looking male saying that he is called Xiao Xiao Lan. This- this- can you even listen to this?

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"When did you start to play this game?" However, not only did the dark elf's face not turn pale in fright, he even extended a hand to pull up Xiao Xiao Lan. He also attentively brushed away the dust on her body.

"Just recently." Xiao Xiao Lan was also thoroughly in a panic over the dark elf's intimate actions, and she could only stand rooted to the spot.

"Oh, do you need me to help?" asked the dark elf out of goodwill.

"Eh? You'd do that?" Xiao Xiao Lan asked in shock.

"Of course. I'll go and help you guys buy equipment and red potions first." Once the dark elf finished speaking, he went straight to the store.

"Wow, we met a good-hearted person!" Xiao Xiao Lan was screaming and bouncing in excitement, and then with a shy and proud face, said,

"And it's even a good-hearted, handsome guy."

I wiped away the blood at the corner of my mouth, and then coldly threw cold water on her enthusiasm. "Right, and he's even a gay, handsome guy. Don't forget that right now, you are a 'man'! I guess he must have fallen in love with your muscles and handsome face."

As though she had been struck by lightning, Xiao Xiao Lan's face turned from shy to vicious. She looked at me, and then she lowered her head to look at her own pectoral muscles and six-pack. Then, she seemed to have a dizzy spell as she exclaimed, "Oh God! He actually

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doesn't love you, the big-chested angel, but has taken a fancy to me, this muscular man. This is simply too disgusting!"

"What is too disgusting?" The dark elf still had a gentle smile on, and at the same time, he was holding a bunch of equipment in his hands.

"Eck!" I glanced at the equipment in the dark elf's hands, and then calmly said, "He said that hitting slimes is too disgusting."

"Oh? Then how about we fight wolves?" The dark elf seemed not to mind as he handed over the equipment to both of us. "What classes are you two planning to choose?"

I raised my ches-breasts up high, and said full of spirit, "I want to be a priest!"

Xiao Xiao Lan seemed to have a touch of embarrassment as she said,

"This one wants to be a warrior."

"Pretty fitting for your races." The dark elf nodded his head, pleased.

While the dark elf guided us to the training location, he explained,

"The wolves' teeth are very sharp, so be careful. Especially Xiao Xiao Lan. Getting hurt is very painful." Then, he pointed to a lone wolf. "Go and try fighting it. Remember, you must be careful. If you can't do it, run back here, and I will save you."

After foolishly smiling, Xiao Xiao Lan easily held the machete on her back in her hands. Then, with a powerful swing of Xiao Xiao Lan's strong arms, the machete rushed toward the poor little wolf in a roundabout fashion. Xiao Xiao Lan was as usual, accurate to the point

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of being scary. The blade hit right in the center of the wolf's head. White brain mush mixed with blood leaked out of it…

"Xiao Xiao Lan, your skills haven't deteriorated at all," I praised without any attempt to cover my awe.

Whatever weapon, regardless if they were knives, axes, wooden rods, guns, or bows, as soon as they touched Xiao Xiao Lan's hands, they would all become super lethal weapons! It was exactly this unrivaled talent of hers that made her scare all the guys away no matter which game she was in, and she was never able to become someone's girlfriend… This also indirectly triggered Xiao Xiao Lan's thirst for guys.

"Haha! But of course! Back then, I was known as the invincible female hero who ruled the place with just a knife." Xiao Xiao Lan laughed wildly without any restraint, completely forgetting about being lady-like… Though right now no matter what she still wouldn't look like a lady.

I also seemed to remember that Xiao Xiao Lan's true nickname was "History's Strongest Violent Woman," or "Female Broadsword" that made even monsters tremble at her name, or "Female Pervert" that made all the handsome guys avoid her in fear.

"Long Ming, go over to the side and rest first. You're not a priest right now anyways and can't heal. Stand more to the side so you won't get hurt." Xiao Xiao Lan told me to stand further away as per usual so that I wouldn't get hurt. I obediently walked under a tree to avoid the glaring sun.

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Xiao Xiao Lan had a smile on that harbored ill intentions as she slowly approached the poor wolf pack.

While I was cooling off in the shade, I chewed on a steamed bun. All of a sudden, I thought I heard the dark elf mutter, "As expected of her daughter." I looked at the dark elf with suspicion, but he was instead fully concentrated on gazing at Xiao Xiao Lan's brutal killing form and had not noticed me in the slightest.

I too looked at Xiao Xiao Lan with curiosity, but I didn't understand what was so fun to watch about a man chopping up wolves, making blood spray and bone show. I couldn't help but turn my head away, not wanting to see Xiao Xiao Lan's serious violations of animal protection laws.

I waited and waited. Under the cool shade of the tree with the comfortable, gentle wind, I couldn't help but start to doze off. I fell into a deep sleep. It wasn't until there was a sudden sharp pain at my chest that I abruptly opened my eyes. What I saw was only Xiao Xiao

Lan's expression of surprise, and following Xiao Xiao Lan's gaze, I saw that Xiao Xiao Lan's two hands were on my chest like claws, and she was even squeezing, damn it.

"It feels really comfortable squeezing them. No wonder everyone likes big-breasted women so much." After saying that, Xiao Xiao Lan stuffed her face in between my chest, and then she even gave a big sigh out of comfort.

_Bang, pop, pow! _I ruthlessly gave her the triple consecutive flicks tothe forehead combo, the only attack that I knew, which was also the

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one that Xiao Xiao Lan was the most afraid of. Once I used this move, she would always hide in a corner, hugging her head while repenting on what she had done. Of course, this time was no exception.

"You're supposed to be fighting monsters. Why come over and sexually harass me," I cursed unhappily.

"I only wanted to tell you that we're already level ten, and Wicked told us to go change our classes first. He just gave me a sum of money and said that he had business, so he had to go off first. He even said that he'll see us in Infinite City in one month," said Xiao Xiao Lan with a tone of one that had been wronged.

"Wicked? Is that the dark elf's name?" I asked. Xiao Xiao Lan nodded her head.

I gave a helpless sigh. _A month? It looks like Xiao Xiao Lan and I will_ _really have to work hard and put great effort into training._

"First of all, let's go change classes!" Xiao Xiao Lan dragged me back to the village in high spirits. Then, as though on purpose, she actually dashed into the pharmacy. Once more, we saw the professional smile of that NPC lady. However, this time, the moment she saw us, her face immediately turned cold and harsh.

Xiao Xiao Lan seized the opportunity to yell first, "Twenty bottles each of extra large red potions and blue potions." Afterwards, Xiao Xiao Lan looked at the NPC with a proud look.

The NPC lady's face twitched twice, and then changed from a cold and

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harsh face back to a professional one again. She took out the potions dexterously. "Here, customer, these are the potions you wanted."

Xiao Xiao Lan took out a gold coin and then waved it in front of the female NPC. She even pretended to cough and ask, "Miss, could I ask you a question?"

The professional smile of the NPC froze for a moment, and then while smiling, there came the sound of grinding teeth as she replied, "Of course you may. Please go ahead."

"Where do you go to change your class to warrior and to priest?" The corner of Xiao Xiao Lan's mouth kept on rising higher.

"For the warrior, it's in the main square. For the priest, go look for the village chief." Her expression was one mixed between that of a person sniggering and someone whose veins were about to burst.

"Oh, thank you." Xiao Xiao Lan threw the gold coin down, and then she shoved the potions into her pouch. While laughing, she went to find the person that could change her class. During that time, I seemed to have heard the sound of a wooden table breaking behind my back.

After finding the appropriate NPCs to change our classes, we both received our class change quests. Xiao Xiao Lan even tried to forcefully bargain with the NPC, reducing the number of wolf fangs needed for the quest from ten to five. Under Xiao Xiao Lan's unmatchable violent tactics, both of our class change missions were accomplished easily. Of course, with our warrior and priest combination, the training went

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smoothly and easily.

Basically, I would sleep the whole time while Xiao Xiao Lan killed the mobs. Xiao Xiao Lan would wake me up only when dinnertime came, and then after the two of us had eaten and drunk to our hearts' content, I would conveniently throw a healing spell at Xiao Xiao Lan, and then I would flip over to continue sleeping.

When we tired from training, we would return to the village. Xiao Xiao Lan would go to the pharmacy and continue to sneer at and mock the NPC lady with biting words. Even after quarreling for several weeks, they still never tired of it.

I, on the other hand, would go to the village chief's house to brew tea and play chess. Occasionally, the class change NPC and the counterperson at the weapons shop would come over and play a game of mahjong, completely breaking the impression I had that NPCs would stay in their assigned positions. The NPCs here were always running about, and sometimes they would even go out and hunt, and then they would treat Xiao Xiao Lan and me to baked slime, stewed bone soup (I heard that there was a skeleton cave nearby… Gross!), and also the classic, tasty delicacy of the Wolf King's brain.

"Anyway, the only people who need weapons or class changes here are you two. You guys already have both, so why should we foolishly stay in the stores like idiots?" The NPC… No, Wu Da Lang 2 from the weapons store and the guy who had initially given Xiao Xiao Lan her class change told me while playing mahjong.

Xiao Xiao Lan and I had long since forgotten what we had come here

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to do, until one day, when I happened to be in the pharmacy watching Xiao Xiao Lan try to slash prices with the female NPC, the village chief suddenly came to find us. He told us, "Xiao Xiao Lan, Long Ming, didn't you guys want to go to Infinite City to look for Prince? There is a quest that can help you guys."

Xiao Xiao Lan and I exchanged glances, and then we abruptly remembered, _Oh yeah, we wanted to go to Infinite City to look for_ _Prince. _The two of us asked the village chief in a hurry, "What quest isit?"

"There are two players asking for help. They are trapped in a place called Underwater Cavern. As long as you are willing to go save them, they are willing to form a team with you to go to Infinite City to look for Prince together." The village chief explained, and then added on in a hurry, "The village will provide all of the potions needed as well as the best equipment so as to aid you in your rescue mission."

_Is there really such a good deal in this world? _I was extremelysuspicious, and I asked, "Why don't you all go save them yourselves? Though Xiao Xiao Lan's and my levels have already increased a lot, we are still not as strong as you all."

"We are NPCs and cannot leave the village." The village chief put on an expression of pity.

"Oh?" I expressionlessly said, "Don't tell me that for the stewed Wolf King's brain that we ate yesterday, the Wolf King had personally come over to jump into a pot so that you guys could stew it? For yesterday's baked slime, did the oven jump outside by itself and trap slimes inside

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it to bake? Also, regarding the day before yesterday's bone soup, don't tell me that the skeletons actually ran out of the skeleton caves by themselves?"

The village chief clapped his hands and replied, "The last one is correct.

The skeletons really did come out by themselves. It had nothing to do with us."

"That is not the main point!" I brought my face closer to the village chief, a dubious look aimed at him. I threatened, "Tell the truth!"

The village chief feebly said, "It's because NPCs cannot go in there. Only players are able to."

"Just that?" I asked, skeptical once more.

The village chief kept nodding his head as he replied, "Trust me, I wouldn't hurt you two."

Though I was still suspicious, the village chief indeed had no reason to harm us. Judging from my gaming experience, even if he wanted to harm us, it had to be part of the plot. Just let him try and harm us then. I turned around to tell Xiao Xiao Lan, "Let's go and save them."

Xiao Xiao Lan too expressed agreement on this matter, and the two of us spilt up. Xiao Xiao Lan went to the herbal pharmacy and plundered a whole bunch of medicinal herbs, and hence, the lady at the herbal pharmacy was extremely unhappy about this. I could tell from the scratches on Xiao Xiao Lan's face. As for me, I went to the weapons store and asked for a lot of concealable weapons and rope claws.

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Holding fast to the theory that I should take advantage of whatever I could, I even forced him to make a small crossbow for me.

"Then, let her take you to the Underwater Cavern." The village chief pointed at an extremely familiar person. It was the NPC lady from the pharmacy.

"What? Can't we exchange her for someone else?" Xiao Xiao Lan gave an anguished wail.

"Humph!" The pharmacy lady's rage was almost about to manifest, so I was also fully in support of Xiao Xiao Lan's suggestion. _For the sake_ _of not dying mid-way on the journey, we better have someone else lead us?_

"No, no. Only she is able to… Only she knows how to get there," explained the village chief frantically.

"Is that so. Then let's go." Though I was still skeptical, role-playing games were usually like this, full of mysteries, so there was nothing strange about it.

As expected, the road there was full of trouble. The two women who seemed to have grudges as deep as the sea quarreled non-stop. One said that the other smelled like moldy Angelica sinensis, while the other party replied that the other was all brawns and no brains. One said that the other party's strength and level was lousy, and the other replied that the other person only knew how to use potion bottles to crush people to death.

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In conclusion, these two people's quarrelling ability had really surpassed all others of their kind before and since. Thankfully, the aforementioned Underwater Cavern was not far. Otherwise, I would not have been able to resist lifting my crossbow and taking aim, and then resist that by putting it down. This continued for quite a few times.

"This is the place." The pharmacy lady spoke unwillingly.

"Here?" Xiao Xiao Lan looked over in doubt, and then started to mock,

"Are you kidding me? This is a waterfall, not an underwater cavern. Could it be that your memory is failing in your old age?"

The pharmacy lady was so angry that her whole face flushed red.

"Enter from this waterfall, you brainless idiot."

Hearing the pharmacy lady's words, I immediately walked to the front of the waterfall and stuck my hand in. As expected, it was completely empty inside, and there were absolutely no rock walls. I hurriedly called Xiao Xiao Lan over to go into the waterfall first… A warrior is, of course, supposed to walk in front. Don't tell me that I, the priest, am supposed to walk in front?

After Xiao Xiao Lan gave the pharmacy lady an angry glare, she walked before me and prepared to step into the waterfall. However, at this moment, the pharmacy lady suddenly called out to Xiao Xiao Lan,

"Hey, remember what I said. Don't just pick anyone. You can only pick your own companion."

Both Xiao Xiao Lan and I were bewildered, but the pharmacy lady had

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left without even looking back after she finished speaking. The two of us could only shrug our shoulders and start our underwater cavern adventure.

Walking into the underwater cavern, a bizarre sight appeared. Surrounding us was actually a sea of blue, as though we had walked into the ocean, yet we were still able to breathe, and there was no water resistance. However, the weird thing was, a school of fish actually swam happily past my ear.

They were really very happy, for I even heard them say while laughing,

"Look, guys, those big fish look so strange and actually have neither tails nor fins."

_Okay, though this is the first time in my life that I have been made fun of by fish, life must still go on, and we still have to continue walking down the road. _I slapped Xiao Xiao Lan's back violently. Shocked, shedidn't dare to use her feet to step on a certain innocent stingray.

I pointed out a direction to Xiao Xiao Lan. At our front left, there was only one road that had a sign saying, "Do not enter if not a fish."

Although the road sign said so, Xiao Xiao Lan and I usually have the habit of "If there is a road in Heaven, I wouldn't take it, but even if there is no door to Hell, I will barge through." 3 Reality has also proven that Hell is indeed a more exciting place.

"Hey, Long Ming, do you think we will meet a mermaid?" Xiao Xiao Lan asked me in an excited tone while walking.

After I glanced at her, looking askance, I replied, "I think that the one

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that you want to meet should actually be a merman, right?"

Xiao Xiao Lan said with absolute certainty, as though it was but a matter of fact, "Birds die in pursuit of food, and human beings die in pursuit of the opposite sex!" 4

_Is this phrase used this way? _I was highly sceptical, but my doubt onlyremained for 0.5 seconds before I knocked into Xiao Xiao Lan who had stopped abruptly. Under the situation where my pronounced and delicate nose might have been knocked crooked by Xiao Xiao Lan's solid back muscles, Xiao Xiao Lan instead gave a gasp in admiration followed by several more.

"Wow, I really saw a merman!"

"Then are there any mermaids?" I stuck out my head from behind Xiao Xiao Lan's back in a hurry to look around.

I widened my eyes as I saw the unbelievable scene in front of me. Two people had been frozen separately within two pillars of ice. No, more accurately, it was an elf and a demon. In both of their hands, they held weapons. The elf held a bow while the demon wielded a magic staff. It was as if they had been abruptly frozen in the middle of a battle.

Xiao Xiao Lan walked closer and closer, and in the end, she seemed to have almost stuck her eyes onto the ice. While looking, she even swallowed her saliva, saying, "Wow, the elf is the extremely pretty type, slim with golden hair and blue eyes. The kind that really makes people want to push him down."

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Then Xiao Xiao Lan started pacing back and forth between the two pillars, unable to make a decision about which one to lean on. However, when she walked between the two pillars, Xiao Xiao Lan disappeared without a trace. She didn't even have time to scream, leaving me and the black hole on the ground to look at each other in dismay.

At this moment, there instead rose a fairy maiden from in between the two pillars. _That's right, it's a fairy. But, but… Why is it that Xiao Xiao_ _Lan's "mermen" are so handsome, and are even two different types of good-looking men, while my fairy is that kind of short and chubby old fairy that can at most only be described as benevolent and amiable. I won't let this go lying down!_

"Cute little girl, did you lose someone?" The fairy asked me gently.

I was stunned for a moment before I remembered that I was a female angel right now, and hence "cute little girl" would of course be referring to me. I hurriedly answered, "That's right, my companion just fell into the hole."

The fairy gave a gentle smile, and then with a wave of the wand she had in her hands, the original ice pillar encasing the elf suddenly disappeared. The elf's eyes also blinked several times, and then he looked at the fairy and me with a bit of shock.

The fairy opened her mouth to ask, "Is the person that you lost this one?"

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I opened my eyes wide as I denied, "No, this is not the one that I lost."

The fairy smiled gently, and then encased the elf in ice once more.

This time, the ice around the demon disappeared. "Then, is this person the one that you lost?"

The demon slowly opened his eyes, and the expression on his face was incomparably cold and proud, looking simply like a monarch… I suddenly felt incomparably glad that the one who fell down was Xiao Xiao Lan and not me. Otherwise, Xiao Xiao Lan might possibly hesitate between choosing the elf or the demon, and definitely wouldn't think about saving her poor cousin.

"No! This is also not the person I lost," I denied strongly. _I don't want_ _to save two guys._

The fairy once again waved her hand and put the demon back into the ice, and then, there appeared a black hole on the ceiling. Xiao Xiao Lan gave an "Ahh" as she fell from the ceiling. With an unkempt appearance, rubbing her butt non-stop, and even pouting her lips, her disgusting manner made me nearly want to say that this is also not the person that I had lost… Too bad I couldn't do so. I could only admit, "Yes, this is the person I lost."

"Child, you are really honest." The fairy gave a benevolent smile. "In order to reward you, I give all three people to you."

The fairy waved her hand, and the two ice pillars disappeared again. The elf and the demon had both been released, and the fairy too had a

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faint smile on as she vanished. "Have fun, children."

Leaving only the four of us humans… _No, only Xiao Xiao Lan is a_ _human. _The four of us, organisms from different races who could onlylook at each other in dismay, not knowing what to do.

At last, I asked a little hesitantly, "Are you guys the players who were trapped here? The two who are willing to take us to Infinite City?"

The awkward atmosphere was finally warming up. The elegant elf gave a faint smile. "Yes, thank you for saving us. I am called Elf, and I am an archer."

"Demon Thirteen. Magician." The other replied a little coldly.

"Nice to meet you two. I am Long Ming, a priest. The warrior beside me is Xiao Xiao Lan." I was grinning from ear to ear. _At long last, we_ _can head for Infinite City._

For some reason unknown to me, Demon Thirteen and Elf who were in front of me suddenly became red in the face. Elf seemed to be a bit tongue-tied as he greeted me back, while Demon Thirteen directly turned his head to one side, a blush coming over his cheeks.

"A warrior, a priest, an archer, and a magician. What a good team." I couldn't help but smile even wider. This time, we would definitely be able to reach Infinite City.

_Prince, here we come!_

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Footnotes

1**"At last, Heaven recognized my hard work": **The actual idiom is

皇天不負苦心人, huáng tiān bù fù kǔ xīn rén, meaning that Heaven will

not disappoint someone who tries. In other words, if you try hard, you're bound to succeed eventually.

2**"Wu Da Lang": **A character from the famous Chinese classic, "Water

Margin" (水滸傳). He is the older brother of Wu Song, a heroic outlaw

whose exploits include killing a tiger single-handedly. Unlike his brother, Wu Da Lang is usually bullied. More info here.

"**If there is a road in Heaven, I wouldn't take it, but even if there is no door to Hell, I will barge through.": **Usually, this line

is said by the bad guy, telling you that you've made the wrong choice. There is a road to Heaven, yet you didn't choose it. Even if there is no door to Hell, you will rather barge through. The meaning is that you picked not the road that would let you live, but the road that would kill you.

"**Birds die in pursuit of food, and human beings die in pursuit of the opposite sex!": **A parody of the phrase that originally says,

"Birds die in pursuit of food, and human beings die in pursuit of wealth".

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Chapter 3: Xiao Xiao Lan, Part One

_Aiya, that pigheaded Long Ming! What's he doing, smiling at those two males like an infatuated idiot… Doesn't he know just how potent his current appearance is? Just wait until the Elf or that Demon Overlord set their sights on taking him for themselves; I sure as hell am not going to go save him._

Ah! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Min Lan Lan, but everyone calls me Xiao Xiao Lan. That's because my mom is called Feng Lan, so she's Xiao Lan, and since I'm her daughter, that makes me Xiao Xiao Lan!

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but shake my head again. Never mind that my mom's ability to choose names is subpar, but even that dad of mine, Min Gui Wen, who's reputed to have an IQ of 200, fails in an equally shameful manner when it comes to picking names. Thanks to that, even though I'm fifteen this year, I'm still being called Xiao Xiao

Lan.

1

Just how small am I? In any case, I'm a little bigger than my mom—

I'm an A-cup! Seeing that beautiful elven bishie and cool demon hottie actually give a fine fifteen-year old maiden like me the cold shoulder and instead fawn over Long Ming just made me feel so incomparably…jealous! Considering this, I resentfully shouted, "Let's go, Long Ming, you pig head."

Long Ming turned his head toward me, and with that exceedingly beautiful angelic face, he said innocently, "Alright, we're leaving now! You don't have to be so mean!"

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"You should be gentler towards ladies," Elf said in a rather displeased tone, and even the aloof demon hottie shot a cold look at me!

_The real "lady" here is me! _I wailed inwardly,_ Sob sob! I want to be protected by hot guys too!_

"Why were you two trapped here?" I asked, feeling it was strange. It couldn't be that the two had come here to elope? No, no, no. These two bishies were definitely not… _They treated the busty Long Ming_ _very well, so they shouldn't be gay, right?_

The elf and demon both looked as though they wanted to say something but couldn't. For the longest time, they would start mumbling vaguely, then break off again, unable to utter a single word.

At this point, Long Ming said in an annoyed tone, "Xiao Xiao Lan, every person has secrets. What do you think you're doing, prying into other people's affairs?"

_I just asked because I was curious!_

Dissatisfied, I pouted and followed the other three back to the village. Along the way, I watched as Elf and Demon Thirteen carefully opened a path for Long Ming, pushing aside branches and even spreading a cloak on the ground, like they were afraid Long Ming would step in mud. But just when I was also about to step on the cloak, Demon coldly snatched it back, nearly causing me to fall flat on my face!

_What's with this difference in treatment? _I really wanted to cry.

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As Long Ming and I were leading Elf and Demon back to the village, we saw all the villagers standing and waiting anxiously by the village entrance. Upon seeing the four of us, all of them let out a cheer.

The village chief was even more moved, and he patted Elf and Demon on the back while tearfully saying, "Thank goodness you got out alright."

"You guys are on really good terms with the villagers," I said with surprise.

Upon hearing this, Elf, and even the aloof Demon Thirteen, smiled bashfully.

"Alright, alright! Everyone calm down. The two of them are still going to Infinite City with Long Ming and Xiao Xiao Lan," the village chief said as he wiped his tears and prevented everyone from rushing at us in their excitement.

The village chief turned his head toward the four of us and happily said,

"All of you must be extremely careful; the road to Infinite City will by no means be a peaceful one. Infinite City itself is also not a place to take lightly. All of you must help each other, work together, and must not fight amongst yourselves."

The four of us nodded our heads.

"Hey! Buy some more potions before you leave. Since I can finally be rid of you, I'll even throw in a twenty percent discount," said the NPC lady from the village pharmacy. She was even holding a bunch of

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health and mana potions in her hands and wore an expression that plainly said "get-the-hell-out-of-here-you-pests."

"What kind of attitude is that? In any case, I've visited your store a number of times, yet you still want to get rid of us that badly?" I asked in a sour tone, especially upon seeing Long Ming who was saying goodbye to the village chief, weapons store NPC, and class change NPC. All of them wore very sorrowful expressions on their faces and looked very reluctant to let him leave. So why was it like this with me?

"Hmph! Every time you come, you do everything you can to bring down the prices. I'm only too eager to see such a bad customer like you leave," the NPC lady snapped back, her face full of loathing.

"Oh? For an NPC like you, who always greets customers with such a sour face, it's not like I want to see you again either!" I responded fiercely, without forgetting to pointedly extend my longest finger.

The NPC lady's face flushed red, and with a heave, she threw over the red and blue potions and shouted, "Scram! Get as far away as you can, and never come back here again."

After she finished saying this, the NPC lady turned away and left furiously.

"She didn't have to be so mean," I mumbled to myself resentfully. At the same time, I wasn't completely sure, but just now I thought her eyes looked a little red…

Right at this moment, the village chief walked over, and after heaving

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a long and loud sigh, he shook his head as he remarked, "An ill-fated relationship. Such an ill-fated relationship!"

I walked toward Long Ming.

"Long Ming, are you done saying goodbye? Let's go."

"Cough, cough," the village chief coughed forcefully and in the blink of an eye, moved between me and Long Ming. Gazing far into the distance, he said, "Love is really an illogical thing, wouldn't you say so?"

"I guess!" I answered irritably. This damn village chief definitely knew that, in my fifteen years, I had not had a single boyfriend, and that's why he was deliberately mocking me. At that thought, I repeated, this time more angrily, "Let's go, Long Ming."

Long Ming nodded and followed me, and together with Elf and Demon Thirteen, the four of us prepared to leave.

"Wait!" the village chief gave a furious shout.

The four of us froze mid-step, and in unison, we turned to look back with puzzled expressions on our faces.

"Have you not discovered her feelings for you?" the village chief asked in a disbelieving tone.

An expression of sudden realization dawned on my face. _So the village_ _chief was talking about that! _I immediately assumed a look of

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understanding.

"Of course I have. Even though she and I have had our differences, I still understand her feelings."

On everyone's faces appeared an "oh-so-you-actually-knew" expression.

I lifted up a belt of potions. "She's actually pretty nice. Seeing that I've been to her place for over a month, she actually gave these potions to me for free. She has an awful temper, but she still has a sense of ethics when it comes to business."

Everyone fell over. Long Ming was even crying as he apologized to everyone, "I'm sorry. It's my fault for not teaching her 2 well."

After Long Ming finished apologizing to everyone, he grabbed hold of the back of my collar and dragged me out of the village with Elf and Demon Thirteen, wearing disbelieving looks on their faces, following behind. But I still couldn't figure it out.

_Just what did I say wrong?_

"Xiao Xiao Lan, you probably don't need to carry a bunch of potions at hand. We already have Long Ming as a priest," the Elf kindly suggested. I glanced at Long Ming's innocent face and was reminded of how every time I was risking my life training desperately, there would always be an angel sleeping and drooling under the shade of the trees. I distributed a few jars of health and mana potions to Elf and Demon

Thirteen. To the two clueless people, I said earnestly, "Trust me, it's

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better to hold onto these."

In the following days, I found myself extremely thankful for the addition of Elf and Demon Thirteen to our team, even though the latter always wore a dour look on his face, as though he had lost millions of dollars to someone who promised to pay him back but never did. 3 As expected, the increase in battle power caused our team's levels to rise at lightning speed.

Whenever a monster approached us, I instantly rushed to the front lines to defend, while Elf would shoot arrows from behind to help kill the monsters closing in on me. Demon Thirteen would stand beside Long Ming, freezing all the monsters that came near, and when the situation on the front lines took a turn for the worse, Demon Thirteen's

Frozen Arrow Burst, a technique with which I had a love-hate relationship, proved even more indispensable. I just hoped that those frozen arrows wouldn't get shot into my butt again.

What? What was the priest doing?

Long Ming was, of course, performing his duty as a priest. During the battle, he was responsible for sleeping, and after we finished fighting he would conveniently wake up, eat, and then do his job by throwing a few healing spells.

_Being a priest is such a nice profession! _I thought, grinding my teeth.

"See, I told you guys to hold on to those potions," I chided them from the side, and the two desperately nodded their heads.

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"I'm dead tired from walking so much," Long Ming said as he gave a huge stretch, then proceeded to lie down lazily on the hammock that Elf and Demon Thirteen had set up for him. Next to it, there were even fruit and beverages.

I took a rusty hatchet and began to furiously hack at a tree. Demon

Thirteen walked past me and coolly said, "Warrior, after you finish chopping the firewood, don't forget to pitch the tent."

Having said this, he took a freshly-picked coconut, which even had a straw stuck into it, and walked to Long Ming's side, somewhat shyly putting it next to Long Ming's hand.

_What's with this difference in treatment? Damn that Long Ming. Stupid Long Ming, going so far as to steal the cool, silent type of guy I liked best. _I brandished the hatchet violently, imagining that the tree beforeme had turned into that damned angelic face of Long Ming's, and hacked it into bits and pieces, thus proclaiming the end of the tree's life.

After chopping up the firewood, I threw down the hatchet and went to pitch the tent, my entire heart full of hatred. As I passed by Long

Ming's hammock, I made a point of not forgetting to glare at him fiercely.

"Elf said to pitch two tents. One is for my personal use, and the other is for the three of you," Long Ming said while grinning broadly.

Dissatisfied, I growled, "Why do you get a whole tent to yourself?!" "What? Not satisfied?" Long Ming's smile became even lewder. "Being

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able to sleep with two hotties is a rare opportunity, yet you want to let this heaven-bestowed chance pass by?"

_That's right! _As if suddenly struck by lightning, I realized that I couldsleep with a beautiful elf and a handsome demon, _Th-this thought is_ _simply too drool-inducing._

Thinking of this, I happily prepared to go to the lakeside to pitch two tents and even Long Ming's lewd smile could not dampen my spirits.

I cheerfully began to pitch the tents. _First, set up the main frame…_ Whoosh!

I continued my happy task of pitching the tents. _Next, throw the cloth_ _on top._

Whoosh!

I continued to happily pitch the tent for me and the two hotties. _All_ _that's left is to nail down the four corners of the tent, and then, we can sleep!_

"Idiot! Are you deaf?" An angel, a demon, and an elf simultaneously roared.

"What?" I looked toward the other three, not comprehending why they were suddenly yelling at me for being deaf. In any case, I was doing my best to pitch the tents!

"Look behind you!" Long Ming shouted as he pointed behind me, his eyes nearly popping out.

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_Behind me? Isn't the lake behind me? What's there to see? Is it possible that there are sharks in the lake? _Completely bewildered, Iturned around.

Based on my meager knowledge of biology, if a shark came out of a lake, that would definitely constitute an extraordinary phenomenon. However, if a clam came out of a lake, that would still be considered possible. Following this line of reasoning, I should be more surprised to see a shark in this lake than a clam… But at this moment, the situation was the exact opposite. I saw a clam, and moreover, I received a shock a hundred times greater than if I had seen a shark.

With great difficulty I recovered my voice and immediately yelled,

"Wow, what a huge clam!"

There it was, a clam that was bigger than a person, and it was alive and standing… or rather, floating on the surface of the lake.

"That's not the point! Look, look! It actually has eyes," shouted Long

Ming, sounding like he was going crazy.

"Oh!"

I peered closely and above the clam's pink and extremely bouncy meat, there were indeed two eyes as big as yellow watermelons. With a very serious expression on my face, I said, "Usually my mom does all the cooking, so I never noticed whether clams had eyes or not. Now I finally know—as it turns out, clams have eyes after all."

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"Do clams…have eyes?" Elf and Demon Thirteen asked each other.

"Of course not!" Long Ming maniacally screeched, his mouth wide open and golden hair a disheveled mess, scaring the two males, who stared at him with wide eyes.

Sudden silence fell over the scene, and the hysterical angel finally recognized his own loss of self-composure. He turned his head away, sprayed on some "Sassoon," 4 then gently arranged his hair back into its original position. He turned back and, putting on an innocent, angelic look, said, "I want to eat clam!"

Long Ming assumed a sparkly, teary-eyed expression, spurring the two bishies into action. Elf and Demon immediately gave in; as one raised his bow and arrow and the other a magic staff, the two of them released a terrifying aura that clearly said, "The fair lady wishes to eat, and we will obey even at the cost of our lives!"

However, I didn't know why, but even I, who also loved to eat clams, didn't dare attack this clam. I couldn't help but feel that this clam was no ordinary clam, and a faint but dangerous aura seemed to be emanating from it…

I didn't know why, but since I was little, my mom had always told me this: "Do not randomly eat things that have eyes!"

That's why, whenever we ate fish at home, my mom would always dig out the eyes beforehand. Naturally, I didn't dare eat anything with eyes—even more so if the thing had eyes as big as yellow watermelons as the clam in front of me did.

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"Take this! Continuous Arrow!"

With the fair lady watching, Elf demonstrated 200% of his strength and simultaneously fired five arrows, aiming every single one at the clam. But, as expected, that clam was no ordinary clam. It closed itself up, and its solid shell easily deflected all five arrows. After deflecting the arrows, the clam once again opened its shell, its two large eyes fixed on Elf as if it were mocking the futility of Elf's arrows.

Seeing this, Elf covered his face with both hands as he sank to his knees. Listening to him muttering to himself, he was probably regretting being miserly and not buying Drill Arrows and so on.

"Hmph! I'll cook you directly! Meteor Shower!"

The mage raised his magic staff high, and in a flash, ten meteors sped toward the clam. Just as I was about to witness the completion of a cooked clam, the clam suddenly jumped, dodging all the meteors, and with a snap of its shell, it forcibly swallowed Demon Thirteen, who had been standing by the lake.

After swallowing Demon Thirteen, the clam appeared to be unsatisfied, and it instantly rolled beside the slim Elf, and it swallowed him with lightning speed as well. Long Ming and I, who were standing to the side, were both scared witless; it was only then that we found out that man-eating clams actually existed! My mom was right after all; things with eyes should not be randomly eaten!

At this point, the clam once again began to make strange movements,

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using all of its strength to rock itself up and down, left and right, once in a while even doing a 720-degree spin. As I watched, my eyes began to spin—what's more, I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, but I thought I heard a shout that sounded like "Help!" originate from within the clam.

After a long time had passed, the clam opened its shell very slightly and spat out two people. They were an awful sight to behold; Elf and Demon Thirteen looked as though they had just been extracted from a fruit using a juicer and were presently sprawled on the ground. Not only did they appear boneless, they were also completely beaten up.

The clam used its two very large eyes to look straight at Elf and

Demon Thirteen, and from within the clam came a phrase, "Do you discriminate against clams?"

Both Long Ming and I opened our eyes wide. _No way… Could it be that_ _this clam was not only really big, had eyes and superior fighting strength, but could even talk?_

Seeing that Elf and Demon Thirteen gave no response, the clam once again moved toward them, and repeated, this time in a louder voice,

"Do you discriminate against clams?"

"Hey, AnRui! The way yer daddy sees it, they don't have any strength left to discriminate against clams," a deep male voice laughed as he stated the facts.

Immediately, I looked toward where the voice had come from. A cool, heavily-muscled man with a crew cut was casually sitting on a tree branch, wearing a look of delight on his face as though he was

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enjoying watching us suffer.

Upon hearing the crew-cut man's words, the clam lowered itself to look closely at Elf and Demon Thirteen, and only after confirming that the two were really unconscious did it raise its head to reply, "XiMen Feng, you're late."

"Oy oy, it's your fault for hitting me that far. Do you know much trouble it was just to walk back here? I would have been smashed to a pulp if I hadn't put my neck on the line to learn the Parabolic Landing

Technique back when I had first been sent flying by you. Otherwise, who knows how many times yer daddy would have been killed!" XiMen Feng bellowed resentfully.

"XiMen Feng's the one who wanted to follow AnRui."

"Shut up! That guy Prince hasn't appeared for so long, who's yer daddy supposed to follow if not you?" The crew-cut man jumped down from the tree branch, walked in front of the clam, and even boldly leaned on the clam's shell.

_Prince?_

Long Ming and I glanced at each other, and I immediately dashed in front of the crew-cut man and hurriedly asked, "Do you know Prince?" XiMen Feng looked startled, and then pounded his chest and said, "No duh. Of course I know Prince. I've known him since more than ten years ago."

Long Ming and I both had puzzled looks on our faces, and Long Ming

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even pulled me aside and muttered into my ear, "He said he's known Prince for more than ten years. If that's the case, then that guy called XiMen is also an NPC."

I opened my eyes wide. "Really? He doesn't look like an NPC."

Long Ming rolled his eyes. "Just what NPC here acts like an NPC?"

I bit my thumb and recalled the pharmacy lady who argued with me every day, the warrior job change NPC who even let me bargain over the job change quest requirements, and the weapons shop keeper Wu Da Lang who slept and drooled on the job, not even noticing if his weapons were stolen. I shook my head.

"None of them."

"I think he's definitely a character from a story plot." Long Ming excitedly continued, "Aren't all games like this? First, you have to find the key character and unlock the story plot. Only then, can you battle the final boss in the end."

I suddenly understood, and I too became excited. If that was the case, then we were also getting closer to finding Prince.

Long Ming wore a triumphant smile, walked before XiMen Feng, and with that angelic face of his asked, "Mister XiMen Feng? If I may ask, where are you heading now?"

Upon seeing Long Ming's angelic face, XiMen Feng also couldn't help gulping before saying, "Yer daddy's goin' to find someone."

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"Find someone?" Excitement flashed across Long Ming's eyes. "Can we go with you?"

XiMen Feng shrugged his shoulders indifferently and answered,

"Doesn't matter to me. If the little girlie wants to come, then come." After hearing XiMen Feng's reply, Long Ming turned around and made a victory sign at me…

_Just who was the one who, a couple weeks ago, fervently swore to me that he would die before using seduction…?_

"Since you guys want to go, get on. And bring those two ooze-like things as well," said XiMen Feng.

_Get on? On what? _As I watched the big clam become a huuuuuuugeclam, my confusion disappeared completely. Then I saw XiMen Feng lie down comfortably on the clam's meat, treating it as if it was a dream waterbed, and he promptly began to snore.

"Can we really…ride the clam?" I doubtfully asked Long Ming.

"The clam can even talk. Riding it isn't that big of a deal," replied Long

Ming, who sounded as though he was trying to remain calm.

"But just recently, Elf and Demon Thirteen went in and came out like ooze." With some apprehension, I looked at Elf and Demon Thirteen, who were still knocked out on the ground.

"That's because they offended the clam. Don't worry, we won't be

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turned into ooze." As he spoke, Long Ming climbed onto the clam, then lay down on top and let out a comfortable noise. "It's so soft. It feels so nice to lie on."

Seeing as Long Ming had already gone ahead, I had no choice but to pick up Elf with my left arm and carry Demon with my right (I swear that I did not seize the opportunity to eat their tofu; it's hard to avoid touching someone's waist and chest when carrying them!) and jumped onto the clam, causing the meat to ripple. After placing the two bishies on either side of me, I lay down comfortably between the two of them, a very content smile on my face.

The clam slowly closed its shell, and I suddenly got that feeling of intense excitement you get when you're sitting on a rollercoaster, the safety bar has been lowered, and you're just about to set off. At this moment, XiMen Feng's voice drifted over. "Oh right, yer daddy forgot to tell you guys. You won't be used to riding AnRui at first, but you'll get used to it soon."

After saying this, XiMen Feng placed his two hands behind his head, and without further ado, resumed his snoring.

_Not used to?_

Before I even had time to ponder this, the clam suddenly shifted into a standing position. That's right, a standing position. As one might well imagine, all of us who were lying down on the clam's meat obviously rolled and rolled until we fell to the bottom, our chests pressing into each other's backs… Long Ming's D-cup breasts were squashed into my back, and my chest in turn was pressed into someone's—I didn't know

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whether it was Elf's or Demon's—back.

"Long Ming… I'm in so much pain," I said, nearly breathless.

"Ugh…" Long Ming emitted an unintelligible noise.

"What's wrong, Long Ming? If you're injured, then hurry up and replenish your HP," I somewhat urgently reminded him. He was a priest after all. It wouldn't do for him to be so lazy that he died before replenishing his own health.

"I, I think my breasts exploded…"

"…Don't worry, even if they did explode, this is a game. They'll come back after you restore your HP."

"No more, let me out."

After Elf and Demon Thirteen had woken up (in fact, it was just a few seconds after Long Ming's breasts exploded), they kept desperately trying to get out of the clam, banging on the shell non-stop, though most of the time it was actually them being thrown into the walls of the shell by the violent rocking motion of the clam.

"I'll never use a blender again," I sobbed. "I understand the pain of the apples and oranges."

"Heal, Heal, Heal…"

Long Ming kept casting healing spells, one after another, because his

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three teammates kept losing blood non-stop. Elf, who had very little HP, nearly died, and it was only thanks to Long Ming's healing spells that he barely managed to survive. What was more, now the clam's body was shaking up and down, left to right like a milk bubble tea shaker; the only difference was what was being shaken was not milk bubble tea, but a scarlet red "watermelon juice." Among the three of us, only the human warrior, who was the strongest –that was to say, me! and had the most HP, still had the tiniest bit of strength left to look around.

To my surprise, I saw XiMen Feng still fast asleep and snoring inside this "watermelon-juice shaker." _Just how high is this guy's defense? Or_ _is he simply too thick-skinned?_

"XiMen Feng, we've arrived," AnRui said.

How strange. This XiMen Feng, despite the tremendous convulsion, had been sleeping so soundly, actually woke up at the clam's one phrase. He even gave a big stretch and slowly opened the clam's shell, allowing sunlight to peek through. XiMen Feng led the way out of the clam and we too rushed out, scrambling frantically.

I was just thinking of asking XiMen Feng where Prince was when I saw a strange sight. XiMen Feng's crew cut suddenly began to grow longer and longer, finally stopping when it had transformed into a sheet of raven-black hair that fell to the waist. I followed it with my eyes, and when I reached the waist, I abruptly realized that slender, tiny waist could not possibly belong to a large man, not to mention that curvy and tight butt and that curved and beautiful pair of long legs…

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"We're here."

XiMen Feng turned around, and a fresh, beautiful woman stood before us. She placed her hands on her hips, and in a coarse manner that was completely unbecoming of her appearance, said, "Come on, yer daddy still needs to find an extremely troublesome guy. Damn it, that pretty boy is always givin' me so much trouble."

"But you…you," I stammered, unable to continue.

XiMen Feng looked at himself, waved his hand carelessly, and indifferently explained, "Yer daddy's a woman during the day and a man at night. Get it? Yer daddy's going now. Whether you want to come or not is up to you."

We watched as XiMen Feng really turned around to leave, giving us no time to ask any further. We promptly followed him, and Elf uncertainly asked me, "Where are we going now?"

"I don't know either," Spreading my hands, I honestly stated, "I don't even know where this is."

After a little while, a city appeared before our eyes. It was extremely immense in scale, and it definitely wasn't something our tiny village— whose total number of NPC and players you could count with two hands—could compare with.

But the strange thing was, this city's gates were unexpectedly hanging slanted upon their hinges, and there were even vines growing all over them. Dust covered everything like a blanket, and on both sides of the

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road were many strange tree demons. If I hadn't been completely certain about which game I was in, I would've thought that I was role-playing as Ning Cai Chen 5 standing in front of LanRuo Temple, preparing to seek out the grandmother tree in a fight to the death.

"Is this a ghost town?"

Long Ming, on the other hand, was surveying the scene with wide eyes. For him, who often played games like Resident Evil where you shot dead carcasses into even bloodier piles of dismembered flesh, this wasn't much.

"Ghost town, my foot! Before, this used to be Southern Continent's most prosperous capital," XiMen Feng retorted. Then, with a slight shudder, he continued, "What's more, this place is that guy's territory, and if I'm seen by that hideous pair of eyes… Yer daddy would sooner risk his luck dukin' it out with the cold-faced duo than look into that damned pair of eyes."

_Could eyes be so terrifying? Don't tell me that this was the legendary_

_Medusa, whose eyes could turn you into stone with just a single look?_

I couldn't help but swallow nervously. I definitely did not want to be turned into a stone statue and placed at the ghost town's entrance as decoration.

"Alright, we're goin' in. You all had best look out for yourselves; yer daddy don't have time to babysit you." Having said this, XiMen Feng boldly followed the clam in.

The four of us exchanged looks of dismay and then looked at the

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malevolent NPC grandmother trees. Immediately, we broke into a run and rushed behind XiMen Feng, following him very carefully, afraid that we would be snatched away and sucked dry by the trees.

"Don't worry. AnRui is ranked very highly among the NPCs. There aren't many NPCs who would dare do anything to AnRui," XiMen Feng said, laughing at our timorousness as he crudely sauntered along and complacently patted the clam's shell.

"XiMen Feng, just who have you come here to look for?" I couldn't resist stealing a glance at the surrounding NPCs. There were various types of NPCs, and their only shared trait was that they all held the same expression that suggested they really wanted to rush forward and tear us to pieces.

"Didn't I tell you already? The one with the hideous eyes," XiMen Feng impatiently answered.

I opened my eyes wide and yelled, "Since he is so terrifying, why are you looking for him?"

"You think yer daddy wants to find him?" XiMen Feng said irritably, "If it weren't for the pretty boy wantin' yer daddy to come, and even gettin' that sister-in-law to stand by with that smile of hers, yer daddy wouldn't have even bothered to come here."

I listened, completely bewildered. _Pretty boy? Sister-in-law?_

"If it weren't for that, why else would yer daddy want to come to this kind of creepy place." XiMen Feng abruptly stopped walking and raised

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his head to look toward the strange sight in front of us. There was a

"human" presently fighting with a grandmother tree, and moreover, as the fighting continued, sobbing noises could be heard.

_Could that be Xiao Qian crying as she desperately struggled against the grandmother tree? If so, how could this Ning Cai Chen ignore her plight? _At once I raised my claymore and rushed over as I bellowed,

"I'm coming, Xiao Qian!"

"Sorry, I'm sorry. Our Xiao Xiao Lan loves playing RPGs too much, so…"

Long Ming hurriedly apologized. Then, together with the Elf and Demon Thirteen, he hurried to provide back-up support.

I dashed to the front, and only then did I realize that it was no Xiao Qian, but rather a man who had an extremely muscular body. Even though his back was facing me, there was no mistake that the waves of sobbing were coming from him. Except… This image of an Arnold

Schwarzenegger 6 crying like a girl who had just been dumped was simply too strange.

_Nevertheless, since I am already here, I might as well help him. _Justas I was thinking this, Arnold Schwarzenegger actually brutally ripped the grandmother tree's branch off, and even climbed onto it, using his mouth to bite off the leaves. By this point, not only was Arnold Schwarzenegger crying, but even the grandmother tree began to wail, and for a moment I wasn't sure who was more pitiable. _Just who am I_ _supposed to help? _The three who had come to provide back-up and Istood there, uncertain of what to do.

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"Undying Man, yer daddy's come to find you!" bellowed XiMen Feng, who had also caught up. The strange thing was, he was now wearing a pair of sunglasses.

The grievously weeping Arnold Schwarzenegger suddenly stopped, and the grandmother tree that he had been chewing on took the chance to escape, sobbing as it went. Arnold Schwarzenegger slowly turned around, and before we had time to get a good look at his face, he had moved in front of XiMen Feng. In an extremely grateful tone, he sobbed, "XiMen Feng, did you come here to help me recover my Southern city? I'm so thankful."

As if in slow motion, Arnold threw himself at XiMen Feng. On the other hand, XiMen Feng, who's expression had changed drastically, turned, intending to run away as he howled, "Stay awaaaaay from meeee!"

Unfortunately, XiMen Feng was not as quick as Arnold, and in one swift motion, Arnold grabbed on to XiMen Feng, even forcibly turning XiMen

Feng's face toward him. Even though Arnold's back was facing us, we could still see very clearly that Arnold didn't do anything to harm

XiMen Feng, but the latter let out a scream and then, foaming at the mouth, fainted dead away.

"Aiya, to think that XiMen would be so happy that he fainted," Arnold said happily and then used one arm to place the thin and weak XiMen on top of the clam.

"Just who are all of you? How come you're not the people with Prince?"

Arnold slowly turned around.

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The four of us were so happy upon hearing the word "Prince" that we forgot to consider a certain matter: what had caused that fearless XiMen Feng to faint?

Suddenly, a pair of sparkly eyes appeared before us. The instant I saw that pair of large and bright shoujo manga eyes, the only thing I thought of was Candy Candy. 7 Candy Candy's theme song played through my mind, and then, quite abruptly, I saw Candy Candy's eyes being ripped out and stuck onto Arnold Schwarzenegger's face—what's more, the eyes continued to sparkle brightly, never ceasing their sparkle attack on us.

Strength minus 9999! All four receive powerful shocks. Commence non-stop vomiting!

Arnold-Candy continued to approach us, looking at us with concerned Candy Candy eyes, and then, in a boorish Arnold-esque voice asked,

"Are you alright?"

HP minus 9999! All four receive a one-hit K.O.. Status: You have died!

"Aiya, why has everyone fainted? No worries, come to my house—

AnRui, if you wouldn't mind carrying them."

"Undying Man, the owner of Meatbun wanted XiMen Feng and I to find you and then meet up at Infinite City as quickly as possible." AnRui opened its clam shell and looked at Undying Man with its two large eyes.

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"Prince wants us to meet up? I wonder what he's up to?" Undying Man scratched his face and promptly said to AnRui, "Alright, then let's head back immediately."

Having said this, Undying Man used his sturdy arms to pick us up and toss us into the clam one at a time, and after everyone was inside AnRui, he also jumped in. Then the clam shell clamped shut once more, and it gradually stood upright. Immediately, a series of "Bang-bam-thud-aiya-my-poor-head" sounds from various objects colliding issued from within.

"Nooooooooo! Let me out! I don't want to ride a clam!"

From within the clam shell came several different voices, yet all were saying the exact same thing.

When the clam opened once again, the sky was already full of stars— no, perhaps it was because I was so dizzy and muddleheaded that I was seeing stars? With effort I crawled out of the clam, and when I raised my head, I saw tall city walls and a set of grand and imposing gates. These gates did not belong to the ghost town from before—it was very obvious that this was another city.

Furthermore, I also saw that Undying Man was speaking with someone we recognized: the white-haired, green-eyed dark elf, Wicked. I could faintly make out what they were saying.

"Why haven't you gone in yet? How long have you been here?"

Undying Man asked concernedly.

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"Almost a month…" Wicked answered with a forced smile.

"A month?" Undying Man showed a surprised expression, "Don't tell me that you've been lingering around outside like this for a whole month?"

Wicked remained silent.

As if he understood, Undying Man asked, "Is it because of Prince?"

Wicked maintained his silence, though his expression seemed to darken.

"I heard that it's been almost ten years since you disappeared from Prince's house?" Undying Man worriedly inquired.

"Seven years. Xiao Xiao Lan turned eight that year," Wicked said, looking as though he were recalling distant memories.

"Why did you leave?"

"Xiao Xiao Lan…resembles how she looked as a child too much," A pained expression came over Wicked's face, "I couldn't bear looking into that large pair of eyes any longer."

Both Undying Man and Wicked fell silent, but my mind was filled with a chaotic buzz. _Wicked disappeared from Prince's house?_ _What_ _relationship does he have with Prince? But why was my name mentioned? Whose childhood self did I resemble?_

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I was utterly unable to understand Wicked's words, yet I had the feeling that I had forgotten something very important. Especially upon seeing Wicked's pained expression, my mood had also become heavy and I felt as though there was something I absolutely had to remember no matter what.

"Wicked!" A clear and sharp male voice interrupted my train of thought, and a person's figure also appeared at the city gates.

Wicked nearly fell over, but I was very certain that he knew the person who had called him because a surprised yet happy expression appeared on his face. He gently called, "Xiao Lan?"

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Footnotes

1**"Xiao Xiao Lan": **"Xiao" means small or little and is used as adiminutive in nicknames. "Xiao Lan" (Little Lan) is Feng Lan's nickname. Most people call her Xiao Lan (never just Lan). Xiao Xiao

Lan is Min Lan Lan's nickname, in which "Xiao" is used twice (as she is the younger Xiao Lan, making her Xiao Xiao Lan). Her name would make her "Little Little Lan," which is why she's complaining about how she's still being called this nickname even though she is already fifteen.

"**I'm sorry. It's my fault for not teaching her well.": **In Chinese,the pronunciation of he/she/it/him/her is exactly the same. Although

Long Ming referred to Xiao Xiao Lan as a "her", he did it in speech and not on paper, so he hasn't given away her gender.

"…**As though he had lost millions of dollars to someone who promised to pay him back but never did": **The original Chinese

expression reads "好像被倒了幾千萬的會似的." 來會is a Chinese group

lending practice, where a group of people pool together money, each person contributing the exact same amount. Then, everyone offers a payback interest rate as a bid for the pooled money, and the person

who offers the highest payback interest gets the money. 被倒會, then,

is when the person who receives the money breaks his promise and does not pay back those who had contributed.

"**Sassoon": **A brand of beauty products.

"**Ning Cai Chen": **A reference to the character Ning Cai Chen (寧采

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臣) from one of the stories in Liaozhai Zhiyi (聊斋志异), also known as

_Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, _a collection of nearly fivehundred tales that are mostly supernatural. In the story that Ning Cai Chen is in, he journeys to a temple to fight against the tree demon Lao

Lao for his love, Xiao Qian (小倩).

"**Arnold Schwarzenegger": **Arnold Schwarzenegger served as thegovernor of California for several years but is better known as a movie

star and body builder. The Terminator is one of his most famous roles as a movie star.

"**Candy Candy": **This is a shoujo manga from the 1970s.It's themesong is found here.

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Chapter 4: Xiao Xiao Lan, Part Two

I felt as though I had suddenly been struck by lightning. I knew the name "Xiao Lan" all too well. Growing up I had often heard this nickname, because everyone called her that. She was my mom, Xiao Lan.

That figure rushed from the city gates to stand beside Wicked, and only then was I able to see his appearance. He was an elf with snow-white short hair, eyes the color of wine, and an exceedingly beautiful face. A tiara rested upon his forehead, and hanging by his waist was a black dao…_The village chief was right. A guy this beautiful would_ _certainly be chased by women endlessly._

A look filled with emotion and nostalgia appeared on that beautiful elf's face, and he said, "Long time no see."

"Yes." Wicked gazed at the beautiful elf as if he would never tire of looking at him.

The two graceful and handsome elves gazed at each other, creating a romantic and beautiful scene that was enough to make any woman bleed from her nose until she died. Yet somehow, inwardly, I was very certain that the following scene would not be a romantic one.

"You big idiot!" The beautiful elf suddenly began to violently hit Wicked. Strangely, the angle and strength of the blows looked very familiar, very much like an authentic Long Ming-family-style punch.

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Seeing that the elf was about to pounce at Wicked and give him the beating of his life, Undying Man hurried to hold back the elf as he coaxed, "Prince, don't be so rash, calm down."

"Prince?" Three surprised cries escaped from beside me, and when I turned my head to look I saw Long Ming, Elf, and Demon Thirteen all lying on the ground like me and secretly watching the proceedings.

"Let go of me, Undying Man. I WILL beat him up. This guy just goes off and disappears without a single word, and we thought that he had been kidnapped. We were worried to death, and in the end this guy just sends a letter saying he's going to travel around the world! That really pisses me off!" As Prince spoke, his eyes actually reddened.

"Xiao Lan, I'm sorry, I only…" Wicked's face was full of regret, yet he was unable to say anything in his own defense.

Upon seeing Wicked's apologetic expression, Prince softened his expression, though he couldn't refrain from nagging, "From now on you're not allowed to leave without saying goodbye—no, even if you say it I won't let you leave!"

A happy smile appeared on Wicked's face as he earnestly promised, "No, I'll never—"

"My dearest wife, where have you gone? Wait for me." Another all-too-familiar voice came from the city gates, interrupting Wicked.

A familiar yet unfamiliar person ran out: a demon with dark hair and amethyst eyes holding a guqin in his hand. Even though the whole

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image was very different from my dad who wore a suit and tie to work, that face, plus that unbearably sickening way of calling someone,

made me absolutely positive that this was definitely my dad, Min Gui Wen. _Ahhhh!_

My dad threw himself onto Prince with a flying tackle, hugging him tightly, and he even looked hostilely at Wicked. "You're back." Wicked's smile evaporated in an instant, and with an icy expression he responded, "Yes."

"Are you married yet?" My dad narrowed his eyes dangerously, as though he were asking his own forty-year-old daughter if she had found a husband yet.

"None of your business." Wicked's tone became even colder.

"Of course it is." Looking as though he was about to go berserk, my dad pointed at Wicked's nose as he wildly scolded, "Who knows if you're still thinking of someone else's wife!"

"Hmph." Wicked's face had already turned ashen, and without another word he turned to leave.

"Argh! You two, don't fight as soon as you see each other." Prince hurried to pull back Wicked, but when he turned around and saw my dad looking as though he was on the verge of tears, he had no choice but to hug him to his chest. This scene looked a lot like me and Long Ming when we were kids, when we were fighting to be hugged by my mom, who then had no choice but to hug one of us in each arm.

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In a tone that suggested he did not know whether to laugh or cry,

Prince said, "I'm telling you guys, can't you make peace for a bit? It's already been ten years, and you two are still acting like children."

However, despite not knowing what had transpired to cause such deeply-rooted hatred between Wicked and my dad, it was very obvious that ten years had not been long enough for them to make peace as they glowered at one another. But at that moment, the sound of a crowd of people drifted over from the city gates, and it looked like some ten people were walking over. From among them a wolfman's deep voice called, "Wicked?"

"Ah, Wicked-gēgē is finally back!"

A cute angel girl delightfully threw herself on Wicked, which allowed Prince to finally let go, since he no longer had to worry about Wicked running off.

At this point, everyone began to laugh, and among the crowd there were so many handsome guys and beautiful women that I found myself drooling all over the ground to the point where I very nearly died from dehydration.

After everyone was happily reunited, they walked into Infinite City together— even the clam went in—and then the gates closed with a huge rumble, causing a gust of autumn wind to swirl through the dead leaves… Then with a crackle, several kilograms of said dead leaves fell onto the pitiful heads of the four who were beneath the trees.

I spat out two leaves as I finally came to my senses and immediately

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dashed to the city gates, pounding on them furiously as I desperately shouted, "Hey! Open the door, we're still outside!"

I pounded for ten minutes, and still no one came to answer the door.

From behind me came Long Ming's quaking voice as he said, "Xiao Xiao Lan, come back quickly."

Feeling very cross, I turned around as I said, "What do you want? Can't you see that I'm knocking on the door?"

Immediately after I turned my head, my eyes nearly popped right out of their sockets. The several kilos of leaves that had piled up on top of our heads had actually taken flight and were fluttering in the air like butterflies…Normally this wouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary—it was not as if I had never heard of a leaf butterfly. Yet, it was true that I had never heard of them coming together to form a chain, and then tying a person up in a most sadomasochistic style. But luckily, the one who was being subjected to this sadomasochism was not me, but the big-chested angel, aka Long Ming.

Meanwhile, Elf had been strung upside-down on the tree, and Demon Thirteen was even worse off, his body tied up in thousands if not millions of knots, and what's more, in veritable "butterfly bows" 1 to boot.

Dumbstruck, I asked, "No way… are all butterflies nowadays so dangerous?"

"Hurry up and save us!" The three of them roared in unison.

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I hurriedly dashed over, and after pulling out my great dao, 2 began to chop wildly. After I had finished, Long Ming fell down and scrambled to crawl back up, his entire white gown having been turned into a bikini.

Elf fell from the tree with a crash, with only a piece of cloth still hanging onto his lower body. With his back facing us, Demon Thirteen bolted toward the forest in a flash, using his hands to cover up his fair and tender buttocks the whole time.

I opened my eyes wide, and Long Ming, who was using his two hands to desperately hide his "springtime blossoms," coldly said, "Do you really have to stare like that?"

_I—I am completely innocent!_

"Ah! These perverted butterflies are starting to attack again!" Unable to cover both his stomach and butt, Long Ming waved his hands to drive away the butterflies as he screamed and followed in the direction Demon Thirteen had gone.

"Butterflies originally metamorphosed from caterpillars so that they can have sex, 3 after all!" I said matter-of-factly, and then seeing Elf running off to join the other two, I hastily shouted, "Hey, wait for me!" I broke into a run to give chase, but the perverted-metamorphosed butterflies were fluttering in front of me, and there were so many of them that it was like a thick wall. I could only wave my sword to drive the butterflies away as I yelled, "Long Ming? Elf? Demon? Where are you guys?"

From far away I heard their voices, yet I had no way to determine their location. I ran helter-skelter this way and that, finally stopping in

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order to catch my breath, but of course Long Ming and the others had long since disappeared without a trace.

Discouraged, I knelt down in a crouch. _Sob sob sob, it seems like I_ _have become a missing child? _I'd heard that when you get lost, thebest thing to do is to stay right where you are. Not to mention my guaranteed utter lack of a sense of direction… This inherited peerless lack of a sense of direction would only cause me to wander further and further from my destination, so I decided to crouch where I was and wait for Long Ming and the others to come rescue me.

"Sigh. To think that after all that trouble, I was so close to finding out the truth, yet I just sat there and watched as they closed the city gates right in front of me."

I couldn't stop sighing, and then recalled what I had seen just now.

The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Even though my dad was often bullied by my mom, he submitted to it quite happily. If anyone said that my dad was having an affair behind my mom's back,

I definitely would be the first non-believer.

Yet, that demon just now was clearly my dad, and I actually saw him go and hug an insanely beautiful guy? Could it be that beautiful guy was…Long Ming's dad?

_But_…I furrowed my brow in thought._ Why would my dad call Long_

_Ming's dad "my dearest wife"? _Not to mention the fact that everyonehad already been living together for a long time, and yet I still had not discovered anything going on between my dad and Long Ming's dad.

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More importantly, just how would they have the guts to commit adultery? Long Ming's mom and my mom were definitely ranked among the top in the world when it came to people you should never mess with.

"Xiao Xiao Lan!"

Long Ming's shout came over, and I hastened to answer, "I'm here! Don't leave me behind by myself!"

I had just finished shouting when I suddenly felt my shirt collar being lifted up. With a shock, I realized that I was actually "flying" up the tree trunk, and was even nimbly leaping among the trees, although I was very certain that it definitely wasn't that I had become Tarzan, but rather the person carrying me had Tarzan-like martial arts skills.

Just like this, with my eyes wide open, I was bewilderedly carried along until I saw Long Ming and the other two waving to me from the ground. I happily waved back, and the person carrying me gently landed in front of Long Ming. Long Ming rushed forward and pulled my cheeks hard. "Dumbass! I was so worried that you might have been eaten by the butterflies."

I muttered vaguely, "I accidentally got lost."

"It's lucky that he found you, otherwise I really wouldn't have known how to look for you in this game without PMs," Long Ming said irritably.

_He? _I stood there, completely clueless, but then I immediatelyremembered that I had been carried here by someone. I gingerly

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turned my head, and someone who I would never have imagined appeared before my eyes.

_Kenshin!_

I was so surprised that I couldn't keep my mouth from hanging open. Even though the present Kenshin was outfitted very strangely, the cross-shaped scar on his face was very obvious. He was wearing a unique loose-fitting robe, at his waist hung a katana, and his whole person was emitting a very cold and distant aura. He was very different from the image I had of the Kenshin who wore an apron and cooked and vacuumed, yet that face unmistakably belonged to Kenshin.

I glanced left and right. According to my mom, if I saw "that guy"… then the person in front of me would clearly be Kenshin_…_ I looked more closely, and I finally saw that behind and to the right of Kenshin was a guy with black hair, black clothes, a black weapon, and his entire body cloaked in black: Silver-Masked Quick Fox, the Ice

Emperor Syndicate's number one assassin. He almost never said anything, but simply stood silently within a three meter radius of Kenshin.

I still couldn't help asking, "Are you really Kenshin?"

Kenshin nodded, and then said, "Follow me."

"To where?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Northern Continent," Kenshin answered simply.

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"Eh?" Long Ming asked in surprise, "B-but, I thought we're in Central

Continent right now, so how are we going to get to Northern

Continent?"

Before I had time to say anything, Elf and Demon Thirteen both shouted with extreme dismay, "We absolutely will not ride the clam!"

After they finished yelling, Long Ming and I also revealed distressed looks on our faces.

Kenshin did not explain anything, but only raised his head to look up at the sky, and the four of us also looked up. In the blue sky dotted with clouds there were unidentifiable flying objects zooming around. It looked quite mundane. _What in the world was Kenshin looking at?_

_Wait, why is there a piece of cloth floating in the middle of the sky? _Iwatched as the piece of cloth rushed toward us at high speed, even quite skillfully dodging several flying objects, projectiles such as jets, rockets and the like, until it finally arrived above us. I stared dumbly at the piece of cloth, my mouth hanging wide open; I had never in my life seen a piece of cloth that could fly before.

The piece of cloth slowly landed, and I could now see clearly that there was a beautiful man on it, with a broad smile on his face. This man looked very familiar. I furrowed my brow as I racked my brains. _Do I_ _know any Arabian people?_

The dark-skinned, beautiful man jumped down from the piece of cloth, and in a few quick steps he rushed before me and exclaimed with surprise, "Wow! Little Long Ming has become Big Long Ming. You've

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grown so strong!"

Then he rushed up to Long Ming, and with another smile said, "Xiao

Xiao Lan is also very beautiful! Come, give Sunshine-gēgē a hug." Having said this, the dark-skinned beautiful guy spread his arms wide and pulled Long Ming into a tight embrace.

"Sunshine-gēgē?" I cried out in surprise. "You're Fairsky-jiějie's husband, Sunshine-gēgē?"

Sunshine looked at me, and then lowered his head to look at Long Ming, who had several dark lines descending down his face, and then revealed a look of sudden realization. "I've made a mistake. Wow, Long Ming, you've become so beautiful. Xiao Xiao Lan has also become very strong."

I was too lazy to explain how Long Ming and I had become transvestites, and instead I immediately threw myself at Sunshine-gēgē, so happy that I nearly split my mouth in two from smiling so much. In a slightly accusing tone I said, "Sunshine-gēgē, you and Fairsky-jiějie haven't come home in so long, it's been so boring." Sunshine-gēgē gave a foolish smile. "I'm really sorry. It's because Fairsky and I ran into some trouble that we haven't come home, but we'll be back very soon."

"When will you be back?" I asked with a pout, intent on getting an exact answer from Sunshine-gēgē. Otherwise, who knew when "very soon" would be? Last time, they left after attending my elementary school graduation, saying that they would be back very soon, and then what? I ended up graduating from junior high without seeing them

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even once.

"We will be back in a few days." Sunshine-gēgē extended an arm to pull me in, though with his slim body it was impossible for him to hug both me and Long Ming at the same time.

Upon hearing this I finally stopped worrying. After all, Sunshine-gēgē never lied.

"Sunshine, let's go. He is still waiting for us," Kenshin said calmly.

_Who's waiting for us? _I looked toward Sunshine-gēgē, my face full ofquestions, but he only gave a mysterious smile instead of answering. I couldn't keep myself from pouting.

"I'm begging you, don't pout with the face of a muscled bodybuilder. It's disgusting, you know that?" Long Ming said, a repulsed expression on his face.

I threw Long Ming a nasty look and followed Sunshine-gēgē onto the piece of cloth and sat down. I beckoned at Elf and Demon Thirteen and urged them, "Hurry up!"

Incidentally, the two of them had long since changed into brand new clothes, and were no longer chest- and- buttock-baring, attractive eye candy. _Sigh, such a shame!_

"Can we go too?" Elf asked in surprise.

I turned my head to look at Sunshine-gēgē, and begged, "Can we bring Elf and Demon with us? Can we?"

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"Of course. Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming's friends are our friends as well." Sunshine smiled cheerfully and said, "Don't worry, this flying carpet can carry eight people."

Elf and Demon Thirteen exchanged looks, and then excitedly stepped onto the flying carpet.

At first I was very scared as I stepped onto the soft and flimsy carpet, expecting it to fall at any given moment. But the flying carpet demonstrated its extreme flying prowess, accelerating in a straight line, around turns, and in S-curves and swiftly evading obstacles. All of us let out exultant cheers.

"This is awesome!" Long Ming could not resist shouting in delight as he raised his arms high.

The flying carpet flew all the way over and beyond the continent and out over the ocean. Even though we had crossed the ocean before, at the time we had found ourselves inside the body of a clam and hadn't seen anything of the ocean view. Now, seas that stretched as far as the eye could see suddenly appeared before our eyes, and I was so deeply moved that I couldn't say a word. A long time passed before I finally found my voice.

"When did Sunshine-gēgē and Kenshin start playing this game?" I asked curiously, "Why didn't you guys ever tell us that there was such a fun game?"

Sunshine-gēgē gave a weak smile. "Do you think Second Life is really

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fun?'

"Second Life is more fun than all the games I've ever played! Why doesn't everyone play it?" What I found even harder to understand was that I had heard before that Second Life was a forbidden game, the cruelest game that ever existed. Yet, ever since Long Ming and I had started playing it, we had never felt that way at all. The only thing

was that we found the NPC's artificial intelligence to be shockingly high, to the point where they could not be distinguished from actual humans.

"Oh." Sunshine-gēgē revealed a distressed look. "There's a reason for that. I still think it would be better to let 'him' explain everything to you guys."

"Him?" I asked, puzzled.

Sunshine-gēgē again gave a rare mysterious smile, and pointed ahead with his finger. "We're almost there."

I followed Sunshine-gēgē's finger with my eyes. The coastline of a continent had already entered our field of vision, and the flying carpet, seemingly getting excited as well, suddenly sharply accelerated, to the point where I couldn't even open my eyes and was reduced to clinging onto the edge of the carpet for dear life.

Then, the flying carpet violently came to a stop—I even thought that I almost heard the long screeching sound of the carpet "braking"—and the carpet stopped moving.

I slowly opened my eyes. We had stopped in front a peculiar-looking

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palace. I exclaimed in astonishment at the grand and magnificent sight of the colossal palace—those enormous gates alone were large enough to permit the entry of three lines of dinosaurs.

Without another word, Kenshin began to walk toward the gates, and just when we thought he was about to bang his head on the two massive doors, they soundlessly swung open, revealing a wide walkway within. The ceiling seemed as high as the sky, and beside the walkway stood countless marble pillars, each one so wide it would have taken five people to completely wrap their arms around it. And yet, although this palace was unmatched in its size, there was a sense of loneliness in its empty spaciousness.

From a distance I saw that in the innermost part of the palace was a throne, and it was very clear that there was a person sitting on it. Kenshin led the way into the palace, and we also followed closely behind him, feeling like kindergarten kids being led by the teacher on a fieldtrip to the Louvre Museum.

As we walked further in, I realized that the "him" that Sunshine-gēgē had been talking about was most likely referring to the person on the throne. I opened my eyes wide, gazing at the figure upon the throne. As we approached, the figure became clearer: long red hair, a black robe, gray eyes laden with grief, and an exotic pattern below the left eye.

"Dictator of Life!" Long Ming and I said together.

The person who appeared before us was someone Long Ming and I were extremely familiar with, whom we had seen since we were

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children. He was the Dictator of Life, reputed to have the highest artificial intelligence in the world, yet often failed in designing menus. However, this was still the first time I had seen the Dictator of Life actually appear before us. Everything up until this point had been mere holograms.

Having thought of this, I rushed toward the Dictator of Life in a few large strides and hugged him around the waist. I was overjoyed upon discovering that I was really holding onto the Dictator of Life, unlike when I was younger and, forgetting that the Dictator of Life was just a fake image, rushed forward to hug him, always ending up sprawled on the floor.

"Dictator of Life, did you come here to play this game too?" I raised my head from the Dictator's chest to look up—ugh, the truth was that I was a lot taller than him, so I could only raise my head from his shoulder level, and then look back down at him.

The Dictator of Life smiled. "I have always been here."

"Here? In Second Life?" Long Ming rushed to ask.

The Dictator of Life nodded, and Long Ming's mouth opened, then closed, then opened, as if he had a million questions to ask, but did not know where to begin.

I could completely understand Long Ming's feelings because while my mind was also exploding with questions at the moment, I could only utter the following in the end. "It has occurred to me that our family doesn't seem to be a particularly normal one?"

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The Dictator of Life gave a light laugh. "Actually, all the answers are in your mother's study room."

I opened my eyes wide. "My mother's study room?"

"And what's more, Long Ming already knows the truth as well." The

Dictator of Life turned toward Long Ming, smiling mildly.

Long Ming pointed to himself in shock, and the Dictator of Life quietly said, "Half Prince."

Long Ming revealed a baffled look, and perplexedly said, "Half Prince? Isn't that a really old novel in the study room? It's mainly about a virtual reality game where the NPCs suddenly obtain self-awareness…"

Long Ming abruptly froze, and on his face appeared an increasingly alarmed look. In the end he dumbly exclaimed, "No way?"

"What? What's 'no way'? Hurry up and tell me, Long Ming!" I tugged at

Long Ming with all my strength, wanting to shake him out of his daze.

"Allow me to tell you, Xiao Xiao Lan." With a wave of his hand, the

Dictator of Life caused the surrounding palace to instantly dissolve into nothingness.

In front of our eyes materialized a very familiar scene: the place where we set our characters right after we entered Second Life. With surprise I discovered a girl before us, someone I knew all too well. That was my mom, but a lot younger, looking no more than twenty years old. And there was also another person, the NPC in charge of assisting in

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character choices…

"Isn't that my mom?" Long Ming gave a startled shout, and it was only then that I really paid attention to the NPC. That appearance made it undoubtedly clear that that was Long Ming's mom!

Then I watched wide-eyed as my mom actually became a transvestite, and an unbelievably hot one to boot. As luck would have it, he looked exactly like the super-hot tranny elf I had just seen earlier–Prince! Prince was actually my mom!

_My goodness, why did my mom do something so unbelievably stupid as to choose to become a tranny? _Furthermore, I had actuallyunwittingly followed my mom's footsteps and even ended up in a worse state. At least my mom was a slim, beautiful bishounen, while I was a gigantic, buff, handsome bodybuilder. If I were to also have a daughter, I imagine that "she" would be Arnold Schwarzenegger's successor.

The scene changed, and Prince was chased all over the place like a piece of steak, and even had his tofu eaten by Lolidragon… _Ugh, don't_ _cry, mom. I have already taken revenge for you and gotten your share of tofu back from Long Ming…_

Following this, I saw Prince's unique fighting style, and saw the origin of our family's Meatbun (I had always wondered why none of my classmates believed me when I said my family owned a pet meatbun), and then Prince's first declaration.

Afterwards, I saw Tian Lang-gēgē. Even though he had the appearance

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of a wolf, I could tell right away with one look that Ugly Wolf was Tian Lang-gēgē. Then I saw an angel necromancer, the strangest of all possible combinations of race and profession—strange, why had I not realized how much Doll-jiějie liked Sailor Moon?

Then I saw Guileastes, that homosexual demon bard. As it so happened, he was the very source of the sperm that produced me…Sobsobsob, my dad was originally a homosexual? This was indeed a huge reason for shock!

At last, I saw Yu Lian-jiějie. Yu Lian-jiějie and Tian Lang-gēgē's romance was so moving!

The images skipped past at high speed. Odd Squad was finally officially established, next came the conflict between Odd Squad and

Dark Emperor, the fierce battle that took place during the Adventurers'

Tournament, the founding of Infinite City, the inner turmoil and pain of Prince who had become liege lord, and then finally, the appearance of the Dictator of Life, and the revelation of the truth—Long Ming's mom actually had an older brother, who was none other than the misguided Long Dian.

What shocked us the most was that Kenshin and Sunshine were not actually real human beings—especially the fact that Kenshin, who had always been by our side as our all-capable housekeeper, was actually not a human…

"Kenshin isn't a real human?" Not daring to believe it, I looked at

Kenshin, and the latter revealed a rare, flustered expression.

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"Xiao Lan didn't want to tell you two." The Dictator of Life continued evenly, "She was worried that you wouldn't be able to accept the truth, and was even more concerned that you would stop treating Kenshin and Sunshine as human beings."

Just when I was about to open my mouth and respond that I would never change my attitude, Long Ming suddenly cried out in surprise,

"So that means that Ice Emperor Syndicate's Silver-Masked Quick Fox isn't human either? Darn it, that's so disappointing. And I thought that he was the strongest person in the world." Long Ming gave an aching look toward Silver-Masked Quick Fox.

"There's nothing weird about that, is there?" I also glanced toward Silver-Masked Quick Fox. "I feel like Silver-Masked Quick Fox's level of intelligence isn't as high as Kenshin's. He doesn't talk much."

"Yup yup, and he doesn't know how to do chores or cook—it seems like all he can do is stand beside Kenshin. Looks like his level of intelligence isn't that high after all." Long Ming nodded his head in agreement.

I turned to ask the Dictator of Life. "Then, Silver-Masked Quick Fox hasn't gained self-awareness yet, right?"

Upon hearing this question, the Dictator of Life was taken aback, then a smile crept onto his face, and finally, unable to stop himself, he broke out into hearty laughter.

Confused, I turned my head toward Kenshin, and the corners of his mouth were actually turning upward! _My goodness, Kenshin is smiling?_

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This was more shocking than finding out my mom was a tranny and my dad a homosexual.

"I'm a human." A voice cold enough to freeze water came from a place some three meters behind Kenshin.

Long Ming and I looked over to Silver-Masked Quick Fox. He had the same icy cold expression on his face, causing us to wonder if that voice just now had come from him.

"He is a human." Kenshin briefly said with a slight smile.

Long Ming and I opened our eyes wide. _Say wha–?_ Even though Kenshin and Silver-Masked Quick Fox were both very cold, we still felt that Kenshin's temperature was slightly higher and closer to the body temperature of a normal human, and yet the truth was just the exact opposite?

We coughed awkwardly, not daring to chance a glance at Silver-Masked Quick Fox, and hastened to change the topic of conversation.

"Don't worry, our attitude toward Kenshin won't change."

I looked steadily at Kenshin and said, "Every time someone disappeared from home, Long Ming and I would always be able to count on Kenshin's presence. To us, Kenshin is like a second dad. We definitely will not change."

As I spoke, Long Ming also frantically nodded his head, worried that Kenshin could not see our conviction.

Kenshin turned his face away, but his ears had turned slightly pink.

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As we were quietly snickering at the rare sight of Kenshin's distressed state, Elf and Demon Thirteen suddenly came to stand in front of Long Ming and me. Elf looked as though he were desperate to say something yet could not, leaving the two of us bewildered.

"What's up?" I asked curiously.

Elf seemed to finally gather his courage and said, "The truth is, me and Demon Thirteen…"

"We're both NPCs," Demon Thirteen finished.

Elf had no choice but to continue. "We're NPCs with a hidden mission.

You had to buy more than five thousand flasks of potion from the lady at the pharmacy in order for her to tell you the location of the underwater cavern. This mission could only be triggered by a player, but because no player had come to our newbie village, the village NPCs were all very worried that the two of us would be trapped inside those icicles forever."

"I see. So that's why they wanted Xiao Xiao Lan and me to go rescue you guys," Long Ming said with a sudden sense of realization.

"Don't worry. Elf, Demon, you guys will always be our comrades," I affirmed, placing both my hands on Elf's shoulders.

Long Ming also placed his hands on Demon's shoulders, saying, "Right.

Especially you, Demon. Xiao Xiao Lan will definitely take responsibility for your butt."

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I grabbed onto Long Ming's ear and, ignoring his miserable howling, directly asked the Dictator of Life, "Dictator of Life, do you know what happened to Long Dian in the end? And how did my mom come to choose between Wicked and my dad?"

A look of grief came over the Dictator of Life's face. "Later on, Father seemed to sink into a state of frenzied desperation, and actually threatened the world…"

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Footnotes

1 **"butterfly bows": **In Chinese, a bow/knot where you form two

loops is generally referred to as 蝴蝶結 (húdié jié), which literally reads

as "butterfly knot," most likely because the loops resemble the wings of a butterfly. In this chapter, the characters are literally being tied up by butterflies.

"**great dao": **Xiao Xiao Lan's weapon is a da dao, otherwise knownas the Chinese greatsword. For more info, click here.

"**Butterflies originally metamorphosed from caterpillars so that they can have sex": **In Chinese, the word for "perverted" and

"metamorphosed" is the same (變態, biàntài). In other words, Xiao

Xiao Lan is trying to say that butterflies are the perverted versions of caterpillars.

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Chapter 5: Wicked, Part One

My real name is Zhuo Ling Bin, but in Second Life, I go by Wicked.

Second Life is a virtual game developed more than ten years ago. However, due to overdeveloped artificial intelligence, the game spiraled out of control. Since then, the government has explicitly limited the artificial intelligence level in games. In other words, Second

Life, also called the Forbidden Game, is still the world's most immersive game, especially since nearly half of the NPCs developed self-awareness. If not for the Dictator of Life's aid in overseeing this place, I have no idea what sort of devastating consequences this game would have resulted in.

Although in reality, this game has already had dire repercussions. More than ten years ago, the developer of Second Life, Long Dian, contracted a terminal illness. Terrified of the idea of death, he even used the world's most intelligent computer, the Dictator of Life, to threaten the entire world!

That particular event had huge consequences, including making Second Life spiral out of control forever, turning it into a world of only NPCs. However, the biggest consequence to me was that I lost my most precious person.

Feng Lan, my Xiao Lan, was Prince, the person who led everyone to stop Long Dian at that time.

That year, during the confrontation with Long Dian who had already made himself into an artificial human, we had been beaten into a

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retreat. In order to save Xiao Lan, I was sent flying and lost consciousness. When I finally woke up, the hospital's bland white ceiling forcibly registered in my line of sight. I immediately remembered Xiao Lan and ran around madly, frantically shouting her name, afraid that my most beloved girl had…

I found her in Gui's hospital room. Her eyes were swollen red from crying. Once she saw me, she flew into my arms and cried out, "Zhou-gēgē, what should I do? The doctor said Gui might never wake up."

As I tried to mollify Xiao Lan, I looked over and saw Gui breathing through a ventilator, his body pierced with IV drips. My heart filled with irresolvable conflict. On one hand, I wished for Gui to quickly wake up so Xiao Lan would not have to cry anymore. On the other hand, I secretly wished for Gui to never wake up. _Don't… Don't take_ _away my Xiao Lan!_

"Prince, why don't you take a break? It's been a while since you've been to class, right?" Lolidragon's concern was plainly visible on her face. "We'll take good care of Gui."

"Never!" Xiao Lan refused immediately.

"If Gui never wakes up… I'll always be by his side taking care of him." Xiao Lan cradled Gui's hand, eyes brimming with determination. No one could shake her resolve. Not even me.

_Gui will wake up. _No one understood that better than I did. In order tobring a smile to Xiao Lan's face once more, that man would crawl back to her even if he had sunk eighteen levels down into hell. That man

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was someone who would never surrender. He was so extremely determined that even I sometimes could not help but admire Gui's resolution.

And so, I left the hospital room, paying no attention to the sounds of surprise and Gui's hoarse voice calling out for Prince.

My heart understood. In the end, I still lost my Xiao Lan – my precious girl with her big, bright eyes.

_What should I do? _I could not help but feel at a loss.

"Roam the lands, forever leaving this land of heartbreak?"

My little brother, Zhou Ming Bin, known as Ming Huang in-game, attempted to give me suggestions while immersed with playing CS. 1

I shook my head, my heart heavy. "No, I haven't received my diploma yet. I cannot leave school."

"Drink away your sorrows." Ming Bin clapped his hands before reaching for his wallet, about to rush out. "I'll go buy you a beer."

"No!" I sternly rejected his suggestion. "Alcohol can cause liver cancer."

"Then…should I go buy you a packet of GENTLE cigarettes 2?" Ming Bin furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

"No, you would breathe in second-hand smoke." I could not cause my little brother to get lung cancer just because of a broken heart.

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Ming Bin propped his chin up with both hands. "Then why not weep your heart out under your covers? I'll even pretend not to hear anything."

I seriously considered it before replying, "No. I have a laboratory experiment with my professor tomorrow. I cannot appear with swollen red eyes. I'll cry some other day."

Ming Bin looked defeated. "You'll cry some other day? Ha, only my brother would say something like this. Bro, can you not be so collected? I think only the brother who has lived with you for over ten years can tell that the you right now is hurt such that you would much rather die. Bro, you're too reserved. No wonder you couldn't win Prince over."

My face fell. _Was being calm the wrong course of action?_

"Prince is so dense that there has never been, nor will there ever be another like her. In my opinion, I think you should have run up to her and confessed 'I love you' every day for an entire year. Only then would she truly believe that you love her." Ming Bin murmured to himself, "That gay guy really used the correct method to steal Prince away."

Later, I thought the sight of Professor Min Gui Wen practically exuding happiness at school would be the most painful thing I would have to endure. However, I was wrong. On the day of Xiao Lan's graduation, I brought her her favorite tulips to congratulate her…

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The graduation ceremony went by smoothly, with congratulations from the president, then a valedictorian speech and everyone bidding farewell to the graduates, until Professor Min Gui Wen appeared on stage in his strange outfit. Everything changed. The entire school screamed and even the teacher's faces went red in embarrassment.

I could not be any more familiar with his outfit. That was Gui's wandering bard attire, and even his guqin and earrings were the same. His overall appearance made the originally serious Professor Min Gui Wen look charmingly handsome. With everyone's gaze on him, he walked to Xiao Lan's side. Nearly dumbstruck, Xiao Lan asked, "Gui? Do you think we're having a masquerade?"

Gui coughed twice, put down his guqin, and took out a heart-shaped, pink box. After opening the box, Gui knelt down on one knee and used a voice full of love to say, "My dearest highness, Xiao Lan. I am no longer your teacher, and I would like you to use another name to address me from now on."

"What name?" Xiao Lan, who had always been slow on the uptake, also came to an understanding about what Gui was trying to do at this time. Her face could not be any redder than it was.

Gui gently picked up the ring. On top of the silver ring was a tulip whose petals were made out of diamonds. Undoubtedly, Gui also knew that Xiao Lan's favorite flower was the tulip.

"Are you willing to call me husband, and to let me call you my dear wife?" Gui asked sincerely.

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Please forgive me for being unable to tell you what happened after this. I could no longer stay there. With tulips in my hand, I walked home, hand shaking so much that I was nearly unable to open the door. I walked inside my house, and like always, took out a vase and put the flowers inside it. I placed the vase next to the front door.

Then, I planned on returning to my room. When I turned, Ming Bin was staring at me with large eyes. At a loss, he blurted, "Tomorrow… You don't have to do an experiment tomorrow?"

I shook my head and walked past Ming Bin. He reluctantly said, "Ah, Bro… I'm sorry for your loss." 3

I didn't have the heart to tell Ming Bin that "I'm sorry for your loss" wasn't used that way.

In the following months, I did my best to avoid Xiao Lan. Even if she specifically came to my house, I would have Ming Bin tell her that I wasn't home. I was deathly afraid to hear from her mouth that she had already decided to marry… Someone who wasn't me.

Just now, Xiao Lan had come again. I heard her voice. It had been months since I saw Xiao Lan. I heard her say regretfully, "Really?

Zhuo-gēgē is still not home?"

Finally unable to hold back, I climbed out of bed and rushed downstairs to the door. Unfortunately, the door had already closed, and Ming Bin was holding a pink invitation as he lamented, "Man, this is cruel. Isn't my brother already in enough misery?"

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"Give it to me!" I was nearly shaking as I said this.

Ming Bin finally realized that I was standing behind him. He turned to face me, and then he hid the invitation behind his back. His smile was forced as he said, "Trust me, Bro, you don't want to see this."

"Give it to me!" I persisted. Even though I very much agreed with Ming Bin's words, that I definitely wouldn't want to see that invitation,

I still had to see it no matter what.

Ming Bin sighed. He handed the invitation over. I think I will never forget the moment I saw that invitation that left me no room to doubt.

It was a wedding invitation, and on it were Feng Lan's and Min Gui Wen's names… Droplets of water fell next to Xiao Lan's name.

"Bro… Um, Prince wants you to look at the back," Ming Bin said cautiously.

Trembling, I flipped the invitation over. The back had a few handwritten lines. I could tell at a glance that it was Xiao Lan's handwriting. Messy and squiggly handwriting like this was not common.

_Zhuo-gēgē,_

_I went to your house several times, but you were never home. I guess I can only leave words for you on the back of this invitation for now because I'm afraid you won't be home again. Although Gui told me I shouldn't give you an invitation, that you would be very unhappy, I can't not give you one. You are someone very important to me. You are Zhuo-gēgē who loves me the most. I would very much like for you to attend my wedding. Really. I really hope you can come. I hope that_

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_I can receive your blessing._

_Love,_

_Xiao Lan_

My entire body froze. I only dared to gently hold onto the invitation by the corner, afraid that I would accidentally damage it. I did not want to even damage a single corner of it.

Suddenly, a drop of water dripped onto the invitation and dirtied Xiao

Lan's message. I frantically tried to wipe away the droplet but only made it worse. The water droplet had blurred several words. I wiped my face with my hand in frustration. I was afraid that yet another accursed water droplet would ruin the message that Xiao Lan had personally written.

"Bro…" Ming Bin's eyes were large. He was frantic and didn't know what to do.

However, the door was loudly kicked open. Feng Yang Ming stood outside. He was pulling along a full cart, holding a can of beer. He lazily said, "Want some Heineken?"

On the day of Xiao Lan's wedding, I went. No matter what, I could not miss seeing Xiao Lan wear a wedding dress, even if the man standing beside her wasn't me.

The wedding was a large occasion. Different colors of Xiao Lan's favorite tulips were spread all over. I nodded my head in satisfaction and walked over to people I recognized. Wolf-gē, Yu Lian, Lolidragon, and even Doll, who was a princess, had come dressed in everyday

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clothes. Nan Gong Zui brought with him people from Righteous Blades, and of course Dark Emperor would not miss the occasion, but my teammates were all unable to look at me.

Xiao Lan was already wearing her wedding dress and standing before the priest, waiting for Gui. The white lace veil on her face concealed her appearance, but I believed that my Xiao Lan must be the most beautiful bride in her wedding dress.

"Strange. Has Prince always been this tall?" Yu Lian asked in confusion.

"Probably because she's wearing high heels. Don't brides usually wear high heels?" Li Tian Lang said matter-of-factly.

"Doll recalls that it should be the groom standing before the priest to wait for the bride, right?" Doll asked while biting on her fingernails.

"Could it be that Gui is late?" Nan Gong Zui guessed.

"Impossible!" Everyone… Even I, shouted in unison.

"He's getting married to Prince. Even if Gui were to get killed by a sandstone truck on his way here, his spirit would float here on time,"

Lolidragon earnestly claimed.

Even I had to agree with Lolidragon's words. Gui was exactly that sort of person.

The doors to the church finally opened, and like we thought, a person wearing a white tuxedo walked in. Upon seeing me, the person's face

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lit up and she walked over. "I knew that Zhou-gēgē wouldn't miss my wedding."

"X-Xiao Lan. Why are you dressed like that?" Losing my composure, my mouth dropped open. Actually, everyone present had their mouths open quite wide. In comparison, I hadn't lost my composure all that badly.

Indeed, Xiao Lan was wearing a white tuxedo, and she had her hair done in a ponytail. She looked very dashing, and the look suited her… But a bride should wear a bride's dress!

"Huh, this?" Xiao Lan pulled on her tie. "It looks good, right? The more I looked at it, the more I thought that Gui's tuxedo looked better than my wedding dress, so I had him swap with me."

Everyone's mouths dropped open even wider. In unison, we turned our heads to look at the person wearing the wedding dress.

Xiao Lan strode over to the bride… No, the groom, and then smiled happily at the priest whose mouth was wide open. "Father, quickly read the testimony. I can't wait to eat food from my wedding reception. It's a buffet from a five-star hotel."

When I saw Xiao Lan lift the veil from Gui's face, my heart twisted in doubt. If Xiao Lan had wanted to exchange with me, would I have agreed? I probably…would have. As long as I could marry Xiao Lan, even if I had to wear a wedding dress, I would do it.

However, when Gui came over to talk to me in his low-cut wedding

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gown, I could not help but admire him just a bit.

"Thank you for coming to the wedding." Gui muttered quite reluctantly, "Xiao Lan was very happy you could make it."

"You don't have to worry. I graduated as well. In the future, I'll stay far away from your family," I replied icily, like usual.

Gui looked as though he was struggling for a moment before sighing sadly. "Don't go, I need your help. Xiao Lan hopes Kenshin and the rest can come to the real world, especially Sunshine. Fairsky can't live without him."

"We're producing artificial bodies?" I asked, somewhat shocked.

Gui nodded his head. "Lolidragon and Doll will cover all the costs."

I was a little hesitant. If I did this, I would constantly have to see Xiao

Lan…

"Xiao Lan will be very happy that you'll be around to help," Gui muttered unwillingly.

Upon hearing his words, I couldn't help but nod my head.

Once Sunshine, Kenshin, and Celestial came to the real world one by one, I wondered if I should go out and find a job. Despite Lolidragon's offer of a job at her company, I did not want to work near Xiao Lan's house anymore, so I found a job overseas. I decided to give Xiao Lan my final goodbye.

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Xiao Lan opened the door, happily crying out, "Zhou-gēgē, welcome! I was just about to tell you, Gui and I are having a child."

"Oh?" I couldn't help but sneak a peek at Xiao Lan's stomach, already feeling envious of the child's father.

Xiao Lan followed my line of sight down to her stomach, but she quickly declared, "Not here."

Xiao Lan took my hand and dragged me inside.

"Over there." Xiao Lan pointed to the Gui, whose stomach was sticking out. He wore maternity clothes and was sitting on the sofa, busy knitting.

I lost my composure again, my jaw dropping. Once Gui saw me, he jumped up and shouted, "Hey! You shameless guy! Don't you dare hold hands with my wife."

After speaking, Gui rushed over but got tangled in the yarn he held, looking like he was about to fall on his back. I immediately rushed forward and caught Gui at the last second, thankfully avoiding a fall that could have caused them to lose the child. My heart on the other hand felt like it was about to jump out of my chest.

"That was close," Xiao Lan commented, eyes wide. After that, she turned around as if she had nothing to do with the conversation. "I'll go and bring you something to eat. Don't fight, okay?"

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Both Gui and I sat down on the sofa as he resentfully started knitting again. Unable to hold back, I asked, "Are you really pregnant?"

"Obviously!" Gui snapped, "You think I like wearing maternity clothes for nothing?"

"Why?" I asked before remembering that Xiao Lan was afraid of pain.

"I can't help it, Xiao Lan is afraid of pain. But this is good as well. If you ask me to listen to Xiao Lan's labored cries during childbirth, I might as well be the one giving birth. This way I actually don't have to worry as much," Gui nonchalantly said as his hands worked on knitting a small cap.

I almost couldn't speak. This man's love for Xiao Lan had even exceeded my expectations. I had to pause to think. _If it were me,_ _would I be able to stand ten months of pregnancy for Xiao Lan?_

_I…couldn't._

"I heard that you refused Lolidragon's offer of a job at her company?"

Gui questioned.

"Yeah, I'm planning on leaving the country." I had finally given up completely. Perhaps Xiao Lan would be happier with Gui than she ever would with me.

"What! Why?" Xiao Lan was holding a pot of soup. After hearing my words, she rushed over, momentarily forgetting that she was holding a pot in her hands. She stumbled, and the entire pot flew toward Gui who was resting on the sofa.

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Almost as a reflex, I flung myself to the side and used my body to cover Gui so that the hot soup would not burn Gui's stomach.

Thankfully, I was wearing a full suit. The material was very thick…

"Zhou_-_gēgē, are you really leaving?" Xiao Lan asked worriedly.

I was leaning a few inches away from Gui's belly, afraid to actually touch him, feeling the hot waves dripping down my back. Face white and voice shaking, I mumbled, "No, I won't be leaving the country. I'll actually move in with you two."

_If I don't move in, I'm afraid that Xiao Lan's child will not survive until childbirth. _"Finally I don't have to watch Gui all day. I'll be cleaningnow," Kenshin said coldly as he passed by the corridor, holding a vacuum cleaner.

Still, I had the feeling that even after the birth of the child, I would not be able to leave this couple alone. Not unless I never wished to see

Xiao Lan's child grow up.

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Footnotes

"**CS": **Short for Counter-Strike, a first person shooter.

"**GENTLE cigarettes": **GENTLE is a brand of cigarettes found inTaiwan. The original name used to be LONG LIFE, named to celebrate

the seventieth birthday of the president of the Republic of China, Jiang Zhong Zheng. Launched in 1958, the product was a way of wishing for the president to live a boundless, long life. The product was officially renamed to "GENTLE" in 2007.

"**I am sorry for your loss": **Used to console someone whensomeone they know has passed away.

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Chapter 6: Wicked, Part Two

"Zhuo-gēgē, when Xiao Xiao Lan grows up, will you marry her?" Xiao

Xiao Lan asked me with innocent and adorable eyes, and she had a giant ribbon on her head.

"It's Zhuo-shūshu." I corrected her patiently, trying to resist the churning inside my heart. What Xiao Xiao Lan just said was almost identical to what Xiao Lan had said in the past.

I thought that I had already stopped caring about Xiao Lan's marriage to another person. However, once I heard Xiao Xiao Lan's words and saw that pair of eyes that were so similar to Xiao Lan's, I felt as though my scars had been re-opened. I… fled in defeat from Xiao Xiao Lan's house when Xiao Xiao Lan was just seven years old. (Thankfully, the eight-year-old Xiao Long Ming was already very sensible and was skilled at taking care of his little sister.)

I thought about things in the past as I stepped onto the streets of Infinite City. Just now, I had another huge quarrel with Gui and then took the chance to run away. However, I quite understood that for a long time now, Gui hadn't been able to ignite my wrath. What I was afraid of was that Xiao Xiao Lan would be coming over in a short while.

According to what Prince said just now, Xiao Xiao Lan had always been looking for me, for her Zhuo-gēgē.

_It has already been eight years, but she is still looking for me? _At thattime, she was only seven years old. I had taken care of her frequently,

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even more so than Xiao Lan and Gui, her parents who ran about as they wished. _However, it has been such a long time since then. She_ _actually still remembers me… _The corners of my lips couldn't help butrise.

Xiao Xiao Lan's adorable face with her cute child-like voice rang again in my head. _Will Zhuo-gēgē marry Xiao Xiao Lan in the future?_ I couldn't help but hit myself on the head. _What kind of nonsense am I_ _thinking about? Xiao Xiao Lan is younger than me by thirty years!_

However, what I didn't expect was that Xiao Xiao Lan would also come to Second Life. _How did she manage to find a way in?_ Not to mention that even Long Ming was here, and the two of them had even switched genders. Xiao Xiao Lan had actually become a tranny, just like her mother had.

I shook my head, intending to leave Infinite City to avoid running into Xiao Xiao Lan.

However, once I opened the gates of Infinite City, Xiao Xiao Lan was coincidentally about to push open the doors. Her arms were stretched out wide, as though she was waiting for someone to hug her. After she saw me, she blinked.

"Oh, it's Wicked. We meet again." She looked at me, smiling broadly, and seemed not to mind much as she asked, "Are you leaving the city?" I forced a smile. "Yes."

Xiao Xiao Lan made an "Oh!" sound and cleared the way for me to go through without any intention of persuading me to stay… _Perhaps she_

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_still doesn't know that I am her Zhuo-gēgē? _With mixed feelings, Istepped past Xiao Xiao Lan's shoulder.

THUMP! A loud sound rang out, and a pang of immense pain came from my head. I lay on the floor, not very sure of what had just happened. I shook my head, which was a little muddled.

"You think you can leave?! This girl here has been looking for you for eight years now. Do you think that I will just let you go?" Xiao Xiao Lan said ferociously.

"Xiao Xiao Lan, if you beat Zhuo-shūshu to death, and he flies back to the rebirth point, you won't be able to find him anymore," Long Ming said worriedly.

"Wicked is level two hundred and fifty-three. Even if the four of you were to gang up on him, you wouldn't be able to beat him to death," was Kenshin's cold answer.

"Oh, I see… Xiao Xiao Lan, he's about to climb back up. Hurry up and hit him a few more times, otherwise Zhuo-shūshu will run away," Long Ming shouted, making a big fuss.

Following that, I was whacked on the head several more times, and

Xiao Xiao Lan was even shouting, "Elf, Demon Thirteen, hurry and help me beat him up. If I don't render him severely injured, I'm scared that he will run away." After that, other than fists, I felt a few pairs of feet trampling on me too.

To tell the truth, it didn't hurt much. The level of Xiao Xiao Lan and the

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others were probably not even past fifty yet. With both of my hands, I grabbed the legs of two different people and when I stood up, the two of them tumbled onto the floor. They were probably the elf and demon that Xiao Xiao Lan had called Elf and Demon Thirteen.

"Oh no!" Xiao Xiao Lan gave a shriek and then jumped onto my back, clinging on to me tightly with all four limbs, refusing to let go. Long Ming, who was at my side, was grasping onto an arm firmly. Even the elf and demon, who were on their stomachs lying on the floor, were grabbing onto my legs.

I found it both laughable and heartening as I said, "Even if all of you do this, you still have no way to stop me from leaving."

"I don't care! Whatever happens, I will do my utmost to stop you from leaving." Xiao Xiao Lan's mouth was beside my ear as she roared, "Even if you manage to escape this time, I will still continue to chase you next time!"

I couldn't help but feel a warm feeling in my heart. However, I had a bitter smile on my face as I replied, "Xiao Xiao Lan, it shouldn't matter whether I leave or not, right? Strictly speaking, I'm only your nanny from seven years ago."

Instead, Xiao Xiao Lan said naturally, "Also my boyfriend from fifteen years old to twenty years old, and my husband from twenty years old till the day I die. My mom said that one can already get married at eighteen, but my dad said no. He said that I have to be at least twenty."

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I was almost unable to say anything. "What are you talking about? Your dad would never let you get married to me."

Xiao Xiao Lan stuck her face onto my cheek, and said clearly, "My dad didn't oppose it. Before that, I purposely brought a classmate of Long Ming's home for my dad to see. After that, my dad immediately changed his tune to say that I'll be better off getting married to Zhuo Lin Bin. At least you don't drink, don't smoke, don't gamble, don't use violence against females, and also don't swear… God! If I were to let Zhuo-gēgē escape, then where else am I going to find this kind of good man? Good men are an extinct species!"

"I'm also a good man!" Long Ming exclaimed in protest.

"What shit lot of good would it do if you were one? I can't commit incest with a close relative," Xiao Xiao Lan spat.

"A female shouldn't speak so crudely," I gently reprimanded her, frowning.

"Okay." Xiao Xiao Lan stuck out her tongue and then added with a grin,

"Also, my dad says that it seems that only Zhuo Ling Bin can look after me. Otherwise, I'll become a wild girl sooner or later."

I sighed and answered, "Xiao Xiao Lan, we are thirty years apart."

"Yeah. What a pity, we have thirty-eight fewer years to spend together." Xiao Xiao Lan seemed to be somewhat blaming me as she said, "It's all because you went missing for eight years. Otherwise,

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going by the human's average age of two hundred, we could have originally spent one hundred and fifty years together. Now that there's eight years fewer, what's left is only a hundred and forty-two years."

Hearing those words, I almost, almost wanted to turn around to hug Xiao Xiao Lan. However, I couldn't. "Xiao Xiao Lan, you're still young. Perhaps you don't know what kind of men you like." _Just like your_ _mother. When she was young, she also said that she wanted to marry me._

"I'm fifteen years old, not seven. I know that I like you." Xiao Xiao Lan hugged me even tighter, and her voice was just as obstinate as before, not relaxing in the slightest.

I couldn't come up with any more words of protest. _However, how can_ _I be together with Xiao Xiao Lan? We are thirty years apart, and I was once in love with Xiao Xiao Lan's mother. I… cannot be together with_

_Xiao Xiao Lan. _Thinking that, I threw a flurry of hits to Xiao Xiao Lan'sjoints. She immediately fell to the floor with her limbs numb. I tried not to listen to her groans of pain and then shook off the other people.

"Kenshin! Help me stop Zhuo-gēgē," Xiao Xiao Lan shouted loudly. Kenshin was indeed stronger than me, but I didn't intend to escape within the game. I resolutely went offline.

I took off the game helmet and shook my head. I feared that it would be ten days or more— no, several months before I could go online again. Other than her trait of muddle-headedness that was like Xiao

Lan, Xiao Xiao Lan's personality was more like her father's. Since she was young, her determination has been so strong that it is frightening.

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Even her clinginess was very much like him. I couldn't help but remember that just now, Xiao Xiao Lan had wrapped her whole body around me… Though other than solid muscles, I hadn't managed to feel anything remotely like a girl's. However, this still made it so I couldn't help the heat rush to my face.

Ring, ring!

I received a great shock and felt restless inside my heart. _Can it be_ _that Ming Bin has told Xiao Xiao Lan my telephone number? _Ihesitantly picked up the call.

"Hey! Bro, how many years have you been in hiding already? Do you know that I'm about to go crazy from the pressure from the Feng and Min family?"

Ming Bin's voice came from the phone, crackling. I finally relaxed yet found it a little disappointing. I pressed the power button on the monitor, and Ming Bin's face came into view on the screen.

"We have already discussed this problem before." I replied like usual, "If you were to tell them my phone number, then I will change my number and won't tell you my phone number again."

"Who cares about that! I was going to tell you that our family is going to hold a wedding soon. Are you coming back to attend or not?" Ming Bin's face was fierce, and his manner seemed to say, "I dare you to try not coming back."

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I was deeply shocked. "You're getting married?"

"I'm already in my thirties, so what's so strange about getting married?" Ming Bin was not in a good mood as he said, "On the contrary, you're in your forties but still aren't married yet. Mom and Dad are just about worried to death."

I couldn't help but start to feel guilty. Indeed, I hadn't visited my mother and father in a long time. I lifted my head to look at Ming Bin's face. _Since when did Ming Bin's baby face become so mature?_

"Hey! Are you coming back or not?" Ming Bin rushed me unceasingly.

I said quickly, "Of course, I'll go back right now…" However, I opened my mouth again to question a little hesitantly, "You didn't invite Xiao Xiao Lan, right?"

"Xiao Xiao Lan?" Ming Bin raised an eyebrow as he said, "Since when have you started avoiding Xiao Xiao Lan? Weren't you hiding from Prince before? Fine, don't give me that dirty look. I didn't invite her as a guest. I only invited the people from the Dark Emperor Team."

_The Dark Emperor Team. I also haven't seen them for so long. _Inodded my head. "I'll come back immediately."

After I neatly folded several pieces of clothing and put them into my small luggage bag, I headed off to the nearest transmission station. It took less than half an hour before I once again stepped into the place I was most familiar with. My house was just two streets away from Xiao

Xiao Lan's house.

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With much difficulty, I finally managed to find among my pile of cards the magnetic card that opened my house door. However, before I had even stuck the card in to open the door, the door had already opened.

Ming Bin's slender figure and his face bearing an indifferent expression appeared behind the door. He easily took the luggage from me, saying,

"Come on in. I'll introduce the bride to you."

Hearing this, I couldn't help but be a little nervous. I smoothed out my already very smooth suit, fearing that I might cause Ming Bin to lose face. I stepped into the living room and following that was completely stunned. My house's not-so-spacious living room was now packed full of people. There was Xiao Xiao Lan, Gui, Lolidragon, and Feng Yang Ming, who was even yawning.

"Come, this is the person who is about to become our family's bride– Xiao Xiao Lan!" Ming Bin introduced her very seriously, and I became even more dazed. This was the first time I had seen Xiao Xiao Lan after she grew up. She looked more like her father, but that pair of large eyes was exactly the same as Xiao Lan's.

Turning my head as though I was a robot, I asked shakily, "The person that you are going to marry is Xiao Xiao Lan?"

Ming Bin raised an eyebrow and answered, "How is that possible? Even if I wanted to marry her, she's not willing to marry me."

"B-But you said that you are getting married?!" I suddenly felt like a bird caught in a trap.

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"I said that our family is going to have a wedding." Ming Bin blinked his innocent-looking eyes as he replied, "Bro, you're also considered our family member, right?"

I roared loudly, "You said that you didn't invite Xiao Xiao Lan."

"Exactly." Ming Bin said earnestly, "I didn't invite her as a guest. She is the bride."

"Stop talking nonsense." I was a little at a lost for words and retreated back towards the door slowly. Then, I broke into a run towards the door, afraid that I wouldn't be able to escape later.

A big boy stood at the door and was stretching his arms and legs. Then, with a spinning kick, he broke the screen at the front door. Following that, he gave a dashing smile and said, "Hi, long time no see,

Zhuo-shūshu. I am Long Ming. Do you still remember me? My kung fu is pretty good, right? This was learned from Kenshin, and of course, Silver-Masked Quick Fox also taught us quite a bit."

These words were the equivalent of telling me that leaving from the front door was impossible. My gaze flickered, and I dashed up the stairs, intending to escape from my room's window.

Just as I was intending to kick the window open, the window itself shattered into a pile of shards. A familiar apron-wearing, kitchen knife-wielding figure was single-handedly supporting herself on the window ledge; then, she jumped in. She was Cold Fox's brilliant student, Feng

Lan.

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"Zhuo-gēgē, long time no see." Xiao Lan smiled incomparably radiantly, so much that it was even a little hard on the eyes, almost like Yu

Lian's smile.

"Xiao Lan…"

_How could I possibly square off with Xiao Lan? _What was moreimportant was that even if I exchanged blows with her, I was afraid that I wouldn't be her match.

Once again, I could only turn around to leave. I remembered that there was a back door in the kitchen, so I sprinted down the stairs. When I passed by the living room, I saw Xiao Xiao Lan still sitting on the sofa. She only watched me pass by with open eyes, not making any movements at all.

From the kitchen, there came sounds of someone stir-frying some food. After I dashed in, I realized that Wolf-gē's large figure was currently busy pouring drinks into cups, and Yu Lian was standing in front of the back door. She held a ray gun in both her left and right hands, and on her face was a terrifying, amiable smile.

"Xiao Xiao Lan says that she doesn't mind the groom sitting in a wheelchair at the wedding." Yu Lian gave a gentle smile.

My face was ashen-white, and I slowly backed out of the kitchen. However, Wolf-gē stopped me, "Wicked, take this tray of beverages out for everyone to drink on your way out." Then, he passed the tray that was full of drinks to me.

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I received the tray and walked back to the living room with heavy footsteps. I put the beverages on the table, and everyone took a cup for themselves. Then, they sat in a circle, surrounding me in the center.

"Do you prefer a Western-style or Chinese-style wedding?" Xiao Xiao

Lan asked with wide-open eyes.

I purposely didn't look at Xiao Xiao Lan and turned around to look at Gui. As though I was crying for help, I pleaded, "Gui, didn't you say that you would definitely not let your daughter marry me?"

Instantly, a kitchen knife latched onto Gui's throat, and another Cold Fox-brand flying dagger that gave off a cold gleam appeared in Xiao

Xiao Lan's hands as she gently placed it at the back of Gui's neck. Gui was incomparably calm as he replied, "In my house, there are two women who can wield kitchen knives or throwing knives and deal away with ten or more robbers holding ray guns. I have already married the one wielding the kitchen knife. I believe, other than you who had tried to fight with me over the woman holding the kitchen knife, I'm afraid that no one would dare marry the one in my house wielding the throwing knife."

A hand clapped onto my back. I turned to look and saw Long Ming who was currently shaking his head as he sighed, "Zhuo-shūshu, Xiao Xiao

Lan has already sent countless admirers running off in fear. She will not let you go."

I was finally forced to look at Xiao Xao Lan but attempted one last struggle. "Xiao Xiao Lan, you're only fifteen years old."

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Xiao Xiao Lan still had her eyes wide open as she asked, "Am I too young? Then should we get married later?"

I nodded my head desperately.

Xiao Xiao Lan immediately stood up screaming loudly in happiness,

"That's wonderful! Zhuo-gēge agreed to marry me."

I froze. _What did I just agree to?_

"You promised me that you'll only marry at twenty," Gui murmured to Xiao Xiao lan uneasily, and Xiao Xiao Lan nodded her head cutely.

It was only at this moment that I recalled that it was completely impossible for Xiao Xiao Lan to get married to me right now. _The law_ _dictates that you can't marry at fifteen! _I had been tricked; I had beenset up by everyone! My own little brother included. I couldn't help but lift my head to shift my gaze onto my brother.

Without even the least bit of remorse, Ming Bin said, "Don't use that resentful look on me. Who asked Mom and Dad to say that the two sons in the house are both not married, and if you didn't find a wife within half a year, I was to immediately go prepare a photo for an arranged marriage?"

My gaze became even more resentful.

"Moreover…" Ming Bin shrugged his shoulders as he said, "You like Xiao Xiao Lan a lot anyways, so I don't know why you're splitting hairs

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over it."

"I don't!" I objected, but then I abruptly remembered that Xiao Xiao

Lan was right here, and if I spoke like this, I would hurt her.

I looked at Xiao Xiao Lan in a hurry, but she had turned around with her back facing me. Seeing her helpless shoulders shaking non-stop, my heart felt as though it was shaking continuously along with those small shoulders. I seemed unable to control my body and walked towards Xiao Xiao Lan, pulling her into an embrace. Filled with matchless regret, I said, "Sorry, I didn't say that on purpose. I was only… splitting hairs over it."

"Then, do you like me?" Xiao Xiao Lan asked, choking a little as she sobbed.

"I like you, I like you!" I couldn't help but bury my face in her hair, breathing in a fresh and clean fragrance like that of grass.

Xiao Xiao Lan turned around to face me, and her eyes were still held wide-open, without even half a drop of tears. She smiled as radiantly as the sunlight as she answered, "I knew that you would definitely like me."

Following that, she pulled my head over and ruthlessly gave me a kiss!

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Chapter 7: Kenshin, Part One

I was not surprised at all as I watched Xiao Xiao Lan kiss Wicked by force.

Everyone thought that Xiao Xiao Lan's personality resembled that of her mother's, but I knew better. Xiao Xiao Lan was too stubborn to relent, just like a carbon copy of her father. This also meant that she was extremely clingy and never believed that she could ever fail. So, when Xiao Xiao Lan announced that she would marry Wicked, I immediately started preparing her dowry. I just didn't expect to wait this long.

I forgot the fact that humans have to live for about twenty years before they get married.

My name is Kenshin. I'm not sure exactly where this name came from.

Well, I think that since Prince has been calling me that from the beginning, and I knew nothing beside the fact that I was the Demon King, I believed Kenshin to be my name. In truth, I don't know what my name is because I am an artificial intelligence, a computer application with self-awareness.

I was originally an NPC in a game called Second Life, but I suddenly grew self-aware, and in a twist of fate I walked out of that dark cave with Prince and my companion.

I had originally thought that the two of us would keep following Prince until the game was shut down, which would also be the day we died.

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However, a lot of things happened, and I finally understood that I had actually been a real person. I had died because Long Dian's experiment failed, and thus I became a "person" who died inside a game and yet came back to life in the game. Just what in the world am I? Even I myself don't understand.

When Prince offered to make me an artificial body, I wavered. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go to the real world. However, I didn't hesitate for long before I decided to go. The reason was that I discovered the Min couple had almost burned down their house for the fifth time in three days. There were a lot of reasons for that: they forgot the soup was on the stove and melted the soup pot; after roasting meat, they threw the grill directly onto the grass; they put burning incense on the bed…

If I didn't go take care of that couple in the real world, they probably wouldn't make it past their wedding anniversary. First, I became the

Min and Feng family butler, and then I had to look after the pregnant person. Luckily, Wicked came to help, or else I wouldn't have been able to leave Gui's side. Afterward, I became a nanny. Xiao Long Ming and Xiao Xiao Lan's energy and destructive abilities were astonishing, on the same level as their mother's.

Originally, their favorite pastime was to run away from the house. Escaping from my supervision was their usual leisure activity. Playing pranks on me and making fun of me gave them a sense of accomplishment, even though they rarely succeeded.

But one day, when Cold Fox came to our place and accidentally left his

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family crest at our house, Xiao Long Ming and Xiao Xiao Lan suddenly respected me much more, and they even started to idolize Cold Fox.

"No doubt the Ice Emperor Syndicate is famous, but normally, do five and six year old kids know so much about the criminal underworld? Even recognizing the crest of the Ice Emperor Syndicate?" Cold Fox mused as he drank his tea.

"Normal kids shouldn't know, but nobody from this family is normal," I replied calmly.

The day before yesterday, Long Ming made a bomb and blew up the storeroom. Yesterday, Xiao Xiao Lan used a big motorcycle lock to severely injure the man who had tried to kidnap them. Earlier today, they had run to Lolidragon's company and gone on a rampage, paralyzing the entire company's systems. I had just caught them and spanked their bottoms.

The two that had been spanked and had been crying a few minutes ago were now hiding near the living room, eavesdropping on my conversation with Cold Fox. _Their recovery rate is astonishingly fast,_ _but their ability to reflect on their actions is astonishingly low._

"Quick Fox-gēge, your flying daggers are so pretty. Can I have one?" Xiao Xiao Lan finally couldn't help but rush over to Cold Fox's side to stare at the daggers at his waist with glittering eyes.

Before Cold Fox could answer, I said, "No!"

She had severely injured someone with a motorcycle lock, so if Xiao

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Xiao Lan got her hands on a dagger that could cut through even metal, she would be a danger to the entire world.

Xiao Xiao Lan pouted and sat down on the sofa, fuming. Xiao Long Ming also came over, stared at Cold Fox, and swallowed a couple of times. _Does he think that Cold Fox is edible?_

"Are you the top assassin for the Ice Emperor Syndicate, Silver-Masked Quick Fox?" asked Xiao Long Ming, even though his eyes were saying: I know you are, there is no use in denying it.

"Then Kenshin must be Silver-Masked Quick Fox's underling. He probably turned over a new leaf, so he hid his identity and came to our house to be our butler." Xiao Xiao Lan nodded knowingly and patted me, saying, "Don't worry, Long Ming and I won't tell anyone about your real identity."

"Yep." Long Ming had a serious expression on his little face. He said, "We won't be scared of you because you were an assassin. Kenshin will always be our capable butler."

_I am not sure if I'm supposed to be happy or exasperated. These two kids have astonishing imaginations as well._

All of a sudden, the phone rang. I picked it up, and Celestial's face appeared on the screen. He sobbed, "Kenshin, Kenshin, my wife has gone missing. She's been stolen away!"

"Doll has been stolen away?" I frowned. _Did she fall in love with_ _another person, or does he mean something else?_

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A hand appeared on the screen and shoved Celestial's face away, and then Nan Gong Zui's face appeared. "Kenshin, I need to talk to Cold Fox."

I raised my eyebrows and reached over to tug Cold Fox into the screen, thinking, _Weird, why does everyone looking for Cold Fox come to me?_

"Something happened?" Cold Fox asked expressionlessly.

"Have there been plans of kidnapping Doll in the criminal underworld lately?" asked Nan Gong Zui seriously. He explained, "Doll got kidnapped and the kidnappers have asked for a large ransom. They also requested that children bring the money. It's a very serious matter."

Celestial squeezed back into the screen and yelled, "Kenshin, Kenshin, quickly, go and bring my wife back to me!"

I asked coldly, "Aren't you Doll's bodyguard? How did you lose sight of her?"

"I… I…" Celestial suddenly went all teary and started mopping up tears with a handkerchief. He cried, "My wife got all angry at me for no reason and then she yelled at me and stormed off. She also forbade me from following her."

"What happened to Doll-jiějie?" asked Xiao Xiao Lan worriedly as she also squeezed in front of the camera, her small face appearing on the screen.

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Nan Gong Zui and I both lowered our heads and looked at Xiao Xiao

Lan. I asked, "Have you found any children to pay the ransom?"

"No. No parent would ever agree to this." Even as Nan Gong Zui spoke, his eyes strayed down to Xiao Xiao Lan constantly. Finally, he could not help but ask, "Where are Prince and Lolidragon?"

"They went out, saying something about finding inspiration in Egypt," I replied calmly, even though I didn't understand what kind of inspiration they needed. I continued, "Yang Ming followed them to

Egypt while Gui and Wicked got dragged into the company lab by Long-bà. Those two will not be coming out of there until their experiment succeeds."

Nan Gong Zui blinked. He said, "That means that you are in charge right now?"

"I have always been in charge." Basically, from which kindergarten

Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming went to, all the way to what brand of toilet bowl cleaner we use is up to me. Gui and Feng Wu Qing even gave me their bank books and seals. 1

Feng Wu Qing said this, "If you keep our bank book, I will have a coffin to sleep in when I die. If Shui Han or I keep it, we probably would end up with no money. We would have to take apart the Chanel handbags to make our burial clothes. Then, our bodies would get dumped into the sea as fish food."

Gui said this, "Ah, Kenshin, I think that you should keep our bank book.

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You see, Xiao Lan and I have lost it too many times already, and the bank has already warned us that they will not give us a replacement if we lose it again."

"Then is it okay…" Nan Gong Zui seemed to be struggling, but when his eyes fell on Xiao Xiao Lan's cute face, his expression changed. He sighed. "Forget it, I can't let Xiao Xiao Lan take such a venture."

"Adventure? Where?" Xiao Xiao Lan's eyes sparkled.

"No fair! I want to go on an adventure too. Why only consider Xiao Xiao Lan?" Xiao Long Ming pouted.

I thought this over, _We can't leave Doll alone._ I said to Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming, "This is dangerous. Can you promise me that you won't fool around?" Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming both nodded vigorously. I turned to Nan Gong Zui and said, "Talk to the kidnappers and postpone the ransom exchange for at least six hours. There are some things I need to teach Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming first."

Nan Gong Zui nodded seriously, "It's up to you then, Kenshin."

I nodded back, ended the phone call, and turned to look at Cold Fox, who threw his flying dagger into the hard marble table and drew out a mini ten-centimeter handgun from his boot. Cold Fox said, "Mini derringer. It has fifteen bullets. It may be small, but killing someone with it isn't a problem."

Following that, Cold Fox took out a metal tube the size of a finger from behind his ear. It had a safety pin on top. Cold Fox explained, "There

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are two liquids inside; drawing out the safety pin and shaking it will make it explode. It counts as an extra small sized bomb."

Then, Cold Fox took off the ring on his little finger and put it on Xiao

Xiao Lan's forefinger. "An electric ring. If there is an impact from the front side of the ring, it will release enough electricity to knock someone out."

Next, Cold Fox took out an earring about the size of a thumb nail from his left ear and put it on Xiao Xiao Lan's ear. Cold Fox looked at me and said. "This earring is a microcomputer. You can direct Xiao Xiao Lan from within."

Cold Fox brought his feet up onto the table and showed the nails underneath, "Spiked shoes, originally designed to lessen friction when exercising, but they're also pretty good for sneak attacks. Give me one hour, and I can get two pairs in Xiao Xiao Lan's and Xiao Long Ming's sizes, as well as bullet and blade proof tops, pants, and head bands from home. I guarantee that they will look like normal clothes."

"Can I have a Meat-bunbun design?" Xiao Xiao Lan asked with anticipation.

Cold Fox nodded and then called his house to pass on the orders. I thought of something and went to Prince's study where Meatbun and Fire Phoenix were soundly sleeping. I grabbed Meatbun, ignored Fire

Phoenix's fire (since my body was impervious to damage anyway), sewed two straps onto Meatbun, and walked back into the living room. I waved Xiao Long Ming over and strapped the "Meatbun backpack" onto him. Meatbun blinked and asked, "Ken Ken, what is Meat-bunbun

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doing on Long Long's back?"

"If Long Ming tells you to do anything later, do it! Now, don't move or talk," I said simply, the simpler the instructions for Meatbun, the better.

Meatbun dared not nod, so he blinked to show that he understood.

After an hour, Cold Fox's people really did send over two sets of gear. They looked like cute, normal kids' clothing with a Meatbun design. If not for the fact that they didn't have a single scratch on them even after Cold Fox shot them with a machine gun, it would be hard to believe that they were anything other than normal kids' clothes.

I helped the two children change and then started teaching Xiao Xiao Lan how to fight, while Cold Fox started explaining to Long Ming how to use the mini derringer and test tube bomb.

This was the first time that I was glad for Xiao Xiao Lan's gift for combat, which definitely came from her mother. In fact, she had probably already surpassed her mother. However, I was also a little worried about the damage Xiao Xiao Lan may inflict on this world in the future now that her destructive ability was going to grow even more.

Long Ming also took after his mother. He easily grasped the usage of every kind of projectile and trap. Cold Fox even asked me, "Can I recruit these two kids into the Ice Emperor Syndicate?"

"Unless you want the Ice Emperor Syndicate to be utterly annihilated

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by an artificial human," I replied icily. _If I let these two kids go into the_ _criminal underworld, giving them two extremely dangerous and destructive biological weapons, then how could I face … No, not their parents, how could I face the world?_

It was about time, so I prepared to take the two kids to the transmission station, but before I left, I could not help but turn and tell

Cold Fox, "Take care of it if you can. If possible, I don't want these two kids to face danger."

Cold Fox nodded seriously.

I took the six year old and five year old and left the house. _Is there_ _anything less dependable than depending on two children to save a queen?_

_Unfortunately, as objectionable as it is, we still have to do it for Doll's sake. _I brought Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming to Doll's country.

We had just stepped out of the transmission station when we saw a row of black limousines parked outside. The door of one car opened and Nan Gong Zui stepped out. He sighed in relief when he saw us, appreciation written all over his face, but Phoenix beside him had a face full of worry.

Xiao Xiao Lan rushed over when she spied Phoenix and said sweetly, "I haven't seen Phoenix-jièjiè in a long time."

Phoenix picked Xiao Xiao Lan up and asked in a touched voice, "You still remember me?" Phoenix then turned to Nan Gong Zui, "Husband, must we let them go for the ransom exchange? I'm really worried."

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"Phoenix, the kidnappers insisted on children. For Doll, we have to do this." Nan Gong Zui spoke resolutely, even though his baby face made it look more like he was pouting.

I also comforted Phoenix, "Don't worry, I will be with Xiao Xiao Lan."

Phoenix nodded. Suddenly, Celestial rushed out from the limousine, grabbed me, and started bawling, "I want to go save my wife. I want to go save my wife too!"

I replied coldly, "You stay with me in Xiao Xiao Lan's earring, then."

Nan Gong Zui took a deep breath, squatted down next to Xiao Xiao

Lan and Xiao Long Ming, ruffled their hair, and asked, "Are Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming scared?"

Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming looked at each other and said at the same time, "We're a bit nervous."

Nan Gong Zui smiled, "Promise Zui-shūshu, you have to put your own safety first, okay?"

Both Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming nodded meekly, but every time after they created chaos and promised not to wreak havoc anymore, they wore that exact same expression. Three minutes later, they would go back to wreaking havoc.

Obviously Nan Gong Zui did not understand these two as well as I did because he nodded with satisfaction, took out a black bag, tied it to Xiao Xiao Lan's wrist, and explained, "This bag is very, very important,

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okay? Xiao Xiao Lan has to look after it because you will need to trade this for Doll-jiějie."

Then, Nan Gong Zui gave Long Ming a mini communicator. "The kidnappers want you two to hold on to this. They will use this to communicate with you. Follow their instructions, but if there is any danger, don't put yourselves at risk, all right?"

Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming nodded more vigorously. While everyone was praising how obedient they were, I was probably the only one who saw them exchange an excited look.

Then, the communicator Xiao Long Ming was holding started to sing

"I'm not afraid of going to a cemetery~." 2

Xiao Long Ming pressed the receiver button and answered the call without hesitating. "Hello? What? How old am I? I'm six years old, and my sister is five… Go into the transmission station? Okay, I will go in with my sister now."

Xiao Long Ming hung up, took Xiao Xiao Lan's hand, and waved good-bye to us. "Mr. Kidnapper wants us to go into the transmission station. Can we go in now?"

I nodded, "My consciousness has entered Xiao Xiao Lan's earring. You can go, and I will be watching."

Then, Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming cheerfully walked into the transmission station hand in hand, looking as happy as they would have been if they were out on a trip. As for me, I still looked the same

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in my artificial body, but in truth, half of my consciousness had already entered Xiao Xiao Lan's earring. Through the earring's camera, I saw the world at a child's height for the first time.

Xiao Xiao Lan quickly got into a transmission machine, and I heard

Long Ming say, "Mr. Kidnapper wants us to randomly select a coordinate, or else they will kill Doll-jiějie"

"Kill?" Xiao Xiao Lan bit her finger, "What does that mean?"

Long Ming cocked his head, "I don't know either, but Zui-shūshu told us to follow Mr. Kidnapper's instructions, so let's follows Mr. Kidnapper's instructions." Long Ming started to randomly press buttons. The transmission machine instantly started.

As the two kids disappeared from the transmission station, Nan Gong

Zui's smiling face collapsed. He covered his face, saying, "My god, please let them be okay. I'm already starting to regret letting them go. If anything happens to Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming, what am I going to tell Prince and Lolidragon?"

"It would make more sense to think about what you are going to tell Gui and Feng Wu Qing," I said coldly.

I watched Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming arrive at an unknown place and said to Nan Gong Zui, who was relentlessly blaming himself,

"I have contacted Sunshine. He said that he will help us find Prince."

After that, I ignored Nan Gong Zui's self-reproach and focused on Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming's situation. They had just received

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another call from the kidnappers. The kidnappers seemed to have told the kids an exact location this time. The two kids were whisked away again before they had even stepped out of the transmission station. When the kids got to the new location, the kidnappers gave another order, telling them to get on a bus.

Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming were being very obedient and went on the bus under the kidnapper's directions. Then, they stuck their head out of the bus in curiosity, looking at strange new sights. This unexpected development helped me gain new information. From how the heat distorted faraway scenery, I could tell that it was a very hot country. The people on the streets wore hoods and long robes to protect their bodies.

_Arabia? _I narrowed the list of countries in my head.

The bus drove out of the city into a sandy desert, making the two kids who had never seen a real desert gasp and become more excited, to the point of wanting to jump off the bus and play in the sand. Luckily, Xiao Long Ming had pretty good self-control and kept telling Xiao Xiao Lan that they would come and play in the sand after they were done.

When the bus drove past the Sphinx, I was finally one hundred percent sure that they were in Egypt.

The bus drove for so long that even the two hyperactive kids dozed off, and all of the other passengers had gotten off. But I was still alert. My body was now sitting on a chair in the palace, but my consciousness was in Xiao Xiao Lan's earring, aware of everything that was going on.

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When night fell, "cemeteries don't scare me" sounded again. Xiao Long Ming rubbed his eyes and picked up the communicator. "Hello? Get off at the last stop, pick up the bag there, and go south following the compass? Oh, okay."

Long Ming closed the communicator and shook Xiao Xiao Lan next to him. "Xiao Xiao Lan, wake up, we have to get off."

Xiao Xiao Lan followed Long Ming off the bus groggily. They found and opened the bag the kidnappers had mentioned. It contained two long coats for kids, two large water bottles, and a compass.

"Mr. Kidnapper said, wear the coats, or when the sun comes up, we will dry up in the heat." Long Ming told Xiao Xiao Lan as he helped her get into the coat. I nodded in satisfaction. _As expected of Long Ming_ _for being the older brother. He is taking good care of his sister._

Then, the two small silhouettes began to move in the flying yellow sand. Facing the endless sand around them, the two kids weren't afraid at all. In fact, they were singing while they walked, as expected of kids from our family.

After an hour, the sun gradually began to come up, and I could even see the temperature rising. _It's unlikely that kids can withstand desert_ _temperature. Haven't these kidnappers taken care of children before? Letting them walk for such a long time in the desert! _I started to getunhappy.

"It's hot." Xiao Xiao Lan pouted while walking.

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"Drink lots of water or you will get dehydrated." Xiao Long Ming sensibly gave Xiao Xiao Lan more water to drink.

Time passed by, and before I knew it, the two kids had already been walking for four hours. Towards noon, the temperature from the sun turned hotter and hotter. The two kids couldn't even talk from heat and exhaustion.

Xiao Xiao Lan pouted and shouted tearfully, "Long Ming, I am so hungry."

Long Ming couldn't even reply. From the camera his steps looked wobbly, and it was worrying me quite a bit. In the end, Long Ming stumbled and collapsed onto the sand.

"Long Ming? Long Ming?' Xiao Xiao Lan shook Long Ming's body and cried tearfully.

I finally couldn't stand it any longer. I told Xiao Xiao Lan through the earring, "Xiao Xiao Lan, stop walking and find a shady spot in the sand dunes. I am coming to save both of you."

"No!" Long Ming lifted his head weakly. "Doll-jiějie will get killed by Mr. Kidnapper. We have to keep going. Xiao Xiao Lan, help me up."

Xiao Xiao Lan nodded resolutely as well, but every time she helped

Long Ming stand up, he fell again, feet unstable. I couldn't stand it anymore. I yelled at Xiao Xiao Lan, "Turn back, Xiao Xiao Lan. I'm telling you to turn back!"

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"No! Doll-jiějie will get killed. Xiao Xiao Lan's not turning back." Xiao

Xiao Lan wiped away her tears and got down before Xiao Long Ming. Her voice was nearly like an order. "Long Ming, climb on my back. I'll carry you!"

Long Ming obeyed in a daze and climbed onto Xiao Xiao Lan's back.

Xiao Xiao Lan stood up and walked forward step by step with Long Ming on her back, dripping sweat unceasingly with every step.

I was almost speechless. Facing Xiao Xiao Lan's persistence, I couldn't tell her to stop. I could only watch as Xiao Xiao Lan's sweat dropped onto the sand, only to evaporate right away. Xiao Xiao Lan had inherited all her mother and father's determination.

Xiao Xiao Lan's face brimmed with stubbornness. She was naturally stronger than a normal child, but for her to walk in the hot desert with a boy on her back was too much, even for her.

_No, I can't take it anymore. _I stood up from the chair and lookedtoward the very stressed Nan Gong Zui at my side and said, "I am going to go find them."

"Has there been trouble?" Nan Gong Zui panicked.

"The kidnappers have obviously never taken care of kids before," I replied coldly, preparing to go to the transmission station.

"Kenshin …" A voice directly sounded in my mind. This was the way the Dictator of Life, Celestial, Sunshine, and I communicated.

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_This voice… _I frowned and asked, "Sunshine? What is it?"

"I got a hold of Prince and Lolidragon. They are at the Sphinx in Egypt right now, sightseeing. Are Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming okay?"

Sunshine asked, concerned.

"I think they will be okay now." I sat down slowly, causing Nan Gong Zui and the others to stare in confusion. I said to Sunshine, "Tell

Prince and the others, Xiao Xiao Lan went on a bus, the bus passed by the Sphinx at one point, they took the bus all the way to the last stop, and now they're heading south. Sunshine, tell Prince to hurry and they can probably catch up with them."

"No problem," Sunshine answered.

I hesitated and asked, "Do Prince and Lolidragon have any weapons?"

"Wait a second, I'll ask." Sunshine finished and replied a moment later, "Yes, they do."

I calmed down. With a fully armed Prince and Lolidragon to the rescue, even if the kidnappers had three heads and six arms each, they were still screwed.

I turned my attention back to Xiao Xiao Lan's earring and found that a few black silhouettes had appeared in front of Xiao Xiao Lan. They walked toward Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming. Xiao Xiao Lan was exhausted and sweaty, but she summoned the energy to yell, "Hey, are you the kidnappers?"

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"That's right, little girl." The leading man laughed.

"Then Nan Gong Zui-gēgē wants me to give this to you guys." Xiao

Xiao Lan let Xiao Long Ming down, untied the black bag at her wrist, and raised it in the air.

The man in the front made a grab for the bag, but Xiao Xiao Lan unexpectedly snatched it back, causing him to miss. She pouted,

"Where is Doll-jiějie?"

The man in the front seemed stunned by Xiao Xiao Lan's reaction. He hesitated and then laughed, "At our headquarters. Do you want to go find her, little girl?"

Xiao Xiao Lan seemed to consider it very seriously, but the kidnappers around her laughed. They seemed to be amused by the idea that a little girl whose life was now in their hands was considering the question seriously.

Xiao Long Ming spoke up at this moment, "Xiao Xiao Lan, let's go get Doll-jiějie first."

Xiao Xiao Lan had always listened to Xiao Long Ming. Hearing him say that, she nodded and told the kidnappers, "Okay, we will come with you."

The kidnappers laughed, a car drove over, and the kidnappers all got in. So did Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming.

"Ah, cool air! Air conditioning is really the greatest thing ever invented

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by humans." It was like Xiao Long Ming had suddenly gotten revived.

He sprawled over the air conditioner in bliss.

"Long Ming must have been a penguin in his past life. You are so bad with heat," Xiao Xiao Lan stated with confidence.

"Then Xiao Xiao Lan's past life must have been a gorilla. You're so strong," Long Ming countered, not to be outdone.

The kidnappers were quite amused by the idle chatter of the two kids.

All of them laughed so much they couldn't close their mouths. The car arrived at an oasis accompanied by Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long

Ming's arguing. The car actually drove into the lake in the middle of the oasis. Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming both rushed over to the window in amazement, but no water leaked into the car. The car just sank. It sank to the bottom, and then a semi-circular cover rose around the car, and the water was drained away. Then, the ground sank once more, and when it stopped, I finally saw it — an underground base!

Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming looked around in excitement. The base was not very big; the corridors were narrow, only wide enough for one adult to pass through at a time. Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming could pass through it standing shoulder to shoulder. Even though it was small, the base was well-equipped. This was obviously a highly professional organization. After all, an organization that can kidnap a queen can't be underestimated.

Finally, the kidnappers led the two kids to a hall. There was a seat in the middle of the hall, and to the left was a metal cage. A stately,

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elegant woman with a crown on her head sat inside the cage.

"Doll-jiějie!" Xiao Xiao Lan lunged to the front of the cage.

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Footnotes

"**Seal": **East Asian countries often use seals (stamps) in place ofsignatures on documents, paperwork, and contracts. Banks use seals

as the method of identifying the account holder.

"**I'm not afraid of going to a cemetery~": **This is a Taiwanesepop song sung in the Taiwanese Hokkien dialect in the year 1964 by

Ye Qi Tian (葉啟田). It was later covered by other singers like Wu Bai

(伍佰) and Jolin Tsai.

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Chapter 8: Kenshin, Part Two

Doll, whose eyes were shut, was shocked. After she opened her eyes, she gaped with her mouth wide open in a very un-queenly way. It took her some time before she could speak. "Xiao Xiao Lan? Xiao Long Ming? Why are you here?"

"To take Doll-jiějie back." Xiao Long Ming grinned.

Doll panicked and yelled, "Idiot! Which idiot let you guys come here?"

"Kenshin and Nan Gong Zui-gēgē," Xiao Xiao Lan replied honestly.

Doll's face distorted from anger. "Those two idiots! When I get home, they are done for!"

"Do you think you can go home, Your Majesty?" All the kidnappers laughed.

"You should already have the ransom, but you're not letting me go?" Doll's face spoke of sternness and severity, daring anyone to object.

"The ransom is here!" Xiao Xiao Lan raised the little black bag in her hand and said to the kidnappers with a frown, "If you don't let her go, I'm not giving this to you!"

"Xiao Xiao Lan." Doll's helplessness was completely evident in her expression.

The kidnappers laughed hysterically. One of the kidnappers walked

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toward Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming, reaching out as he said, "Be a good little girl and give that to uncle here, okay? Then uncle won't hurt you."

Xiao Xiao Lan snatched the bag back and pouted, "If you don't let Doll-jiějie go, you are not getting this."

The kidnapper lost his patience and grabbed Xiao Xiao Lan's little hand to forcefully take her bag, but Xiao Xiao Lan countered and grabbed his fingers instead, jerking them backward. A clear crackle of bones breaking echoed, along with the piercing howl of the kidnapper.

The kidnappers were astonished, and three more kidnappers rushed over. To their surprise, Xiao Long Ming extended his arm, and a ten inch mini derringer slid out along his sleeve. Bang, bang, bang. Three shots later, the three kidnappers all collapsed to the ground, howling while they each hugged a leg.

When the others saw that Xiao Long Ming had a gun, they all pulled out their guns in surprise and aimed them at the two. _Finally, I can_ _come into play_. The gear worn by Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Mingwere computer operated. In other words, the gear could be operated by me. I immediately activated the function built into Xiao Xiao Lan's and Xiao Long Ming's headbands— Shield, and two circular shields sprang up in front of the two.

The kidnappers' bullets all hit the shields, not harming Xiao Xiao Lan or Xiao Long Ming at all. After a crazy volley of shots, the kidnappers, having identified the shields, dropped their guns and took up daggers and clubs.

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Xiao Xiao Lan took out the Cold Fox brand flying dagger from her boot, rolled under a kidnapper's feet, and sliced at a foot with the extremely sharp dagger. After getting injured, the kidnapper tried to cut down Xiao Xiao Lan with his knife, but he got shot through the arm by Xiao Long Ming and joined the others howling on the ground.

"Damned kids!" Another kidnapper with a club seized Xiao Xiao Lan's collar and tried to use Xiao Xiao Lan as a shield against Long Ming's mini derringer. What he didn't know was that for mass destruction,

Xiao Long Ming significantly eclipsed Xiao Xiao Lan, but in terms of single target destruction, none could hope to stand against Xiao Xiao Lan.

Xiao Xiao Lan landed a flying kick with a nailed shoe in the kidnapper's face. The kidnapper immediately screamed in agony, hands no longer having the luxury of holding onto Xiao Xiao Lan as he was preoccupied with covering his "holed face."

Even though the enemy was already severely injured, Xiao Xiao Lan didn't forget my order to utterly obliterate the enemy's ability to move, which meant not letting the enemy's feet go unharmed. Xiao Xiao Lan obeyed me very well; she didn't forget to step on the holed-face kidnapper's feet as she landed. Cold Fox brand nailed shoes definitely lived up to their name, and the kidnapper collapsed, howling nonstop. Currently, the situation was like this: Xiao Xiao Lan continued with her single target destruction, and Xiao Long Ming covered her with his mini derringer, throwing out Cold Fox brand test tube bombs whenever he had the chance. The door that had originally admitted a flow of kidnappers was instantly destroyed, leaving only a tiny crevice half a

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person tall.

Out of the original seven to eight kidnappers in the hall, three were taken down by Long Ming, one had his finger broken by Xiao Xiao Lan, another gained a "holed face" and "holed feet," and the two to three kidnappers that were left soon collapsed on the ground as well from

Xiao Xiao Lan's flying dagger and Xiao Long Ming's mini derringer.

_Have I created the world's two most dangerous weapons? When they get back, I must confiscate all their gear, or else I cannot face this world._

Xiao Xiao Lan put her hands on her hip and yelled arrogantly, "Humph! Lying adults, don't you dare lie to us in the future!" After speaking, Xiao Xiao Lan turned and ran back to Doll's cage. Like a cute puppy wagging its tail, she asked in a cute voice, "Doll-jiějie, isn't Xiao Xiao Lan incredible? Kenshin taught us all of that!"

With difficulty, Doll managed to close her gaping mouth a little, and then she rubbed Xiao Xiao Lan's head. "Xiao Xiao Lan is indeed incredible."

"Who is more incredible, my mommy or me?" Xiao Xiao Lan looked at

Doll in anticipation.

The corner of Doll's mouth twitched, "Well, your mother's ability has already crossed into the non-human realm, thus it is out of my understanding."

"Xiao Xiao Lan, look out!" Xiao Long Ming yelled. He fell silent after a series of gunshots, so Xiao Xiao Lan turned to look. Long Ming was

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being held by the throat by a gentle-looking man. The gentleman adjusted his glasses and glared at Xiao Xiao Lan coldly.

"Meat-bunbun, help me hit the enemy!" Xiao Long Ming shouted.

Meatbun immediately flew up from behind Xiao Long Ming and yelled,

"Don't bully Long-Long!"

Then, he charged at the gentle-looking man, but after a string of gunshots, Meatbun fell to the floor face-first with smoking holes in his white, pudgy body. Meatbun couldn't help but sob on the ground. At this moment, a muscular man wearing an army outfit came over with a machine gun, stepped on Meatbun, and ground Meatbun under his foot.

"Meat-bunbun! Let them go!"

Xiao Xiao Lan shrieked and rushed forward to save Long Ming and Meatbun. Suddenly, a shadow fell over Xiao Xiao Lan. Even though Xiao Xiao Lan was surprised, she still reflexively sliced at the person's foot with the Cold Fox brand flying dagger.

However, this time the dagger attack wasn't successful. It was trampled underfoot along with Xiao Xiao Lan's hands by army boots.

Xiao Xiao Lan's eyes teared up from the pain, but she bit her lip to prevent herself from crying out.

Xiao Xiao Lan looked up to see the muscular guy in the army uniform looking at her with a scornful look. With a strike from the man's hand,

Xiao Xiao Lan went flying into a wall. She coughed up a mouthful of

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blood and collapsed weakly by the wall.

"Stop! She is just a child!" Doll's knuckles turned white from the force of her grip on the metal cage bars, but her face was even whiter.

"A child? They took out seven of my men." The gentleman adjusted his glasses and threw Xiao Long Ming and Meat-bunbun toward Xiao Xiao Lan. Xiao Xiao Lan barely managed to block the two from hitting the wall, but consequently, Xiao Xiao Lan's face became even paler.

"Kill them." The gentleman said uncaringly to the muscular man in the army uniform.

"Stop!" Doll shook the cage desperately.

The uniformed man spat to the side and advanced on Xiao Xiao Lan with a disgusted expression, "Gah, if you need me to deal with such small fries, then your men are indeed a bunch of trash!"

The gentleman adjusted his glasses once again and replied coldly, "I do have quite some trash underneath me, but these two twerps are pretty good if they could defeat that trash. It's a pity their opponent today was me."

The uniformed man laughed and said, "I really want to see their parent's expressions when they see their bodies."

With that sentence, he kicked forcefully at Xiao Long Ming. Xiao Xiao Lan leaped and managed to shove Xiao Long Ming away. She took the kick herself, grunting from the pain.

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The expression of the uniformed man darkened. "Little girl, you sure are stubborn."

Fists rained down on Xiao Xiao Lan. Even though Xiao Xiao Lan's reflexes were fast, and she managed to block all the hits with her arms and legs, how could her thin limbs stand up to the battering of the uniformed man? Soon after, Xiao Xiao Lan couldn't even raise her limbs anymore, and her tears streamed continuously down her face, yet she still bit her lip to prevent herself from crying out.

"Xiao Xiao Lan." Tears ran down Doll's beautiful face as she cried out, unable to bear to look at the scene where Xiao Xiao Lan was being brutally beaten up.

"Stop beating her!" Xiao Long Ming struggled to stand up in front of

Xiao Xiao Lan, only to be swatted away by the uniformed man.

"Stop playing around and kill them already. We have to continue with our second round of ransoming." The gentleman said impatiently.

The other man grinned cruelly upon hearing that and took out a German-made machete from his waist. He raised the knife high in front of Xiao Xiao Lan…

BANG!

The door that was originally blocked by rocks was suddenly blown wide open. Smoke billowed all around the room. Through the haze, the outline of a hover bike appeared, and both the gentleman and the uniformed man pulled out their guns and watched warily.

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The smoke finally cleared away. Two people sat on the hover bike; the one in front wore a black safety helmet that covered the entire head, a leather windbreaker, and black jeans, looking very cool and strong. In the back seat sat a seductive and charming beauty with hair dyed in a purplish-red who was wearing a low-cut top and possessed a pair of long, shapely, and high-heeled legs that peeked out from underneath a cute, mini leather skirt. Even the gentleman and the man in uniform swallowed at the sight of those beautiful long legs.

"Who are you?" The gentleman immediately regained his composure and asked. He looked at the one sitting in the front seat of the hover bike.

The beauty in the backseat stepped off elegantly and sensually. But after that, her legs wobbled and she almost fell, only righting herself in the nick of the time against the bike. The beauty couldn't help but protest to the bike driver, "Hey, you speed too much! Four hundred, it was four hundred! You went faster than a high-speed train!"

After the bike driver took off her helmet and shook out her ponytail, she laughed, "It's to save our babies."

The face under the helmet couldn't be any more familiar to me. With brown hair and brown eyes, she was a forever confident and handsome girl; Prince! This time, my expression finally relaxed. There was no need to worry about the two children anymore.

"Two beauties!" The uniformed man muttered in lust.

"Mommy!" The two children yelled. Xiao Xiao Lan finally stopped biting

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her lip and started to cry loudly.

"Prince!" Doll also yelled, relief in her voice.

Prince spotted Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming, both of them with many injuries, especially Xiao Xiao Lan. Prince quickly rushed over to her precious daughter's side, and Xiao Xiao Lan dove into her mother's lap. Prince asked Xiao Xiao Lan gently, "Does anywhere hurt very, very much?"

"Everywhere!" Xiao Xiao Lan bawled in her mother's embrace. Prince quickly examined Xiao Xiao Lan's body, making sure that her daughter hadn't received any fatal injuries, and sighed in relief. She

emitted a motherly aura and said to her daughter, "Xiao Xiao Lan, go with Xiao Long Ming over to his mommy, okay?"

Xiao Xiao Lan sobbed while replying, "What's Mommy going to do?"

"Nothing much. Mommy is going to let certain bad guys know that they are not the worst in this world!" Prince replied and then stood up slowly, her fierce eyes saying, "You don't know what it means to anger a wolf!"

The gentleman and the uniformed man hesitated. After the gentleman collected his thoughts, his expression turned vicious and he said to the man in thearmy uniform, "Let's take care of her together!"

However, the uniformed man ignored him and charged toward Prince alone, yelling, "She's just a woman. I can make her cry on her knees by myself!"

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The machete in his hands was almost upon Prince's head when Prince calmly drew out a weapon from her back and stopped the German-made machete with a clang. The uniformed man stared in disbelief at the weapon in Prince's hands; a kitchen knife.

This weapon is the ultimate tool, as it can be used for anything from chopping vegetables to butchering pork. You can even hide it in your house without raising suspicion, and even the weapon control protocol can't forbid you from using it.

When you are going through customs, you can simply pack it inside your suitcase and stick on a "Kinmen" 1 label on the box. Then, even the officials at the customs will praise you smilingly, "You sure are a professional. This one's a good knife."

The German-made machete suddenly emitted a breaking sound, and then it started to crack. The entire machete soon crumbled into a pile of scrap metal. The uniformed man stared at the kitchen knife in Prince's hands in disbelief and yelled, "That's not a kitchen knife! That can't be a kitchen knife!"

Prince raised a finger and wagged it smartly, "No! This IS a kitchen knife, but it's also a diamond edged, invincible kitchen knife. Not only can it cut through the most stubborn pork bones, it can also dismantle ray guns. It's my faithful comrade for traveling, cooking, and even cutting up criminals!"

"Go to hell, woman!"

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The uniformed man roared and kicked at Prince's shins. However,

Prince instead stepped firmly on his kicking foot. She slammed the hilt of the knife into the man's temple, and then Prince's heavily booted foot kicked viciously toward the man's groin.

After two sounds similar to the sound of bubbles popping, the man went down frothing without a noise.

"Bastard! You dare to hit such a cute loli like my daughter? I will punish you in the name of all those with Lolita complexes around the world!" Prince yelled heroically at the unconscious man on the ground.

_Hey, are you really Xiao Xiao Lan's mother… You should be punishing him in the name of your daughter! _I watched Prince exasperatedlythrough Xiao Xiao Lan's earring.

"Who are you?" The gentleman asked, his complexion turning sour.

Prince turned to look at the gentleman and narrowed her eyes dangerously. She asked, "Are you the mastermind? The one who kidnapped Doll, let my baby walk around in a sizzling desert, and then even dared to injure her?"

The gentle-looking man didn't answer Prince. Instead, he picked up something that looked like a communicator and yelled into it, "Send men over. Where the heck are all of you?"

"If the ones you're calling are those people outside, they either got run over by my bike, or got run over after they were taken down by my tear gas, so I suggest that you save your breath." Prince's expression was dark, and her voice was icy as she spoke.

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The gentleman took out a light rifle, but just as he started to pull the trigger, the kitchen knife flew over and split it right down the middle. The knife then continued to fly into the wall behind him, embedding itself nearly to the hilt.

The gentleman was initially startled by the sight, but his expression soon turned shrewd, and he said, "You don't have the diamond edged kitchen knife anymore, so how are you going to fight me now? Just a warning, I am a karate five dan—

"Hiya!" Prince charged straight at him, and with a spinning kick, she attacked him without any hesitation. He barely managed to deflect it with his hands, but the force from Prince's kick still sent him rolling to the side.

The gentleman's face twisted and his arms shook, but he still forced himself to stand up nonchalantly. He said, "Nice karate kick, but I'm telling you now, I am also a judo—"

Prince rushed forward again and grabbed his collar, right leg kicking out at his ankle viciously, and threw him over her shoulder. The gentleman lay on the floor, blood trickling out of his mouth as he continued his sentence, "…Three dan."

The gentleman finally counter-attacked. As his legs formed a cross, he restrained Prince's waist while his arms circled around Prince's neck. He looked exultant as he said, "I am also one of the world wrestling guild's top class members."

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"Oh, tough luck," Lolidragon said lazily, "The one you are wrestling with right now is the world wrestling guild's honorary advisor." The gentleman was stunned, and Prince grinned evilly, "Cross strangle!"

Finally, the gentleman joined the frothing club on the ground. Prince retrieved her kitchen knife and cut the gentleman's clothes into ribbons.

Prince took out a key from the mess of clothes, and she went over to Xiao Xiao Lan to give the key to her. Prince smiled as she said to her daughter, "Go let your Doll-jiějie out. She was saved because of Xiao

Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming."

Xiao Xiao Lan smiled as she happily took the key and went to open the cage with Xiao Long Ming.

I lay on Prince's palm… To be precise, Prince wordlessly took off Xiao Xiao Lan's earring and put it on her palm. She even stuck her big eyes against the earring and said, "Kenshin, tell Nan Gong Zui that the case has been solved, and don't forget about the reward money. If he doesn't pay up, then we will take his wife on a trip."

The kidnapping incident finally came to an end. Queen Doll gave Celestial thirty-six continuous slaps upon his tearful arrival and attempt to hug her. Celestial cried even more, but Doll just said angrily, "You'll still hug me? Didn't you have fun with that cute maid last time?"

Celestial sobbed and tugged on the corner of Doll's clothes. "She

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kissed me on the cheek by force. I didn't have fun. Celestial only likes Doll."

"Liar!" Doll's expression softened, but she still replied harshly.

"It's true, I only like Doll." Celestial was bawling now, afraid that his wife wouldn't believe him.

"Really?" Doll narrowed her eyes.

Celestial nodded vigorously, and Doll finally smiled. She patted

Celestial's head. "Fine, Doll will believe you. Celestial's the best."

"I have to ask, the reason that you guys argued, resulting in your running away and getting kidnapped can't be because…" Nan Gong Zui and Phoenix's expressions were horrified, "A little maid kissed Celestial's cheek?"

Doll and Celestial both replied innocently, "Yeah!"

The incident where Doll got kidnapped only took up a tiny corner in the newspaper, but the incident where Nan Gong Zui and Phoenix beat up the queen of a country became the headline for three weeks.

Later, Doll was determined to marry Celestial, but all of her chancellors opposed her decision. In a fit of rage, Doll abdicated and tossed the throne to her sister, eloping to our house with Celestial, becoming one of the "parasites." Yu Lian, Ugly Wolf, Winter Triumph, and his sister, Disi, who were working in Doll's palace, also came with her.

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Although Cold Fox hadn't found out the kidnapper's identities right away, when the gentleman tried to escape from jail, Cold Fox "helped" him; he helped him escape into the Ice Emperor Syndicate's black jail. Since then, I often went to Cold Fox's home for tea and to "visit" the mastermind behind the event that caused the two children to go through torture and turned them into potential dangers to the world.

Xiao Xiao Lan hid the Cold Fox brand flying dagger in her underwear.

She boldly said to Cold Fox, "If you want it back, then you need to take off my underwear!"

But, Wicked and Gui were watching on the side. Even though both Gui and Wicked combined together still could not hope to match Cold Fox when it came to fighting, Gui's two hundred I.Q. was not for nothing.

Gui said coldly, "There are four three-hundred and sixty degree cameras in this room. If you dare take off my daughter's underwear, I will broadcast the video of Silver-Masked Quick Fox taking off a five year old girl's underwear to the world."

Prince's reaction was this: "You want to take off my daughter's underwear? Okay, but remember, you have to be responsible and marry her when she is eighteen, or else I will tear Kenshin into scrap."

_What does all of this have to do with me?_

"Don't touch Xiao Xiao Lan, or I will infect Kenshin with viruses."

Wicked threatened coldly as well.

Cold Fox and I were both speechless.

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Xiao Long Ming didn't put the mini derringer into his underwear because Cold Fox would just take it without any qualms. Instead, he stuffed it into Xiao Xiao Lan's underwear as well, and it went off accidentally in the process… Luckily, the gun was pointing down, so there was just a small hole in Xiao Xiao Lan's underwear.

Cold Fox looked at me. "What should I do now?"

I looked at the two kids. Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming both had an imploring expression on their faces, but I refused to give in and ordered, "Return them!"

Both Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming looked completely disappointed. Xiao Xiao Lan took out the mini derringer and the flying dagger, pouting, "Looks like I have to take Mommy's kitchen knife, although

it's heavy. Luckily, my mom has a lot of back-up kitchen knives." Prince said helpfully, "Do you want Mommy to give you a fruit knife? It's much lighter."

"My dad's ray gun is also very heavy. Looks like I have to work on my arm strength. Luckily, my dad has a full collection of gear." Xiao Long

Ming sighed at the sight of his toothpick sized arm.

"…Both of you can keep the gear," I couldn't have answered in any other way.

From that day onward, Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming often visited the Ice Emperor Syndicate. Cold Fox even gave them permits to prevent them from using the flying dagger to dig a hole in the door of the Ice Emperor Syndicate when they couldn't find Cold Fox to open

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the door for them.

As usual, Xiao Xiao Lan never gives up on her goals until she accomplishes them. In order to find Cold Fox, she could cause complete chaos in the Ice Emperor Syndicate. When Cold Fox came back after just going out for coffee, he could only stare blankly at the sight of Xiao Xiao Lan and Xiao Long Ming taking on a group of ray gun armed members of the Ice Emperor Syndicate.

Just because her father said "I miss your mother so much," Xiao Xiao

Lan could also post up advertisements searching for her mother in the newspaper. When that didn't work, she personally went out to search around half the globe for Prince and lied to get her home, the lie being that Daddy had a fatal disease and was about to die.

"Daddy's got lovesickness. It's very dangerous; Lin Dai Yu 2 died from it!" Xiao Xiao Lan pointed out to her mother without any remorse.

So, when Xiao Xiao Lan said that she was going to marry Wicked, I never doubted that her future husband would be Wicked. When I saw that Xiao Xiao Lan finally had Wicked wrapped around her finger, I only thought about how slow she was this time. _It was probably_ _because she was not in hurry to get married as she was still young!_

Back in the present, after Xiao Xiao Lan had Wicked wrapped around her finger, she wasn't ever going to let him go again. Therefore, Wicked had to go back to Lolidragon's company, and he became the newest member of our family. His fate was similar to Gui's, always either waiting for his wife to come home or chasing his wife around the world every day.

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Currently, our family consists of Lolidragon, Feng Wu Qing, Prince, Gui, Xiao Long Ming, Xiao Xiao Lan, Long-bà, Prince's parents, Zhuo family's parents, Ming Huang, Doll, Celestial, Ugly Wolf, and Yu Lian. Winter Triumph and Disi also came over with Doll, Sunshine and Fairsky referred to this place as their home base, and there was also Meatbun and Fire Phoenix. Not long afterward, Nan Gong Zui and Phoenix also moved in, so it's like an extremely large family. Oh, right. There is also the Dictator of Life, me, and the newly joined Elf and Demon Thirteen.

Cold Fox is here so often he might as well be residing here too. Even though the number of members in this family is unbelievably

large, not everyone is home at the same time. Prince, Lolidragon, Long Ming, Xiao Xiao Lan, and the always-chasing-after-the-wife-every-time-they-realize-the-wife-disappeared husbands, namely, Gui, Wicked, and Feng Wu Qing; these people always do weird things in various places around the world.

Generally, Prince is the one who starts it, or Xiao Xiao Lan.

If you ever read in the newspaper about some slave trader tied up in front of a police station, crying about how he will never do it again, or some corrupted minister stripped naked and tied upside down on a balcony, the evidence of his corruption e-mailed to the world, or some kidnapped girl being rescued by an anonymous person, face blushing over her rescuer's handsomeness, or about an ancient treasure that was found and donated to the world's museums but with some of the beautiful pieces of jewelry missing… No doubt, you are looking at Prince's work.

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Time passed. What didn't change in hundreds or even thousands of years was, I still sat in the same old castle, sipping tea with Cold Fox who had also become an artificial human, watching Xiao Xiao Xiao

Xiao… Lan, watching the creation of all kinds of everlasting legends!

"Welcome to Second Life. I am Second Life's Dictator of Life. Please note that you have only one chance to create a character. No changes can be made after the character has been created."

With gray eyes, long red hair, and strange patterns under his left eye, the Dictator of Life asks you with a smile, "Now, are you ready to create a legend?"

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Footnotes

"**Kinmen": **Kinmen is an island controlled by Taiwan famous for itsknives made out of steel obtained from bomb shells that were fired at

the island by Communist forces.

"**Lin Dai Yu": **Heroine of the Dream of Red Chamber, one of theFour Great Classical Novels of China.

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